DENVER -- Quark announced today Quark XML Author 3.0 for Microsoft Word, the next version of Quark's XML authoring tool that allows users to create XML content easily within Microsoft Word, the world's most widely-used word processor. Organizations from around the world choose Quark XML Author because it allows non-technical business workers to use Microsoft Word to create intelligent content with little or no training.

"Quark XML Author enhances the user-defined XML support within Microsoft Word and allows users to create XML content easily, which eliminates many of the barriers associated with the adoption of XML," said Ayca Yuksel, Senior Product Manager from Microsoft. "Through our partnership with Quark, we've enabled many Microsoft Word users to author structured XML content that can be managed in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server."

Melissa Webster, Program Vice President for Content and Digital Media Technologies at IDC said, "Business users use Microsoft Word for authoring and they've been very reluctant to adopt the specialized XML authoring tools that were designed for technical communicators. At the same time, XML is key to realizing the full power of dynamic publishing. What's needed is a solution that turns Microsoft Word into an XML authoring tool, and that's what Quark XML Author provides."

Quark XML Author 3.0

Quark XML Author 3.0 supports Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Vista from a single XML Author code base, which offers stability and uninterrupted productivity to users who have or are in the process of upgrading to the most current versions of Microsoft Office. The new version of Quark XML Author also offers native user interface support for French, German, and Japanese languages, which increases user productivity and collaboration among global teams.

In addition, Quark XML Author 3.0 offers new style and formatting functionality that gives users more control over their content, including:

-- New integration with Design Science's MathType Editor for equations

-- Improved tool bar for use with the Microsoft Office 2007 native ribbon interface

-- Improved feature that allows for bulk changes throughout a document

-- Advanced indenting and style capabilities for list items and paragraphs

"Our relationship with Microsoft continues to allow us to bring superior XML authoring solutions to organizations across a range of industries so they can improve and automate their publishing processes," said John Friske, General Manager of XML products for Quark. "Together we continue to bring a powerful and unique tool to the many Microsoft Office users adopting XML."

Users of Quark XML Author for Microsoft Word are able to upgrade to version 3.0 automatically. The new version is backward compatible with Microsoft Office 2000-2007 and is bi-directionally compatible with Quark XML Author 2.x files. It will be available on April 30, 2009.

To learn more about Quark XML Author for Microsoft Word, please visit: http://dynamicpublishing.quark.com/xml_author.

Quark XML Author for Microsoft Word

In its 2008 acquisition of In.vision Research, Quark gained XML Author for Microsoft Word, formerly known as In.vision Xpress Author. Quark XML Author enhances Microsoft Word's native XML support by allowing users to create narrative XML documents directly - without seeing tags, being constrained to boxes, or being aware of the technical complexities associated with XML. Equally important, XML Author ensures that the content an author creates is constantly validated against the XML standard - eliminating the need to rework content at a later time.