From cpr at emsoftware.com Thu Mar 9 13:26:59 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Thu Mar 9 13:27:31 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] InData 3/4.1.3 beta 2 release Message-ID: We're happy to announce that the InData 3/4.1.3 beta 2 release is available with the following feature additions and bug fixes: * Added support for XPress Tagged data fields when used in conjunction with our Xtags for InDesign plug-in (versions 3.0.2b2 and 4.0.2b2 or later). Whether tags are treated as InDesign tags (the default) or XPress Tags is controlled by a new "Styled text contains" setting in the General Preferences dialog (InData > Preferences > General...). XPress Tags handling is currently limited to character and paragraph settings; Xtags tags which create and group frames, etc., are not supported at this time. Note that you'll have to have the Xtags for InDesign plug-in installed to use the "Styled text contains: XPress Tags" preference. * Added "Line feed in data becomes" entry to the Data Preferences dialog in order to support Microsoft Excel/Windows-generated snapshots containing multi-line cells where a LF (#10) is used as a line break. (Oddly, Excel/Mac uses a CR (#13) in the same situation.) This setting defaults to "Nothing" to remain backwards compatible and should be changed when working with Excel/Windows snapshots. * Fixed a long-standing problem where an empty picture path (in a "set filename of picture" statement, for example) could trigger a crash if the picfolders list happened to contain an entry lacking a terminating folder separator. You can download this latest beta at no charge from . Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Thu Mar 9 13:28:37 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Thu Mar 9 13:29:11 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xtags for InDesign 3/4.0.2 beta 2 available Message-ID: <2AAF52E8-381B-4D06-BFE3-27C6487B7EAA@emsoftware.com> We're happy to announce that Xtags for InDesign 3/4.0.2 beta 2 is now available, with the following feature additions and bug fixes: * Added compatibility with our InData product such that XPress Tags- bearing data may now be imported by InData (versions 3.1.3b2 and 4.1.3b2 or later). * Fixed a problem where shrinking an anchored frame to fit its picture with a tag like <&pb((346,S),(300,S),,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"foo.tif") > was giving the contained image a non-zero vertical offset such that the top of the image was being cropped. Now the frame is properly resized and the vertical offset is left at zero unless otherwise specified. * Shrinking a frame that strokes its path with the [None] swatch to its contents no longer leaves a small gap between the picture and the right and bottom edges of the frame. * We've changed the <\!s> tag so that it generates a space with the no-break attribute applied rather than injecting a single "hard" space character since the latter turned out to be non-justifiable (and therefore differed from Xtags for QuarkXPress). * All flavors of line-ends (DOS, Unix and Mac) are now handled properly. * Unicode text files may now be imported so long as they begin with the appropriate byte order mark (BOM) to signal their Unicode-ness. For example, a UTF-8 encoded tagged text file would need to begin with the three character sequence 239 187 191 (that's character #239, character #187 and character #191). * Added support for old-style Mac font names (platform font names) in order to improve compatibility with tags generated by QuarkXPress or previously targeted to QuarkXPress. PostScript font name handling was improved as well. You can download this beta at no charge from . Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Wed Apr 26 16:22:38 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Wed Apr 26 16:24:53 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] InCatalog/Pro 3/4.2.4 beta 1 now available Message-ID: An important new beta of InCatalog is available at . This includes full snippet and library support for document elements with InCatalog links, and also provides basic scriptability for adding, modifying and removing InCatalog links. We'd love to hear feedback, positive or negative, about this beta. Thanks & Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Mon May 1 17:07:20 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Mon May 1 17:09:45 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] InCatalog 3-4.2.4 beta 2 Message-ID: <9EE83F83-FA93-458E-80EC-A0C4301DF6EB@emsoftware.com> A new beta of InCatalog is available with one (important) fix: Dragging grouped items to a library and exporting grouped items to an INX file no longer causes InDesign to crash. Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Mon May 1 23:39:51 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Mon May 1 23:42:14 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xtags for InDesign 3-4.0.2 beta 3 Message-ID: <4D61D8E4-8DFB-4792-95C9-292065A31ADF@emsoftware.com> There's a new beta 3 of Xtags for InDesign 3-4.0.2 with the following changes since beta 2: * The default text wrap setting for baseline-aligned anchored frames has been changed from "item" to "none" in order to bypass an InDesign composer limitation which was blocking vertical justification in text frames containing one or more anchored frames with "item" text wrap. Since InDesign's composer flows text around the part of the anchored frame extending above the baseline (as if it were a character), the text flow resulting from this change should remain the same as it was before. The default text wrap setting for ascent-aligned anchored frames is still "item". * Values specified as picas are now recognized even if they contain only a points component. For example, while the values "0p6" and "p6" both specify six points, using the latter no longer results an error. * Hidden text tags in QuarkXPress-generated tagged text () no longer produce errors and are instead silently ignored (since there's no corresponding construct in InDesign). * Fixed a problem which caused Xtags to issue a "missing composer" error instead of a "missing language" error. * Improved support for toggling font faces when using Adobe Janson. Note, however, that Xtags is only able to toggle bold and italic on the fonts that InDesign itself is able to toggle bold and italic (via Cmd/Ctrl-Shift-B and Cmd/Ctrl-Shift-I, respectively). * Xtags now recognizes German-localized QuarkXPress standard color and language names. For example, "Gelb" will now be treated as "Yellow" (so long as the document doesn't already contain a swatch named "Gelb"). Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Wed Jun 21 18:04:06 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Wed Jun 21 18:06:01 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xtags for QuarkXPress 7.2.2 beta 1 Message-ID: We're happy to announce that Xtags for QuarkXPress 7.2.2 beta 1 is available at . This first beta of Xtags for QuarkXPress 7.0 is currently distinct from the ongoing 4/6.2.2 beta cycles, but we'll merge them into one beta cycle before too long. Also, we plan to drop support for QuarkXPress 4.x and 5.x entirely with the release of the 7.x series of XTensions (Xtags, Xdata, Xcatalog). Xdata 7.x is coming very soon (we hope within a day or three), and Xcatalog 7.x should be coming soon after that (2-3 weeks). After that, we'll be tackling universal binary (UB) builds for the Mac versions. We thought it was wiser to take smaller steps rather than tackle the 7.x upgrade and the UB upgrade at the same time. As always, we desperately need and welcome feedback; please send us crash logs (support@emsoftware.com) if you find crashing problems. And, as always, we're very grateful for your testing efforts. Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Tue Jun 27 23:27:50 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Tue Jun 27 23:28:43 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xdata 7.0 beta 1 for QuarkXPress 7.0 now available Message-ID: <1116E800-3603-43B6-9063-64738408A16D@emsoftware.com> We're pleased to announce that Xdata 7.0 beta 1 for QuarkXPress 7.0 is now available for download from . This first beta doesn't support Unicode internally, but otherwise should be fully functional. As ever, your testing and feedback is greatly appreciated! Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Fri Jun 30 10:02:32 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Fri Jun 30 10:03:01 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xtags for InDesign 3/4.0.2 beta 4 Message-ID: <4BEA5B61-0C66-4DD3-903E-AB3025AAE5EA@emsoftware.com> Changes since 3-4.0.2 beta 3: * Fixed a problem where forced leading on an anchored frame that had been shrunk to fit its contents was using the frame's original height instead of the shrunken height. * Text in an anchored frame that has been shrunk to fit its contents no longer starts partway down the frame. * Fixed a problem where paragraph tags between an anchored text frame's final CR and the <&te> tag were being applied to the last paragraph. Such paragraph tags are now properly ignored. * Xtags no longer causes a crash if a script makes a layout selection ("select text frame 1 of document 1", for example) rather than a text selection ("select text of text frame 1 of document 1") prior to invoking Xtags. * In addition to English, Xtags now recognizes French and German- localized QuarkXPress Passport-standard color, frame style and language names. Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Fri Jun 30 10:03:16 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Fri Jun 30 10:03:43 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] InCatalog 3/4.2.4 beta 3 Message-ID: <87F3478A-7C66-466A-9FA3-95861EA86B1A@emsoftware.com> Changes since InCatalog 3-4.2.4 beta 2: * Fixed a problem where InCatalog could crash if a document generated with a previous version of InDesign being opened in InDesign CS2 happened to contain text with catalog link-bearing zero-space-break characters. [InDesign CS2-only] Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Mon Jul 31 14:16:35 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Mon Jul 31 14:19:14 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xcatalog 7.2.2 beta 1 now available Message-ID: <4813EE25-E236-4E11-A459-94127B4702E4@emsoftware.com> We're overjoyed to announce, after a lot of work, that Xcatalog 7.2.2 beta 1 is now available, for use with QuarkXPress 7.0 Mac OS/Windows: Please visit for download links and beta release notes. The new main new features are those relating to Unicode data in and out, which is now richly supported by Xcatalog. Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Mon Oct 2 13:45:16 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Mon Oct 2 13:45:32 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] new QuarkXPress 7.x betas/early access copies available: Xdata, Xtags, Xcatalog Message-ID: We're happy to announce that we now have 7.x betas available for Xdata, Xtags, and Xcatalog, with QuarkXPress 7.x support (including Universal Binary (dual platform) for QuarkXPress 7.01 for Mac OS X): http://www.emsoftware.com/products/xdata/beta http://www.emsoftware.com/products/xtags/beta/quarkxpress http://www.emsoftware.com/products/xcatalog/beta We're doing something else different for these betas: your existing 6.x serial codes won't work with them, and you'll have to upgrade to the 7.x betas. If you've bought a 6.x XTension product within the past calendar year, the upgrade will be free--please contact our sales folks (sales@emsoftware.com) with your current serial number plus proof of purchase, asking for your upgraded serial code. Otherwise, please order an upgrade via our online store at and note you would like a 7.x serial, including your 6.x serial in the comment field. Thanks for any feedback you can give us on the products, and we hope you enjoy them! (Forgive any double-posting, but this is important enough for both general announcements as well as betas.) Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Wed Oct 18 14:59:50 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Wed Oct 18 15:00:04 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] new Xdata, Xtags, Xcatalog 6/7 betas Message-ID: <1CED2B55-7849-4A3A-B844-ECABE285AB68@emsoftware.com> All three products have updated beta releases, with new features and bug fixes: These are now combined QuarkXPress 6 and 7 beta releases, and the QuarkXPress 4 XTensions are no longer shipped nor supported, so we've dropped them from the betas. (Our plan is to make final non-beta versions available for people who still need to use QuarkXPress 4.x. I.e., they'll always be available, and they certainly work, as-is, even if we can't really support nor update them.) Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Wed Nov 8 15:42:16 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Wed Nov 8 15:42:57 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xtags Server 6.2.2 beta 5 (first appearance) Message-ID: <06E8D080-6376-4A7A-A338-C1808F3A26EB@emsoftware.com> We're happy to announce that Xtags Server 6.2.2 beta 5 is just now appearing for the first time as a new product. The beta page is . We're at 6.2.2 beta 5 to keep this in perfect synchronization with the desktop (client) Xtags. The Xtags Server XTension is a new product--based on the existing Xtags XTension--that works with QuarkXPress Server (currently QuarkDDS 3.5+), a server version of XPress. This will only be of interest if you're using or thinking of using QuarkXPress Server (which is not an end-user product). If you're interested in beta-testing, please contact sales@emsoftware.com for more information. Thanks & cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Wed Nov 15 15:23:09 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Wed Nov 15 15:24:06 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xtags, Xdata, Xcatalog (Pro) 6.3 and 7.3 now released Message-ID: <6DBA89FE-F757-4569-BA8E-6BAA4B858E8A@emsoftware.com> Thanks to all the beta test feedback, we're now happy to announce that Xtags, Xdata, and Xcatalog (Pro) have finished their beta cycle successfully, and are officially released in dual versions 6.3 and 7.3 for QuarkXPress 6.1+ and 7.01+ (Mac) and 7.0+ (Win), respectively. You can download them from their normal product download pages. Thanks again for all your help! Cheers! --Chris Ryland / President / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com From cpr at emsoftware.com Mon Nov 20 16:20:44 2006 From: cpr at emsoftware.com (Chris Ryland) Date: Mon Nov 20 16:21:04 2006 Subject: [Em Beta] Xtags for InDesign 3/4.02 beta 5 released Message-ID: (Beta page:) (Direct downloads:) Mac: http://ftp.emsoftware.com/mac/beta/it3402b5.zip Win: http://ftp.emsoftware.com/win/beta/it3402b5.zip Changes since 3-4.0.2b4: * Fixed a long-standing problem where placing an unanchored box relative to the most-recently anchored box would instead either place that box relative to the most-recently created unanchored box or issue the error "No such previous box" if there was no such most- recently created unanchored box. * Fixed a problem where support for all flavors of line-ends (DOS, Unix and Mac, introduced back in beta 2) wasn't working with tagged text files imported via scripting. This was causing text to import without paragraph-level formatting (as if the "Include style sheets" checkbox was deselected). * Worked around an InDesign problem where vertically-centered text in baseline-aligned inline text frames (created via &tb(...)) were being drawn top-aligned. * Fixed a problem where , and <$> were not working consistently with Adobe Garamond Semibold. * Fixed a long-standing smart quotes problem where quotes immediately following paragraph style callouts were producing close quotes rather than open quotes. * Fixed a problem where displaying a filename with an empty filename extension like "mytags." would crash the Get Text with Xtags... dialog. (Mac OS only) * Fixed a problem where the Get Text with Xtags... dialog wasn't alway showing valid tagged text files as selectable. (Mac OS X 10.4 and later) Cheers! --Chris Ryland / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com