I just finished writing a book.  The publisher migrated the Word files
of the manuscript into Quark Express.
My problem is this:  I need a Word file of the Quark Express version
of the manuscript!  The publisher tells me that it is impossible to
migrate backwards into Word from Quark Express.  In other words, they
can't convert the Quark file into a Word file.  Can anyone help me to
do this?  I'm desperate, as I must work from a Word document in order
to write the sequel to the book.  Can anyone tell me how to turn a
Quark Express file into a Word file or into any format that I could
read and edit on my PC?  Thanks so much for helping an author in need!

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Request for Question Clarification by hummer-ga on 30 Aug 2006 09:11 PDT

Hi bawinc,

Have you tried this?

Download the evaluation copy of QuarkXPress 7:
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/evaluate/demos.cfm

Start the demo / open
Open the file that you want to convert
Go to File / click "Save Text"
Save as a Word doc

Please let me know if that works for you,
hummer

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Clarification of Question by bawinc-ga on 31 Aug 2006 07:46 PDT

The file is in the hands of the publisher. I've sent your suggestion
to them, so we'll see what happens.

I'm not too optimistic, because your instructions are so
straighforward that it seems impossible that they wouldn't have
already tried to do what you suggest!

The publisher has made a big deal out of this, finally telling me that
there was simply NO WAY to migrate back from Quark to Word.  I don't
know anything at all about Quark, but these people do!  They work with
it all day, every day.  So I assumed a fix of my problem would be
complex, if it were possible at all.

Meanwhile, thanks so very much for trying to help.  I'll let you know
what happens.  If you have any other ideas, please let me know!
BAW

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Request for Question Clarification by hummer-ga on 31 Aug 2006 10:46 PDT

Hi BAW,

Thanks for the update. Well, I'm famous for going long distances to
find the easiest solution - keep your hopes up, miracles happen.

The key is to click "Save Text" rather than just the regular "Save".  

Fingers crossed,
hummer

The problem you have is that Quark Xpress is a layout application. It
stores much more than simply text and formatting information. It is
customisable far beyond anything that could ever be imagined in Word.

However, as hummer has suggested the text can be saved. Either in the
way he describes, or if it comes down to it, using copy-and-paste. The
publisher should probably be able to provide you with a PDF of the
layout which would contain copyable text also.

However it seems unlikely that the publishing would have made any
editing or wording changes in the Quark document. That should only
differ from the final Word document in layout. So it will have
different pagination, fonts, point size and other things, but the
words should be the same. So you should have the final text still, or
the publisher should have a final edit before the text was layed out
in Quark.

Regards,
Sycophant