Troubleshooting QuarkXpress 6.0 (#4): More on multiple user installations

Yesterday we noted problems using QuarkXpress 6.0 with multiple users under Mac OS X. Bryan Schappel suggests applying full read/write permissions for all users, which is accomplished by using this Terminal command:

• su chmod 777 /Applications/"QuarkXpress 6.0"

This is by no means ideal but will allow one installation be used by all users of the Mac. Apparently this needs to be done because QuarkXpress must read and write to items within its installation folder while running. It's also necessary so that users can enable and disable "XTensions".

QuarkXpress 4 and 5 also display problems in Classic mode on systems that are configured for multiple users. The problem is in the way Quark handles it's preference files. Unlike most applications, Quark keeps it's preferences inside the QuarkXpress application folder. Under OS X, the first user to launch Quark is assigned ownership of the preference file. When another user logs in and attempts to launch Quark, they receive a permissions related error.

John Goodchild writes "The only solution I have for this situation is to move the entire QuarkXpress application folder to another volume that has privileges disabled."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com

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