QuarkXPress

4.3 (85)
QuarkXPress is the world's most powerful page layout and dig

Overall rating

4.3 /5
(85)
Value for Money
3.7/5
Features
4.2/5
Ease of Use
4.1/5
Customer Support
3.7/5

80%
recommended this app
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85 Reviews

Kathleen
Overall rating
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Once avoided, now embraced

Reviewed on 20/5/2020

When I began using Quark roughly 15 years ago, I would so anything to try to avoid it. It was intimidating and frustrating and, at the time, only a mac program. I desperately tried to convert as many files as I could to Adobe InDesign because I was more comfortable on the pc platform. Now, I love Quark and would prefer to use it over anything else. Having a PC platform version really was the key in my eyes. With recent versions, Quark has become much less intimidating and more inviting to non-industry professionals.

Pros

Quark really is the best when it comes to page layout and typesetting design. The features and abilities far surpass other layout programs.

Cons

Although recent versions have been improving, Quark can be rather intimidating to learn and not the most user friendly.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Design
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

I've used this product for years and love the ease of designing with it.

Reviewed on 5/6/2018

I can create my design projects just the way I want them to be because it offers many options and is easy to use.

Pros

The many options it offers for layout, working with type and images. I love the Collect for Output, get's everything in one place. Resizing pages when needed, the gradations, the HTML options are great. I have found Quark much easier to use than InDesign.

Cons

I'd have to say the cost, it's expensive for a stand-alone product. Because of the high price I am very slow to upgrade to newer version. Which makes for a bigger learning curve when I do upgrade.

Ale
Overall rating
  • Industry: Newspapers
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

We use it this product for years but we have to switch

Reviewed on 25/2/2019

Amazing we use it for years, but we have to change to more modern product can solve the current workflow of digital/print media

Pros

Quarkxpress was the standart for printing. we really love it, we use it for make books, and magazines. Is relative easy to use (not easy but kind that) and get results.

If you go for make prints books, is amazing... but if you work in print and digital media... well is gonna be a pain.

Cons

The big issue is QuarkXPress dont adapt to the "new standards", like make books for prints and digitals with all the formats (epub, kdp, and other) for all the markets.

So you have remake the book for digital, other products save that more time because offer a solution to that problem

Also the pricing is very expensive, they should try to find another model

In the last 5-10 years they lost the market because of that. I hope QuarkXPress get it because we love it

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Great to Use for Marketing Materials!

Reviewed on 29/7/2019

Pros

I used this software regularly at my previous job, and really enjoyed it. I was able to create beautiful advertisements for print, fairly easily. I was able to teach myself how to use it also. When it comes to design software, this is user friendly.

Cons

It is kind of outdated. These days, people tend to look for Adobe software proficiency. It is a great stepping stone to Adobe.

Chris
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Used to be my page layout go-to, but has become an every-now-and-then instead

Reviewed on 16/3/2018

Until Adobe InDesign overtook the market, Quark was the king of layout software. If it weren't for InDesign within Adobe Creative Cloud, Quark would still be perfectly acceptable and user-friendly to meet layout and desktop publishing needs.

Pros

I like the fairly straight-forward interface and ease of use after you familiarize yourselves with a few tutorials and hands-on layout projects. Improvements and updates throughout the years have allowed Quark to still have a foothold in layout software, despite the Adobe InDesign market takeover. Being a subscription based service is a plus, since I don't find myself needing to use Quark as often as I used to.

Cons

The features and functionality simply haven't been able to match or overtake InDesign's capabilities. Doesn't work as seamlessly with Photoshop and Illustrator the way InDesign does.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Newspapers
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Great product

Reviewed on 19/2/2019

Pros

QuarkXPress is a great tool to have. Our company uses it for page design and it was easy to learn and master. We also recently used it for a book design.

Cons

It will sometimes lock up and close out on its own, losing any unsaved changes. It can be very frustrating. It happens on several computers, so we're not sure if it is our server or the program causing the issue.

Lynn
Overall rating
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Quark XPress

Reviewed on 17/6/2019

I have used this software from the late 1980s - a long time. It continually improves. I would love to always work in it, but not every printer or client wants their project designed in Quark. Still, it is an amazing software for a graphic designer who loves perfect type on a page.

Pros

The detail you can create with type. You can control all aspects in a layout. I love this!!!

Cons

Not as many printer will accept a Quark Xpress document. Most require Adobe Indesign for print projects.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Publishing
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

QuarkXPress is great!

Reviewed on 6/3/2019

Pros

It's intuitive and easy to use. Even a beginner should be able to easily design in this once you have been using it for an hour or two. Even better, you don't need a subscription for it! I have used Quark and Adobe InDesign and prefer Quark.

Cons

I don't have any complaints, I think it's a matter of what you were trained on: Quark vs InDesign.

Julian
Overall rating
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support

Does what it says on the Tin and more

Reviewed on 8/11/2017

Pros

Ease of use, simplistic when you get used to the software, Great features for extended use, Really like this software

Cons

Not too many Cons really, when it does what I want it to do. Maybe the price, but then for so many features - These things cost money

Amanda
Overall rating
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Good, but I prefer alternatives.

Reviewed on 3/10/2019

Quark is a decent layout program, however I will say I prefer using InDesign.

Pros

The software overall was easy enough to learn. I feel like most things were pretty intuitive.

Cons

There were some limitations on the software. Certain features or tools that I would want to use that I couldn't. Or at least, I couldn't figure out how to if they were an option.

Robin
Overall rating
  • Industry: Graphic Design
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

If Quark were a man, I'd marry him.

Reviewed on 31/7/2019

I have used Quark for everything from business card design to websites. I especially like using it for layout on coffee table books.

Pros

I love everything about QuarkXPress. I've been using Quark since 1990 and also taught Quark for a few years. There is an elegance to the way Quark works that is missing in other page layout software. It was set up by graphic designers for graphic designers. Even though I own Adobe Creative Suite, I prefer to use Quark for print and web projects.

Cons

There is nothing that I dislike about Quark. Even if I run into a snag or problem I am able to find a solution easily with the Quark HELP feature or on their website.

Meshell
Overall rating
  • Industry: Publishing
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Quark after using InDesign for about ten years

Reviewed on 30/10/2019

Laying out ads and pages for our newspaper is very easy in Quark.

Pros

Very easy to transition to after using InDesign for about ten years. Layout is very easy. The keyboard shortcuts are easy to learn as well.

Cons

There are times that files imported from Illustrator do some strange things when you export the Quark file to a pdf.

Scott
Overall rating
  • Industry: Printing
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 3.0 /10

QuarkXpress

Reviewed on 30/3/2021

Overall I would say over the past 20 years since using a number of different software. QuarkXPress has come a long way in its functionality. I will say they continued to make it easier to use for the software that it is but never up to the standards of adobe.

Pros

I am going, to be honest. We as a printing company need to use QuarkXpress only a few times when a customer is the one that uses the software. If we need to open their native file then we use it. I honestly cannot say there is anything I like most.

Cons

I would say I don't like the functionality of this software. It has never been as good as adobe and I'm not saying this because adobe is the top design software.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Graphic Design
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 0.0 /10

I used this for years, but InDesign took over.

Reviewed on 30/3/2018

It was a great asset in the beginning of my graphic design career. I wouldn't have been employable without it.

Pros

Great for books (large and small), pamphlets, ads, posters, and anything text-heavy. Third-party plugin were useful, and their developers were collaborative.

Cons

Hasn't kept up with OSX, or the industry in general. The last technical support I had was not only rude, but uninformed. of their own features, namely the tables tool which they said did not exist, even though I was using it right then and there.

Tracy
Overall rating
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 1.0 /10

Used to be #1...now, not so much.

Reviewed on 17/3/2018

Pros

Quark is great for print design, text-heavy layouts, and what used to be referred to as desktop publishing.

Cons

They dropped the ball years by being slow to release a compatible version with Mac OSX, and have been struggling to get back in the race ever since. Meanwhile, Adobe InDesign became the industry leader, and there's no going back to Quark. It just doesn't have the smooth cross-application compatibility you get staying in the Adobe Suite.

Samantha
Overall rating
  • Industry: Professional Training & Coaching
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 2.0 /10

Quark is just like Adobe InDesign with less bells and whistles, and is a little harder to use.

Reviewed on 14/3/2018

I was able to easily create text-only programs for events that my work was putting on. It was super easy for basic projects.

Pros

I used it in college, and it was a great beginner tool for learning how to do page layouts, and is relatively cost efficient.

Cons

It doesn't integrate well with other software, and it falls short on the graphical layout side. Only ended up using it for text only event programs.

Jose
Overall rating
  • Industry: Health, Wellness & Fitness
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10

Simple to use and ton of features

Reviewed on 31/1/2018

Saves a ton of time

Pros

Another reviewer Chadsey really nailed all the pros and cons of this software. It's great that it is subscription based and anytime you need help with something, their customer support is quick to help.

Cons

I think once a new update comes out, the owners of the previous version should get to upgrade for free or at the very least at a significant discount. Not knowing when the new version will come out can prevent you from buying the current version.

Laron
Overall rating
  • Industry: Newspapers
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

QuarkXpress is a great tool.

Reviewed on 23/11/2017

Pros

I like the way QuarkXpress is structured. The interface is quite straight forward for a design tool. I love that a number of products can be designed using Quark, from books, the brochures, to posters and Newsletters. Quark, in my humble opinion, is probably the best tool for publication designs.

Cons

Not much cons, in my experience. However, I think for image editing, it should have more features to edit graphics.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

Loved Quark until I got my hands on InDesign

Reviewed on 9/4/2018

Pros

I learned Graphic Design elements with Quark. It was a great way to learn the basics of design and layout.

Cons

Quark is limited in its capabilities compared to other designer programs (InDesign). Integrating Quark files with other software is often difficult to do.

Robert
Overall rating
  • Industry: Nonprofit Organisation Management
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

A robust alternative to InDesign

Reviewed on 17/7/2019

Pros

I've been around forever, so I still use Quark Xpress alongside Adobe InDesign. Quark has a lot of nice features, including some that InDesign doesn't have, such as publishing to HTML5. It's easy to use. It does not require an annual subscription but the frequent (annual) upgrades do cost.

Cons

When I first got this software the registration process was laborious and the customer support was terrible. Quark is not as powerful as InDesign but, for me, is easier to use.

Brianna
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

Haven't heard of anyone using this since college

Reviewed on 5/9/2018

Becoming efficient with any design software takes practice. For the small amount of time I used this tool it served it purpose well.

Pros

Was a great tool for designing flyers for my business.

Cons

I found it difficult to navigate the interface.

Rebeka
Overall rating
  • Industry: Nonprofit Organisation Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Quark XPress

Reviewed on 1/2/2019

Pros

I love Quark for layout purposes. It's easy (for me) to use and I have been using it for years. The functionality is basic but very user friendly to create complex and sophisticated designs.

Cons

Since it doesn't seem to be in the industry standard anymore (sadly) it's hard to use daily because the updates do not come through.

Alexander
Overall rating
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support

I've been using Quark over 16 years. It needs mayor improvements to be the industry standard...

Reviewed on 7/3/2018

Pros

This program it is very precise, measurements can be exact and the dialog box for PDF output selection is also very detailed. Also outputting linked files and fonts into one location is easy.

Cons

The need to purchase 3rd party plugins to get many things done. Quark should address those needs in their next version.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Financial Services
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Nice page layout software

Reviewed on 21/8/2018

Pros

Its easy to use for beginners learning desktop publishing

Cons

Outdated - doesn't work as well with other Adobe products

Stephen
Overall rating
  • Used Monthly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support

I use quarkxpress to do most of our printed materials for our small design firm. Its really...

Reviewed on 24/4/2018

Pros

Its really gotten a lot better then its early days and really has started to be just as good for printed materials then adobes creative suite. Its price point makes it a no brainer!!!

Cons

Its only downfall is its not as diverse as adobes products. Adobes catalogs doesnt cater to print as much as quarkxpress but quark also doesnt offer a solid number. One software for a do it all creative punch.