FAQ

In principle, you always purchase a personalized license for a single computer. The license must be activated once during installation via the Internet. You have a second activation free, so that you can install the license on your laptop in addition to your work computer.

Please note that an activated license must first be deactivated before uninstalling the program if you want to continue using the program on another computer later. You can do this in the menu under Extras / Activations.

Yes. The program runs on all PCs that meet the system requirements. Version 7 requires one of the operating systems Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 in the 64-bit version. For version 8, Windows 10 or 11 should be installed in the 64-bit version.

32-bit Windows versions are not supported so that we can provide the maximum performance of MarkStein Publisher.

Yes, of course. The MarkStein Publisher is optimized for 4k screens under Windows 10 and macOS.

Yes, the program runs on all Macs on which the operating system macOS version 10.14 (Mojave) or higher can be installed. However, the “old” Mac must meet the system requirements.

Yes, you can use the MarkStein Publisher in the Professional Edition and the Workgroup Edition to import, edit and return documents from InDesign. Publisher documents can be stored in IDML format for further processing in InDesign.

Please note: The IDML filter required for exchange with Adobe InDesign is not included in the Standard Edition of the MarkStein Publisher.

The current help can be found here. You can download the current manual here.

No. The MarkStein Publisher is intended for local installation on workstations and cannot be installed on a server drive. Therefore it does not run on a Terminal Server or Citrix. This also applies to the Workgroup Edition of the software.

The layout and image files can of course be stored and edited on a central server drive. The exchange of text data (stories) with external users takes place via cloud memory (e.g. Dropbox).

Every computer on which the MarkStein Publisher is installed must be licensed and activated. This also applies to the Workgroup Edition workstations.

You will receive a personal license file with the extension .key by e-mail. Please save it on your desktop or in a folder. From there, drag the file to the license dialog the first time you start the program and license the software for your computer. The software is then automatically activated via the Internet when it is loaded. You therefore need an Internet connection the first time you start the software. Of course, you can also work offline later.

Each license can be activated a maximum of two times. So you can install the personal license on a PC and a laptop if you own both.

To install on a Macintosh computer, proceed as follows:

1. Download the software from the Internet.

2. Open the DMG file and drag the MarkStein Publisher application from the dialog box to the Applications folder on your Macintosh HD. If necessary, enter your administrator name and password.

3. Since the application was downloaded from the Internet, Apple has flagged the application as potentially insecure and will refuse to launch it first. Therefore, do not open the program with a double-click, but via the context menu (right mouse button) and “Open”.

4. Confirm this dialog with another click on “Open”. Here you may have to enter your administrator name and password again in order to fix the setting permanently.

Now you can always start the program normally in the future.

Yes, MarkStein Publisher from version 7 is running on macOS 10.13 to 10.15 and 11.x.

MarkStein Publisher from version 6.5 is running on macOS 10.12 to 10.15. Older versions up to 6.4 are running on macOS 10.11 to 10.14.

MarkStein Publisher is optimized for the use of OpenType fonts. You can use the formats OpenType TrueType (.ttf) and OpenType PostScript (.otf). The use of OpenType fonts is mandatory if you are working in a multi-platform environment, i.e. if you want to open documents on both PC and Macintosh.

Conventional PostScript fonts are no longer supported in newer versions of macOS. Under Windows, you can use existing PostScript fonts (.pfb, .pfm, .afm) until further notice. However, there is no guarantee that all fonts will be usable, as some fonts on the market do not conform to the conventions of Adobe. MarkStein Publisher cannot read such faulty fonts.

Older TrueType fonts of version 2.0 and higher can also be used with the MarkStein Publisher. TrueType fonts of version 1 are not supported and therefore cannot be imported. However, we do not recommend the use of TrueType fonts, since problems often occur with printing and PDF output.

Please check the online help or manual and the knowledge base first to see if you can find a solution to your problem there.

MarkStein Software technical support is available to all customers who have purchased a licensed version of the MarkStein Publisher (i.e. the Professional or Workgroup Edition). You can reach us by e-mail at support@markstein.com or by using this contact form.

For communication between active users of the MarkStein Publisher and ourselves, we have created the Facebook group “Alternative Publishing” as a forum: https://www.facebook.com/groups/725527801310482/. Here you can also ask us questions if you are using the free Standard Edition of the MarkStein Publisher.

For customers of the MarkStein Publisher Workgroup Edition with five or more licenses, we offer a paid maintenance agreement that includes phone support.

Surely. You will need the Professional Edition or Workgroup Edition, since MarkStein Publisher uses the Adobe PDF Library (including PDF Converter for PostScript) for PDF output.

MarkStein Publisher works with Adobe Job Options (folder “\Program Files\MarkStein\Publisher\psconv\joboptions”) and supports PDF/X1a and PDF/X3 by default. You can of course also use your own job options.

Proceed as follows when installing on a Windows computer:

Download the software from the Internet. Double-click on the msi file. This window opens:

Klick on the link “More Info”

Choose “Run Anyway”. The MarkStein Publisher installation dialog will then open. Click on “Install” and follow the instructions of the wizard.

Old computer still accessible

If your old computer is still accessible, please deactivate your purchased license in MarkStein Publisher first. You can do this in the menu Extras / Activations. Then you can install, license and activate the program on another computer. You can find the programs here. Don’t be bothered by the term “updates”, these are full versions. In any case you need your license key (.key file) for reinstallation.

Old computer no longer available

If the old computer is no longer available (e.g. after a hard disk crash), then you need your license key (.key file) for reinstallation. You can find the programs here. Don’t be bothered by the term “updates”, these are full versions. Install the program and license it with your key file (.key). If the software cannot be activated because you have already “used up” two activations, please call us. We will then reset your activations.

MarkStein Publisher 8 is officially released for these two systems.

Known issues under Windows 11

None

Known issues under macOS 12 Monterey

Printing: Converting PostScript print files to PDF using the built-in Adobe PDF Converter (Distiller) causes a crash on some computers. Workaround: Direct PDF output by using the export function for PDF.

If you are using the Microsoft Edge browser, you will see a warning message after downloading the .msi file. In order to run the file, you must first trust MarkStein Publisher. This is done as follows:

Klick on [More Actions]…

… and then on [Keep]. After that the following dialog opens:

Klick on [Show more]…

… and afterwards on [Keep anyway].

After that, you can install the file by selecting [Open file]. Then perform the steps described in “How do I install MarkStein Publisher on a Windows computer?”.

Windows: Select the Apps item in the PC Settings menu. Here you can uninstall the program.

Mac: Delete the program in the Applications folder.

The MarkStein Publisher Workgroup Edition is designed for workgroups of 2 to 10 users located in different locations or in an internal network.

Of course, it can also be used on a single workstation if functions such as composing a book, register and table of contents are required. These functions are available only in the Workgroup Edition.

Here’s how to set up the Workgroup Edition: You create your own folder in a web space like Dropbox, Drive or in a private cloud. This is the exchange folder for everyone working on the project. Each participating workstation must have the MarkStein Publisher Workgroup Edition software installed with its own license. Please note: The program itself cannot be installed in Dropbox or a network!

In the exchange folder, save the MarkStein Publisher layout file (.mxd) and the associated images. Then, in the layout, select one or more (concatenated) text frames and check them out as articles for editing. This creates a text file (.mxt) in the exchange folder with layout information and preview images. Now the (external) employee can call the text file from his workstation and write the text line by line.

Meanwhile, you can continue working on the layout. You can use the Match function to transfer the current version of the text to the layout at any time and release the current layout for the editorial employee.

When the collaborator has set the status of their file to “Done”, they check the text back into the layout. The text file (.mxt) containing the article is automatically deleted from the web space after the successful check-in. This ensures that there is always only one valid text and that no different versions exist.

You can see a detailed description of the working method in our detailed webinar video (German).
The individual functions are described here (German).

The MarkStein Publisher Workgroup Edition is designed to work as follows: A layouter creates the layout document (.mxd), marks each individual contribution as an article (.mxt) and releases each article for a single editor. Since the locking mechanisms of files are not effective via cloud storage such as Dropbox due to the asynchronous mode of operation, it must be ensured in the workflow that each file is only edited by a single person. It is not intended here that a layout file (.mxd) is edited by several people.

The situation is different if the data is located on an internal network (a server with direct computer access). Here the layout file (.mxd) is reported as locked if a second person tries to access it. In this case, all computers (Windows/Mac) must be connected to the server via a direct network connection and must access the server via an SMB file share. In this case, multiple people can work on a layout file (.mxd), but of course only one person at a time.

SMB file sharing ensures that the document is always available for editing by exactly one person at one workstation. This means that access attempts from other workstations are rejected with the message: “Access currently not possible. Document is currently being edited.” are rejected.