The features below, if available in InDesign, work with all supported versions of InDesign, but some of the features below may require a minimal version of QuarkXPress. These requirements are noted near each such feature.
Q++Studio Text Formatting is made-up of a string of comma-delimited attributes settings of attributes from the list below, and apart from being used internally by Q++Studio to communicate with QuarkXPress and InDesign, it can be used as the sFormat variable of the macro function FormatText.
➢The options below can also be set in the text attributes editor which is used to customize the font attributes of text in minicalendar options, grid options and in moon and sun options.
➢Differences between QuarkXPress and InDesign in their support and/or implementation of various features are detailed in the topic differences between QuarkXPress and InDesign.
Each specifier is separated from the next by a comma (no space). Any value which can be specified in decimal form must use a period as decimal separator, regardless of the workstation's Windows settings. Sample formatting may look as follows (the additional non-highlighted text is part of the formatted text replacement sent by Q++Studio to QuarkXPress and InDesign which can be inspected by viewing p-code):
{[1d]}={B+,I+,COLOR(Pantone 231U),f Times New Roman|28}
Formatting will fail if the text formatting string contains the same attributes repeated with a different values (eg. f Arial and f Garamond) or with inherently conflicting different attributes (eg: hs 90,vs 75).
Keyword |
Sample Use |
Attribute Description |
B |
B+ or B- |
Add/remove Bold (faux bold is not available in InDesign) |
I |
I+ or I- |
Add/remove Italic (faux italic is not available in InDesign, use skewing instead) |
UL |
UL+ or UL- |
Add/remove Underline (if using InDesign, see the topic here) |
O |
O+ or O- |
Add/remove Outline (not available in InDesign, use stroking instead) |
SHD |
SHD+ or SHD- |
Add/remove Shadow (not available in InDesign) |
SUP |
SUP+ or SUP- |
Add/remove Superscript |
SUB |
SUB+ or SUB- |
Add/remove Subscript |
NONB |
NONB+ or NONB- |
Add/remove Non Breaking |
SPR |
SPR+ or SPR- |
Add/remove Superior |
STRK |
STRK+ or STRK- |
Add/remove Strike Thru (if using InDesign, see the topic here) |
ALLC |
ALLC+ or ALLC- |
Add/remove All Caps |
SCAP |
SCAP+ or SCAP- |
Add/remove Small Caps |
WUL |
WUL+ or WUL- |
Add/remove Word Underline (not available in InDesign) |
f |
f Arial |
Font Name
If you wish to refer to a font that is part of a font family with multiple styles, as supported by QuarkXPress 2018-2025, or InDesign, then you must combine the font name with the font's Postscript name, separated by an equal sign, as shown here. |
s |
s 8.5 |
Font Size |
COLOR |
COLOR(Pantone 231U) |
Text color name (spelled exactly as obtained from scanning). |
sh |
sh 30 |
Text Shade (decimal 0 to 100) |
op |
op 30 |
Text Opacity (decimal 0 to 100) (not available in InDesign where opacity is an object attribute) |
k |
k -5.0 |
Kerning (-326 to +326 for QuarkXPress and -1000 to +10000 for InDesign). If you are using InDesign, then you can use the value 0.01 for metrics kerning and 0.02 for optical kerning. |
t |
t 12.5 |
Tracking (-326 to +326 for QuarkXPress and -1000 to +10000 for InDesign) |
bs |
bs 10.5 |
Baseline Shift (-27 to +27 for QuarkXPress and -5000 to +5000 for InDesign) |
vs |
vs 90 |
Vertical Scale (25 to 300 for QuarkXPress and 1 to 1000 for InDesign) Cannot be combined with Horizontal Scale |
hs |
hs 100 |
Horizontal Scale (25 to 300 for QuarkXPress and 1 to 1000 for InDesign) |
skw |
skw 15 |
Text skewing (-82 to 82 degrees) (not available in QuarkXPress) |
lead |
lead 8.5 |
Text leading is specific to InDesign (when using QuarkXPress, use paragraph leading instead).
➢As per the Adobe documentation, "By default, leading is a character attribute, which means that you can apply more than one leading value within the same paragraph. The largest leading value in a line of type determines the leading for that line.").
The text to which text leading is applied cannot contain any return characters. |
ovrprt |
OVRPRT+ or OVRPRT- |
Text overprinting (+ for overprint, - for knock-out) (not available in QuarkXPress) |
Text Background Shading
Background Text Shading attributes below require QuarkXPress 2017-2025 (they exist as a paragraph attribute in InDesign) |
||
BKCOLOR |
BKCOLOR(Pantone 231U) |
Text Background color name (spelled exactly as obtained from scanning). |
BKSH |
BKSH 35.5 |
Text Background Shade (decimal 0 to 100) |
BKOP |
BKOP 80.5 |
Text Background Opacity (decimal 0 to 100) |
BKTOP |
BKTOP 3.55 |
Text Background Extent Top (decimal -2 to 99) |
BKBOTTOM |
BKBOTTOM 3.55 |
Text Background Extent Bottom (decimal -2 to 99) |
BKLEFT |
BKLEFT 3.55 |
Text Background Extent Left (decimal -2 to 99) |
BKRIGHT |
BKRIGHT 3.55 |
Text Background Extent Right (decimal -2 to 99) |
Text Framing
Text Framing attributes below require QuarkXPress 2017-2025 (they exist as a paragraph attribute in InDesign) |
||
FRCOLOR |
FRCOLOR(Pantone 231U) |
Text Frame color name (spelled exactly as obtained from scanning). |
FRSH |
FRSH 35.5 |
Text Frame Shade (decimal 0 to 100) |
FROP |
FROP 80.5 |
Text Frame Opacity (decimal 0 to 100) |
FRWID |
FRWID 0.25 |
Text Frame Thickness (decimal 0.1 to 44) |
FRTT |
FRTT 0 |
Text Frame Top Present (0 or 1=present) |
FRBB |
FRBB 0 |
Text Frame Bottom Present (0 or 1=present) |
FRLL |
FRLL 1 |
Text Frame Left Present (0 or 1=present) |
FRRR |
FRRR 1 |
Text Frame Right Present (0 or 1=present) |
FRTOP |
FRTOP 0.0 |
Text Frame Extent Top (decimal -2 to 99) |
FRBOTTOM |
FRBOTTOM 0.0 |
Text Frame Extent Bottom (decimal -2 to 99) |
FRLEFT |
FRLEFT 1.5 |
Text Frame Extent Left (decimal -2 to 99) |
FRRIGHT |
FRRIGHT 1.5 |
Text Frame Extent Right (decimal -2 to 99) |
Text Stroking
Text Stroking attributes below require QuarkXPress 2017-2025 or InDesign |
||
STRCOLOR |
STRCOLOR(Pantone 231U) |
Text Stroke color name (spelled exactly as obtained from scanning). |
STRSH |
STRSH 35.5 |
Text Stroke Shade (decimal 0 to 100) |
STROP |
STROP 80.5 |
Text Stroke Opacity (decimal 0 to 100) |
STRWID |
STRWID 0.25 |
Text Stroke Thickness (decimal 0.1 to 44) |
STRNOFILL |
STRNOFILL |
Text Stroke NoFill (0=filled or 1=hollow) |
STRJOIN |
STRJOIN |
Text Stroke Join Style (0, 1 or 2) |
STRMITRLIM |
STRMITRLIM |
Text Stroke Mitre Limit (decimal 1 to 36). Only applies if Join Style is 0. |
The application of text styles requires InDesign |
||
Keyword |
Example use |
Attribute Description |
STYCHAR |
STYCHAR(aTextStyleName) |
Applies the text style or style sheet of aTextStyleName to the currently selected text. |
See also: differences between QuarkXPress and InDesign, native paragraph formatting, native textbox formatting,xpress tags formatting and the macro function FormatText.
Topic 183085, last updated on 22-Jun-2024
