Now we’ve come to the fun part — actually using Managing Editor XT Pro to do what it was built to do: rapidly place and size text and graphics in your XPress document.
For the purposes of our demonstration, create a new QuarkXPress document by selecting New from XPress’ File Menu. (It doesn’t matter what size document or settings you use, although it will be helpful for demonstration purposes to make sure that the document is viewed at full size.)
Position your Managing Editor XT Pro palette so that you have an unobstructed view of the XPress document’s pages.
Now, click on a name in Managing Editor XT Pro list, hold down your mouse, and drag out over the document page as shown below.
 
You’ll notice that large crosshairs drag out over the document as you move your selected file around. This allows you to orient the document both to XPress’s rulers and to other boxes you may have created on the page.
For now, find the spot where you want this new document’s box to be placed and release the mouse.
Managing Editor XT Pro palette now disappears so that you can fully view the XPress page area. Do not click! instead… , continue moving your mouse around the screen: you’ll see a second set of crosshairs as shown below. Managing Editor XT Pro is waiting for you to specify the dimensions of your new box.
 
Drag the mouse until you are satisfied with the new box size and position, then click your mouse button. As soon as you click, Managing Editor XT Pro will create your new box, Managing Editor XT Pro palette will reappear and XPress will begin importing the selected file into the new box.
When the import has finished, a new pop-up palette appears, as we’ll explain next.
Managing Editor XT Pro Placement Options
Depending upon the type of file you have just placed, Managing Editor XT Pro will display a special pop-up palette from which you can choose a specific box import option.
In all cases, you select an option simply by positioning your arrow cursor over the option you want to choose, then clicking your mouse button. As you move the cursor over options within this pop-up palette they become highlighted.
If you want to ignore all of the options presented and keep the newly-created box in its “default” state, simply click anywhere outside the pop-up options palette.
Graphic placement options
Following placement of a picture, Managing Editor XT Pro displays the pop-up palette shown below. Four options are presented:
 
• Scale to Fit: Choose this option to have Managing Editor XT Pro precisely fit the new graphic into the box you have created — even if the aspect ratio (scaling in the horizontal and vertical dimensions) — differs between width and height.
• Size to Fit: Choose this option when you want Managing Editor XT Pro to resize the entire box to match the precise dimensions of the picture you have placed. In this case, the box will be enlarged or contracted to a size that completely encloses the picture.
• Scale to Horizontal: Select this option if you want Managing Editor XT Pro to use the horizontal dimension of the box to scale the picture vertically. In other words, the picture is scaled to fit precisely in the width of the box you have created, and then that scaling factor is used to calculate the height of your new box. Thus, the aspect ratio of the picture is maintained.
• Scale to Vertical: This option functions precisely the same as Scale to Horizontal, except that the height of the picture box is used to calculate the necessary width for the graphic.
Text placement options
Following placement of a story, Managing Editor XT Pro displays the pop-up palette shown below.
 
The number of items on this palette depends purely on the number of columns you have specified in your newly-created document. Managing Editor XT Pro simply wants to know over how many columns you want to set the story within its text box. There is one case in which this palette changes. When you place a story into an existing chain of linked text boxes (as explained in the section on replacing text and graphics), the pop-up palette will look as it does below.
 
In this case, Managing Editor XT Pro wants to know whether it should apply the column settings you select to all boxes in the linked text chain, or to just the one in which you have placed your story. To use this palette, you click the Set for All option on and off. When the Set for All option is selected, a line will appear beneath it.
Other Files List Features
Notice that after you placed your text or graphic element within XPress, a line was drawn through it in Managing Editor XT Pro’s list, as demonstrated below. This Strikeout Rule quickly tells you whether a document has been placed within the XPress document.
 
In thumbnail view, the element’s strikeout is through the name at the bottom of the picture.
Whenever you save a XPress document in which you have placed elements using Managing Editor XT Pro, the location of that story or picture within the document is remembered. Now it becomes easy to find or remove the placed document and its box or boxes.
Finding a Story or Graphic
To demonstrate the find feature, scroll to a different page or location within your new XPress document.
Now simply double-click on an item that has a Strikeout Rule. You will be scrolled right to the location of the placed document, with its box positioned in the upper left-hand corner of your XPress document.
You can also use this feature from Managing Editor XT Pro’s Do menu by choosing the Find In Document option.
Removing a Story or Graphic
To remove an item placed with Managing Editor XT Pro, select its name in the Files List, then choose Remove from Document from Managing Editor XT Pro’s Do menu.
You will be scrolled to the box containing the item and the box and its contents will be deleted. (If your Alerts box is checked, Managing Editor XT Pro will first ask whether you want to remove the box.) When using this feature, it is important to remember that both the box and its contents will be removed from the XPress document and, in the case of linked story boxes, all the boxes in the link chain will be removed.
Sorting the Files List
Managing Editor XT Pro also lets you sort your files listing in one of four ways: by name, by date, by type and by size. To sort the list, click in the Do menu and select the appropriate sorting method.
Showing Placement Coordinates
To display the mouse coordinates as you create Managing Editor XT Pro boxes, go to the Do menu when in Files View and select the Show Coordinates option. In this mode, Managing Editor XT Pro will display the mouse coordinates during placement, relative to the current ruler.
When setting the end point for your box, Managing Editor XT Pro will show both the dimensions of the box as well as the mouse position.
Placing Text and Graphics Into Existing Boxes
There will be times when you want to use Managing Editor XT Pro to place documents into boxes that already have been created in XPress.
Go to your Files Listing to find the story or graphic you want to place in an existing box. Drag it out of the Files Listing in standard fashion. This time, as you drag, hold down the Command Key. Your cursor will change into the Replace cursor which looks like a large down arrow.
Position the cursor over the box whose contents you want to replace and release the mouse button.
Managing Editor XT Pro will remove the existing contents of the box and replace them with the new document. Again, you will see the Options palette as in a standard Managing Editor XT Pro placement operation and can select an option for the newly-placed document.
Appending Text to Existing Boxes
In addition to replacing the contents of a text box, Managing Editor XT Pro can also add the contents of one text document to the end of the text in a given box.
To do so, hold down the Command and Option keys as you are dragging a file over a text box. The replace cursor will change into a down-pointing arrow with a small plus sign. When your cursor is positioned over the text box to which you want to append the second (or third) document, release the mouse button. The text will be appended to the end of all text in the current box.
The disadvantage to appending text is that Managing Editor XT Pro will only remember the most recent document which has been imported into a box. Any memory of previously-placed text will be lost and only the most recently imported document will be crossed off Managing Editor XT Pro runsheet.
