MARKZWARE PUB2ID v1.5.1
by Michael Shaw

In past issues of the DoubleClick we have looked at a lot of scathingly brilliant software from Markzware. (In fact, when my mother asks me about a lot of stuff she sees me doing on the computer I tell her that its magic. Markzware stuff qualifies. As Arthur C. Clarke put it, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic).

Markzware is famous for their FlightCheck software and their PM2Q, ID2Q and Q2ID plug-ins for QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign. As such, many of you may not be familiar with their products but in the world of desktop publishing Markzware is a name associated with a long history of wonderful document conversion utilities that make it possible to radically reduce the time it takes to import and use text and pictures from documents created in other desktop publishing applications.

For people who use InDesign, Quark and PageMaker, Markzware makes plug-ins that make it possible to easily import content and convert entire documents between creator applications without losing the appearence of the original document. The magic part is that Markzware plug-ins do it quickly, accurately, and elegantly. Microsoft Publisher, a Windows only application, has historically been less well-liked among professional designers and high end commercial print shops when compared with other desktop publishing applications like PageMaker, InDesign & QuarkXPress but its very ubiquity in the corporate environment ensures its wide usage. Recent versions of the program have greater capabilities concerning color separations and proper process coloring output.

Publisher 2007 also includes the capability to output commercial press quality PDF with embedded fonts as an optional download from the Microsoft website. Publisher is included in high-end editions of Microsoft Office. This reflects Microsoft’s emphasis on Publisher as an easy-to-use and less expensive alternative to the “heavyweights” and also its focus on the small business market where firms do not have dedicated design professionals available to make marketing materials and other documents. Publisher’s proprietary file format is, unfortunately, unsupported by most other applications. This means that documents created with Microsoft Publisher can not generally be imported into more popular applications like Adobe InDesign.

When it’s time to go beyond what Microsoft Publisher can offer in the way of professional document design, it has typically been necessary to rebuild such publications from scratch in InDesign, a process that’s both slow and fraught with the possibility of introducing errors. The latest offering from Markzware, called Microsoft Publisher to InDesign, or PUB2ID, is a plug-in for Adobe InDesign that can convert all of your Microsoft Publisher into Adobe InDesign documents so you can update and work with them.

In order to use it you will need a Mac running Tiger or better or a PC running Windows 2000, XP or Vista and 250 Megs of hard drive space. PUB2ID works with InDesign v4.x or 5.x (CS2 or CS3). It provides a quick, easy and affordable method for you to migrate all your Microsoft Publisher content into new Adobe InDesign documents. The conversion is enabled with a single click using the InDesign File-> Open menu. No more re-creating documents from scratch; PUB2ID gives you a big head-start. PUB2ID translates the intricate details of the content within the Microsoft Publisher document and instantly re-creates it within InDesign. Items converted from Publisher include: page size, positioning, color models, fonts and styles, text attributes and tables, layers, word wrap, linked text boxes as well as automatic extraction of images embedded in the Publisher file. If you need to work with documents originally created in Publisher the PUB2ID document conversion technology will save you countless hours of scanning, re-keying and formatting.

This product converts and transforms files created with Microsoft Publisher into an Adobe InDesign file on either Macintosh or Windows platforms. Because of the different ways that the various publishing programs handle the same tasks, like text flow, fonts and runaround, there is a distinct possibility that the converted document will need to be tweaked a bit in order to get it looking exactly as you want it, but the minor adjustments will be far less arduous than totally re-creating the document. In common with the other Markzware conversion tools I have used, (which includes InDesign to Quark, Quark to InDesign, and PageMaker to Quark), this newly released PUB2ID v1.5 comes with the warning from Markzware that the document conversion will not be exact but the time saved will be considerable, especially if there is a large document or a large number of small documents to convert. My own experience is that this warning is more an expression of modesty that a serious disclaimer. Markzware software has a reputation for working better than expected.

Its a good idea to take a snap of the Microsoft Publisher document you intend to convert before you begin the process of importing it into InDesign. This will serve as a reminder of what the original document looked like and help you to quickly re-position and re-size text boxes and pictures if they do not automatically appear exactly as you expect. It is important to note that even though PUB2ID provides many benefits, conversion is not perfect. This is because all manufacturers of desktop publishing applications have their own unique methods of text rendering and graphical representation. Therefore, text flow and certain graphical elements will not be 100%. Depending on the use of custom kerning, tracking, leading, graphic formatting and effects, etc., more or less rework may be required, but some rework will always be required.

To use PUB2ID:
• 1. Launch InDesign. Use the InDesign -> File -> Open menu to navigate
through your files to locate your Microsoft Publisher file and click “Open”.
• 2. You will see a conversion progress bar.
• 3. The Publisher file will open on your Desktop rebuilt in InDesign.
• 4. Save this new InDesign file.
• 5. Close then re-open the new InDesign file
• 6. Re-map any missing fonts using the InDesign dialog
• 7. Images are extracted to a folder with the the Publisher file name and linked
in the new InDesign document.
• 8. Re-save the new InDesign document.

Included with the plug-in is a terrific fully-illustrated .PDF Users Guide that explains in just ten pages how the PUB2ID plug-in works. Besides the expected basics like system requirements, installation, registration and invocation there are chapters on workflow, fonts and styles, text flow, text wrap and formatting, importing images, image effects and special effects, drawing and inserting objects. The Microsoft Publisher features that are most unique to the program, like its handling of clip art, shadow styles, Design Gallery objects, auto-shapes, importing bitmap image border effects and word-art all receive special attention in the PUB2ID Users Guide.

If you simply must work with older Microsoft Publisher you need to know that there is a tool that converts files created with Microsoft Publisher into Adobe InDesign files on either Macintosh or Windows platforms. Visit the Markzware website to find out more about PUB2ID and their other programs, utilities, and plug-ins designed to make life a lot easier for those of us who simply must
yield to the urge to publish documents on our computers.