Exporting PDF files from

QuarkXpress 8.x
This document covers creating the settings in
QuarkXpress 8.x to export PDF files that are
usable by Publication Printers. This document is not
intended to replace the manual for your software,
it is intended to supplement your knowledge of the
software and the proper technique for creating press
ready files.

2001 S. Platte River Drive • Denver, Colorado 80223 303-936-0303 Fax 303-934-6712
 File Creation Guidelines and Potential Problems
• The document size must be correct: At Publication • Hard Copy: After creating your PDF files you want to
Printers we rarely print a job at 8.5”x11”. More com- generate a final hard copy to send along. The purpose
mon sizes are 8.375”x10.875” or 8.25”x10.75”. If of this hard copy is to be sure that nothing unexpected
your source document is not built to the correct size, happened while creating your PDF files.
the final output may not look like you expect it to.
• Acrobat Preflight: If you have Acrobat 7 Professional
• Bleed: We need a minimum of .125��” bleed but prefer
or above, you have a fairly robust preflight tool available
.25�” bleed. If you send files with less than .25” bleed
to you. Please preflight the finished PDF file to ensure
and they are not� designed to the correct trim size we may
that nothing has gone wrong in the creation of your
have a difficult time with your job throughout production.
PDF. The major things to look for are, Resolution,
Color Space, Font Embedding, Trim, Bleed, and Mar-
• Margins: We ask that you don’t place anything im- gin. The preflight utility can be set up to check for
portant less than .25” from trim, especially type. If Resolution, Color Space, and Font Embedding.
the type is within .25” of trim, it is possible for it to be
cut off. This includes body copy and page numbers. • The color palette: Remove all unused colors from
the palette and be sure that all colors are converted to
• Crop marks: We ask for NO crops due to trim boxes process.
being defined in the PDF, if they are to be used,
they MUST have an offset of greater than .25”.
• Rich Blacks: Our Rich Black build is 60 Cyan 40
Magenta 30 Yellow 100 Black. Please use this build
• Spot Colors: If your job prints in process color
for large black areas. Do NOT use this build for the
(CMYK) Please make sure that NO Spot colors are in
body text of your job.
use in the document. Although we can convert them
in our RIP, it is considered best practice to convert
them before creating the PDF file. • Registration Color: NEVER use the color “Registra-
tion” that is in the Swatches palette. This is 100% of
• Transparency:� Our RIP uses the newest Adobe all colors and will not output correctly.
Extreme RIP technology and can process transparency
contained in a PDF without the need to flatten. • Auto Color: Files and page elements that have been
imported from Microsoft Word, and PageMaker can
• Fonts: Some fonts are restricted from being embed- sometimes use the color “Auto”. This color, behaves
ded in the PDF file by the fonts license. InDesign like “Registration” color and will not output correctly.
will warn you if the font cannot be embedded due to
licensing restrictions. If this happens, please either
choose another font, or submit the font with the job.

• Image Resolution: The correct resolution for most of

what we print is 225-300 dpi at final size. We will flag
images that are below 200 dpi.

• Image Color: Please make sure that your images are

CMYK, or Grayscale. Although we can convert RGB
images in our RIP, it is considered best practice to
convert them before creating your PDF.

• Number of pages: While we can accept single page

PDF files, we prefer that you try to use as few files as
possible. Please save your entire job into 1 PDF. For
any correction pages, single page PDF files are acceptable.

Export to PDF Quark 8.x

PDF Export Settings for Quark 8

The Output Styles menu is located under the

Edit Menu. You will be creating a New preset.

• Click on New and choose PDF

Pages

• Choose a name for the PDF Style

• Check Include Blank Pages
• Verification should be set to None

Meta Data

• You can type a Subject and Author as seen or

leave blank

1 PDF Export Settings for Quark 8

 Hyperlinks

• Uncheck the Include Hyperlinks box,

everything else in this window should be
grayed out

Compression

Color & Grayscale Images have the same settings

• Compression is set to Manual Zip (8bit)
• Resolution is set to Keep Resolution

Monochrome Images
• Compression is set to CCITT Group4
• Resolution is set to Keep Resolution
• Compress Text and Line Art should be Checked

Color

• Mode is set to Composite

• Setup is Composite CMYK

(If your job is printing with a Spot color you will

change the Setup to Composite CMYK+Spot)

2 PDF Export Settings for Quark 8

 Fonts

• Download All Fonts should be Checked

Marks

• Turn Mode to Off

Marks are not necessary because the PDF generated from

Quark will define a trim box based off the document size.

Bleed

• Set Bleed Type to Symmetric

• Set the Amount to .25”
• Clip at Bleed Edge should be Checked

Please Note:
We need a minimum of .125 bleed but prefer .25

3 PDF Export Settings for Quark 8

 Transparency

Quark 8.0

Quark 8.1.x • Vector Images set to 600dpi

• Blends set to 300dpi
• Select “Export Transparency Natively” • Drop Shadows set to 150dpi
• Vector Images set to 600dpi • Upsample Rotations should be Checked and set to
• Blends set to 150dpi 300dpi for less than 200dpi
• Drop Shadows set to 150dpi • Ignore Transparency Flattening should be Unchecked
• Upsample Rotations will be grayed out
• Flattening Resolution set to 300dpi

OPI

• OPI should be Unchecked

JDF

• Output JDF should be Unchecked

4 PDF Export Settings for Quark 8