1) Load and install DATAform Add-on
Download the latest DATAform Add-on - either DATAformXTension for QuarkXPress or DATAformPlugin for InDesign.

QuarkXPress: Install DATAformXTension (put it into the XTension folder within your QuarkXPress folder).
InDesign: Install DATAformPlugin (put it into the Plug-Ins folder within your InDesign folder).

2) Start and prepare your layout program
Restart your QuarkXPress or InDesign. Your layout program shows the new "DATAform" menu:

Choose the "Preferences..." command .

Then click the "Clipboard" radio button in the left column :

Close the dialog with OK.

3) Import a DATAformTags text
- Now copy the following line into the clipboard, including both paragraph signs ¶:

¶*T3*$Hello World¶

- Switch to your QuarkXPress or InDesign,
- Create a new document and
- Choose the "Import boxes" comand in the DATAform menu.

A text box with the words "Hello World" will appear:

If no text box is created: draw a text box manually, paste the copied text into it, select the text in the box and copy it from there - this means from within your layout program.

To see some more features copy this line:

¶*T3*x100*X400,123*y200*Y300*B"cyan"*b0.3*l0*-0*p8*$Hello World on page 8¶

- Switch to your QuarkXPress or InDesign again
- and choose the "Import boxes" comand in the DATAform menu.

A new text box will be created on page 8 - the tag *p8 means "page 8". Missing pages will be automatically created.


The new box will have these coordinates:



X:, left 100 pt, through the tag *x100
Y:, top 200 pt, through the tag *y200
W:, Width 300,123 pt, through the tags *X400,123 (right) minus *x100 (left) = 300,123
H:, Hight 100 pt, through the tags *Y300 (bottom) minus *y200 (top) = 100

Background color is 30% ( *b0.3 ) cyan ( *B"cyan" ).

The last example here will create two boxes and a line, showing different box properties and font styles:

¶*T3*p1*x85.866*y97.677*X216.087*Y170.079*F2*L128*l1*M"Green"*B"Black"*-0*b0.1*
$Text in <B>bold<$> and <I>italic¶*T3*p1*x275.787*y97.677*X406.008*Y170.079*F2*
L124*l2*M"Blue"*m1*B"Yellow"*-0*b0.3*$A 2nd text box¶*T0*p1*x159.029*y183.464*
X122.314*Y295.464*L5*l5*M"Black"*m0.5*E1*$¶

Copy the above text and import it into QuarkXPress or InDesign by the "Import boxes" command.
You should get this result:

Three items created by one DATAformTags text.

The text in your boxes may differ from the above picture: your browser may add spaces on copying.
To see your actual DATAformTags text in the clipboard just paste it into a text box in your layout program.

This example uses the current default font of QuarkXPress or InDesign . To figure out how to explicitly set fonts or
style sheets have a look at the DATAformXTension/Plugin demo.

Try another step-by-step demonstration, the DATAformXTension/Plugin demo.
The demo will create two rather complex pages.

In the DATAformXTension developer handbook you may find many detailed examples.