I tend to use the text inset option in Quark quite a lot. You can also create white space around your text by placing a text box within another box but the text inset option allows you to specify exactly how much you want to leave, making the final publication a bit neater.

On this example below you can see that the text is flush to the frame giving it a rather untidy and squashed appearance.

You can access the text inset option through the Modify menu either by selecting Modify from the item menu or by pressing Apple M. The inset option is found in the text tab as shown in the picture below.

Here you can specify whether you want multiple insets by ticking the text box. If you leave the text box un-ticked then the same inset will be applied to each side of your text box. Generally I prefer to specify multiple insets because I find you tend to end up with too much space at the bottom otherwise. After entering the values you require click apply and ok and you can see that the text in the box now has a nice even white space around it leaving it room to breathe within its frame.

I tend to use this option when I have some text that almost fits into a space but is over by one or two words. Rather than decrease the point size you can if you are careful squeeze the text a little so that it fits space but the type is no smaller. A word of warning though, don’t squeeze it too much because it will start to look ugly. From the style menu choose Horizontal/Vertical Shift. In the Scale box type in a value. I usually make it around 95 or 90%. Then click ok. What you have done is basically scale the text slightly to fit into the space.

One thing that never fails to frustrate me is when someone sends you a Quark file but does not collect the file for output. Basically the collect for output function finds and collects any pictures and fonts in your document so that when you send the file to someone else they have all the files they need. One thing I have noticed with new Quark users is that because they can see the pictures on screen when they have the Quark document open, they assume that another user will have the pictures. This is not the case, unless you actually send the individual picture files through with your Quark document the pictures cannot be reproduced or printed. The simplest way of doing this is to use the collect for output function from the file menu, to collect all the included pictures together. The same function will also alert you if there are pictures missing from the document which is useful. One thing to be careful about is ticking the collect fonts for output option as you might not be licensed to send the fonts onto another party. I find the easiest thing to do is use common fonts that most printers are already likely to have a license for, so the issue does not occur.

It occurred to me the other day how useful I find the library function in Quark. It certainly saves me a lot of time. Basically the feature allows you create a library which you can then open up with any document. The library palette sits to one side as shown below on the right. Any element that you use frequently can simply just be dragged into the library so you don’t have to spend time creating it from scratch next time you want to use. I generally use the function for house filler adverts that appear in the publication most weeks.

If you want to select a lot of text but can't see all of it for example when it runs off the page, this tip is useful. I use it when I import a large amount of text into a Quark document and need to change the point size or font style. Just position the cusor before the text you want to select and hold down Apple, Alt, Shift and the down arrow key. This selects all the text from the point where your cusor is postioned to the end of the document. It's different from using the select all command because that option will select everything in the document, wheras with this command you have more control over the selection and any text before the selection point can remain untouched.

The automatic backup option in Quark has already saved me on countless occasions when I have being half way through a project and my mac has decided freeze. It's a really useful little tool as even people who save regularly like myself can get caught out. You can access it from the Edit Preferences menu. Once there just select Save and you will get the window shown (below). This allows you to choose Auto Save and also Auto Backup. I always set the auto backup because it is useful if your file gets corrupted and you want to go back to a previous version. You can set the number of revisions you wish to keep and the destination folder where they will be stored. In the event of problems you then have the option to access a previous version.

I always work with the invisible characters turned on in Quark, mainly because I find it easier to see whether there are any double spaces in the text or if a document contains soft or hard returns. I do find that sometimes I need to switch them off to get a good view of the layout. You can do this by pressing the apple key and I.

I use the guide rules a lot when typesetting documents but sometimes you need to turn them off to get a good view of your overall layout. You can do this by pressing F7. Press F7 a second time and the guides turn back on.

I spend a lot of time zooming in and out of documents when using Quark so I use the magnifying glass tool a lot. One shortcut that I find useful is to hold down the alt key when you have the tool selected. This automatically allows you switch between zooming in and out. Another useful shortcut is to press the apple key and 0 to view the whole page.

The find and replace option in Quark (Apple key and F) can help save a lot of time. I use it primarily for removing double spacing from documents or for making changes to font size and style.

To remove double spacing make sure the text option is ticked and also tick the document option at the bottom of the box. In the first text box type two spaces by pressing the space bar twice. In the second text box type one space. Then click “find next” to locate the first double space. To change all the double spaces in the document at once just click the “change all” button.

You can also use the find and replace option to change styles within the document. Instead of ticking the text option instead tick the style option. Select the style you want to change in the first box and in the second box select the new style that you want to apply. Then click the “find next” button or the “change all” button as before.

Other options available with find and replace are searching by font, font size, colour and type style. These are also very useful: for example you may wish to change the fonts in the document from Ariel to Times New Roman or change all the fonts that are 16pt to 12pt. It is also possible to change font attributes such as making something bold or italic or underlining it by using the type style option. These options allow you to do this just once rather than manually going through the whole document.

To make a new colour in Quark, choose colours from the edit menu or the shift key and F12. Then select new from the options. Give your colour a name and select the type of colour from the “model” drop down list, this will usually be CMYK when typesetting a job for print. Uncheck the spot colour option and then select your colour either by clicking on the colour wheel, using the colour sliders or entering the percentages of colour in the CYMK boxes. Then click OK and your new colour will appear in the colours palette. If you need to make a colour from another document for example a PDF you can always open it in Photoshop and use the colours from the CMYK hex values to get a good match in Quark.

In many layouts it is necessary to link text so that it flows from one text box to another. This can be done by using the linking tool (shown below). Simply choose the tool from the toolbox, then click on the first box to be linked, followed by the box you wish the text to flow into. You will now see an arrow linking the two boxes to show the direction that the text will flow. You can link any number of text boxes as well as linking text boxes across several pages. If you need to unlink boxes you can do this by choosing the unlink tool, which is found in the toolbox right underneath the linking tool. Simply select the unlink tool and click on the base of the grey arrow which links the boxes to unlink them.

Often layouts require several different text or picture boxes to be aligned along the page. For a long time I used to do this manually, either by eye or by typing the values into the measurements palette. A quicker way is to use Quarks Space/Align items command under the item menu (Apple key and ,). Just select the items that you wish to line up and use Apple , to bring up the dialogue box. Here you can align items either horizontally or vertically and specify how much space appears between each item thus saving you quite a lot of time and creating a neater looking layout.

In Quark the position of objects placed on the page is measured by the position of the ruler origin. When you start a new project the ruler origin starts as default from the top left hand side of the page. This means that the x and y coordinates in the measurements palette show the position of a selected object from the top left of the page. However, when setting some documents it can be necessary to change the ruler origins so that objects can be measured from a different point on the page. This can be done by locating the ruler origin currently at the top left of the page. It appears in between the two rulers as show here.

It is then possible to click on the ruler origin and drag it to a new position on the page. You will see a cross appear on the page as in the picture above to show that the ruler origin is moving. Once you have done this you will notice that the ruler no longer measures from the top left hand side of the page, but now starts at 0 from your new origin point. To reset it to the default setting simply double click on the box where the two rulers join and its back to measuring from the top left of the page.

There is nothing more frustrating than to have a perfect layout only for items to be accidentally moved and thus appear misaligned when it goes to print. A simple shortcut can help prevent this. To lock the items on a page simply select them and press F6. A black padlock icon will appear when you hover over the items to indicate that they are locked and no amount of dragging will move them. The only way to unlock them is to press F6 again to reverse the process or choose unlock from the item menu.

It might come as a surprise to users of programs such as Word but Quark does not have the ability to produce automatic bullet points. There are two way to create the actual bullet point. You can either press the alt (option) key and 8. This creates a small bullet point but it can be a little hard to resize it in proportion to the text as it doesn’t always line up very well the text. Personally I prefer to use the Zapf Dingbats font and simply type a lower case l (L). This produces a bullet point that can be easily resized in the measurements palette in the font size section.

The other problem with bullet points in Quark is that when the text runs onto two lines it does not automatically indent. To combat this problem I insert a tab on the first line of the text after the bullet. Then simply use the format menu to set a left indent also set a first line indent but set it as a minus number. For example if your left indent is set to 5mm set your first line indent to minus 5 mm. This will have the effect that the bullet point is set back flush with the left margin of your text box and the text will be neatly lined up underneath each other.

To add a drop cap in Quark use the format box under the style menu (Apple key and F). Tick the drop cap box so the options become available. The character count option specifies how many characters you wish to drop. In this example I have chosen to set the first two characters as drop caps, so I would put a 2 in the this box. The second option specifies how many lines of text the drop cap will take up. You can set this from 2 lines to 16 lines. In my example I have set this to 3 so the drop cap will take up 3 lines of normal text. Once you have set the options click apply to make the changes.

It occurred to me the other day whilst I was doing some typesetting how much I rely on shortcuts in Quark, so I thought I would post a series of handy tips which I use frequently.

Sizing pictures can take a little while when using the measurements palette so I use the following shortcuts.

To size a picture proportionally without using the measurements toolbar, first draw a picture box of the size you want the picture to be. Then import your picture using the get picture command (apple key and E). Next hold down the apple key, the alt (option) key and shift, press F and the picture is automatically sized to fit into your picture box. It might sound complicated at first but I find it saves a lot of time as you only need to press the combination of keys once rather than typing different percentage values into the measurements palette.

If you want to change the size of the picture once you have imported it into the picture box, then it’s also possible to do this without typing values into the measurements palette. Simply hold down the apple key, the alt (option) key and the shift key and press < to make your picture smaller or > to make it larger. Using this shortcut also keeps the proportion of the picture so you know that’s its not going to appear squashed out of all proportion on your final layout.