Expert: Candice Anderson - 6/21/2006

Question
We currently publish a directory using QuarkXpress 6.1. Our directory is built by exporting the directory information out of a MS-SQL database and tagging the information with QuarkTags with MS-FoxPro.

We should be able to import our QuarkXpress templates into InDesign but the real issue for me to use this program is the ability to tag the data with StyleTags.

I'm sure InDesign will have its own StyleTags - I read somewhere that it uses XML tags, much like CSS. Could one tag the data before import into InDesign so InDesign will flow the data with the proper styles and how?

Thanks
DonnaZ

Answer
Hey,

Indesign person, not web person, so I'm taking a guess :)

When my boss swithced from Quark to Indesign, she questoined this as well.  First off, be very careful when you move your templates. She tried and the templates went over, but not the numbers.

As far as I know, there is not really a good way of moving data over. From what I gather, when my boss was working on a catalog that went to Indesign, she had to put all the numbers back manually. If it's just numbers, and you don't care about the style, you'll be fine. But you can't keep your tables, they WON'T move over. (and if you prove me wrong, please let me know :) )


Candice