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.

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.