Kursiv GmbH in liquidation

Kursiv GmbH in liquidation

Business closure and realignment

6. December 2023In News, Publishing, WordPressBy Karsten Risseeuw1 Minute

In 2023, Kursiv GmbH was put into liquidation for reasons of age. The last projects will be completed these months. All active clients have been informed. Effective immediately, no more products will be sold via this website. Markzware products can be purchased directly from > Markzware or from other resellers. I would like to thank you for many years of cordial and professional cooperation.

Now we are moving on to new horizons and activities. Work is already underway to realign this website for 2024.

Karsten Risseeuw


Introducing OmniMarkz

Introducing OmniMarkz

How the Markzware conversion solutions work


23. February 2022In News, PublishingBy Karsten Risseeuw1 Minute

Markzware conversion solutions have been proven for many years. There are good conversions for documents from Adobe InDesign (INDD), QuarkXPress (QXP) and PDF documents (PDF). Recently there is OmniMarkz, which combines all three individual products and can therefore convert all of the file formats mentioned here. OmniMarkz is something like the Swiss army knife for publishing documents.

The following video is an introduction to OmniMarkz. However, because the products all work in the same way, the video can also be viewed as an introduction to IDMarkz, QXPMarkz and PDFMarkz.

How OmniMarkz works

More information about OmniMarkz can be found here:


IDMarkz SE released for Windows

IDMarkz SE released for Windows

Convert InDesign documents without InDesign


14. January 2022In NewsBy Karsten Risseeuw2 Minutes

Markzware conversion tools have proven themselves for many years. The switch from plug-ins to stand-alone software products has been completed. The only downer was the lack of Windows programs. IDMarkz, for example, was only available for Mac, not Windows. That is now changing with IDMarkz SE.

The key to converting InDesign documents

Markzware has just released IDMarkz SE, a Windows version of the popular IDMarkz for Mac. Windows development is new and the products are not quite the same in functionality. That is probably why there are now different versions for Mac and Windows.

IDMarkz SE converts INDD and INDT files from InDesign to IDML in no time at all. The IDML format is not only suitable for opening newer InDesign documents, for example in older InDesign versions. An IDML import is also supported by Affinity Publisher or QuarkXPress. This means that documents can also be transferred to other publishing platforms.

The conversion is easy. It doesn’t even need InDesign installed for this software to work. IDMarkz SE is a stand-alone software solution and opens InDesign files directly. The conversion to IDML takes place in no time and the result can be viewed in a preview window. There you can – as with the Mac version – scroll through the pages and get an approximate representation. In addition, the elements of the file, such as images or fonts, are evaluated and summarized as information.

From the preview, the IDML document can now be opened in various other programs. These include InDesign, XPress and Affinity Publisher.

In contrast to the Mac version, however, various other export options cannot be used at the moment. For example, there is no way to export the IDML file to JPEG, TIFF or other image formats. It is still unclear whether this functionality will be implemented in the future. The software is under development and Markzware limits itself to well-functioning solutions.

Shop IDMarkz SE

Windows users can now purchase IDMarkz SE at Kursiv. You can choose between an endless license without updates or a cheaper annual license including updates.


Timothy Muza: Female finger touching screen

OmniMarkz combines all previous conversion solutions from Markzware

OmniMarkz combines all previous conversion solutions from Markzware

Quick conversion of PDF, INDD and QXP


7. January 2022In News, PublishingBy Karsten Risseeuw7 Minutes

The preparation of digital documents is often demanding. This not only applies to the output, but also applies to the data that you receive from customers or suppliers. How do you open different document formats? One method is to insist on “standards”. However, the fact is that there are several established data formats. As a professional contractor, you should be able to handle all formats. There is now OmniMarkz, an all-round tool from Markzware for converting important prepress document formats.

Data conversion

Almost every software has its own document format. This is often very useful when working with a particular program. But if you want to exchange documents, each party must be able to read these documents. That is not always cleared up straight away. It annoys me if you tacitly assume that everyone works with Microsoft products and everyone does their graphic work with Adobe products. This has not been the case for a long time.

The trend is towards diversification. There are more programs available, and each of these programs often has its own format. Exchange formats are also becoming increasingly common. For example, InDesign can generate so-called IDML files. They can now also be opened in other programs, whereby the IDML file is then automatically converted into the internal format.

Exchange formats are therefore important for collaboration. They make it possible to create a work here and process it there. It should be noted, however, that all software “interprets” a document. So there may be minor differences between the display on two different platforms. Rounding differences in the spacing of a font can, for example, lead to the very last word in a line of text sliding to the next page, even though this is not wanted at all. Control is therefore mandatory after every conversion.

The best way to compare data conversion is to adopt a standing sentence. For example, the customer only has a PDF file of an old travel brochure and no longer has original files. With a suitable conversion solution, you can now convert the PDF file to an original file in XPress, InDesign or Affinity Publisher. This would allow the old document structure to be rebuilt much faster than preparation for the new prospectus.

OmniMarkz is the Swiss Army Knife for file conversions

Document conversions are demanding. Markzware already offers 3 proven software solutions:

  1. IDMarkz converts INDD files from InDesign.
  2. QXPMarkz converts QXP files from QuarkXPress
  3. PDFMarkz converts PDF files from almost any source.

All three products are now summarized in OmniMarkz. So you are armed for almost any eventuality.

OmniMarkz imports INDD files as well as QXP and PDF files. Original software does not even have to be available for this. OmniMarkz also works if it is the only program on the computer where incoming jobs are checked and prepared. This need not be a fully equipped publishing workstation.

Thats how it works

Conversion solutions from Markzware convert internally to IDML and from there to the big wide world. IDML is a format that is already read by many programs today because it is a well-structured and open description of a file. OmniMarkz can already show an approximate preview of the file and also allows you to scroll through the file. If everything fits, you can start a conversion. There are various options to choose from:

  • Conversion to various image formats and PDF
  • Direct opening in XPress, InDesign or, for example, Affinity Publisher.

Conversion Limits

Data conversion is perfect for converting existing documents into another format once. However, these solutions are not suitable for constantly moving documents back and forth between several layout programs. A file conversion should be viewed as a one-time takeover of standing sentence. A control is always required after the conversion.

The fact that a file conversion is now often extremely successful should not hide the complexity of the challenge. There are big differences between different layout programs, even if they solve similar things. The conversion looks for the best match for the other program – provided that it is there.

Evaluation of a solution

The best question when evaluating a software solution like OmniMarkz is always this: How much time can I save? For example, if it takes 8 hours of work to rebuild the document identically without conversion, how expensive would that be? The more time has to be invested, the cheaper the conversion solution appears. It should be noted, however, that the conversion must always be checked. It would be better if you clarify for yourself how much time (and thus money) you want to save and where.

Depending on the situation, it can also be stated that some things cannot be solved at all if no conversion software is available.

  • How do you convert a Word document to InDesign?
    (by creating a PDF file and then converting it to InDesign in no time with OmniMarkz)
  • How can the elements of a website be used for a new XPress document?
    (by converting the website to PDF and from there using OmniMarkz to XPress)
  • How can I open InDesign documents if I don’t have InDesign (any more)?
    (by converting the INDD file to another format via OmniMarkz)


Create original files from PDF

Create original files from PDF

The new PDFMarkz converts PDF files to IDML - and from there to the wider world of publishing


2. June 2021In NewsBy Karsten Risseeuw6 Minutes

With the release of PDFMarkz, Markzware has said goodbye to the plug-in market. All conversion products are now available as standalone software solutions. With this change, the current conversion solutions can do a lot more than before. In addition, original software, such as InDesign or XPress, is no longer required for the tool to be used.

Sometimes PDF is the only way to get a new document

PDF is the standard for sharing documents that no longer need to be adjusted. Depending on the PDF variant, the document can be used for printing, archiving, as a form or in other ways. But what if you do have to adjust the file? What if the original file is missing or incompatible with the layout software? Then PDFMarkz helps to create a fully fledged and editable publishing file directly from a PDF file.

The conversion is simple and fast. The document – converted to IDML – is then available with a preview. The preview function is an important innovation in all of Markzware’s conversion solutions. There is a uniform user interface. After the conversion, the document is first displayed within the software. It doesn’t even need original software (XPress, InDesign …). The preview shows a simple WYSIWYG and offers some information about the document. You can also scroll through all the pages.

From here you can move on to the export of the file. Because IDML is used by XPress, InDesign and Affinity Publisher, an IDML file can be opened directly in these software solutions. Now you have an original document on a new platform! Sounds easy? It is! The conversion is reliable and fast. You actually save hours of work because you can shorten a complex redesign process for a new software platform.

The PDF conversion is not entirely trivial. There are many PDF variants and many different PDF libraries that are used by very different software solutions to generate PDF files. In some circumstances, work may still be needed on the converted document. An important difference to PDF editors, however, is this: You create an original document from a PDF document. This means that all editing functions of a layout software are available again. It is also easy to make corrections in the new original document. This is an advantage for later processing.

Different scenarios

Why would you want to convert a PDF document? Here are some areas of application:

  • The original layout is no longer available, only the PDF file.
  • The graphic artist sent Illustrator files, but I use InDesign. This was solved via PDF and PDFMarkz.
  • The customer wanted to have his Word document printed – it can now be processed professionally via PDF and PDFMarkz
  • A few design ideas should be created from a website – the basic elements of the website can now be easily adopted via PDF
  • Some documents can be made available as PDF. Illustrations, plan drawings and other elements can be imported and edited in no time via PDF.

What is being converted?

  • Object positioning
  • Object content (images are stored separately)
  • Texts
  • Colors and color palettes (including Pantone colors)
  • Font assignments
  • Linked text frames
  • Text runaround
  • Text styles
  • Tables
  • Text attributes
  • and much more!

Export options

  • PDF according to IDML
  • From IDML to XPress, InDesign, Affinity Publisher
  • PDF to PDF
  • PDF to JPG, PNG and other image formats
  • Extract the text!

Perfect for the work preparation

PDFMarkz can be installed on a workstation for work preparation without any additional licenses (e.g. for InDesign or XPress). Incoming documents are checked there and, if necessary, converted before they go into production.

Extract text

With the export options, the complete text of the PDF file can also be extracted and saved as TXT, RTF or HTML.

Generate image files

Images can also be generated from the file in no time at all. An image is generated for each page. Various formats such as JPG, TIF, GIF or PNG are available for this.

Mac first

Only the Mac version of PDFMarkz is currently available. The Windows version is expected later this year. If you buy a version now, you will automatically have access to the Windows version as soon as it appears.

In the following screenshots I took a 110 pages Scrivener file, saved as PDF, and opened it in Affinity Publisher. Scrivener is perfect for creating text documents, like manuals, books, and much more. For a more professional output, it is advisable to do this in a layout software. Of course, there is still a lot of work to do, but the initial import of all data is effortless.