MacOS High Sierra (OS X 10.13), the new version of macOS, will be released soon.
The temptation is huge to try it, see what’s new and benefit from the newest features and possibilities of Apple’s newest OS.
Learning from the past?
However there is also a risk: In the past we have seen that some applications did not work well (or at all) on new versions of OS X. With El Capitan, many music applications took months to support it, as Apple changed some underlying technologies needed for them to work.
And though QuarkXPress was certified and officially supported just nine days after the release of El Capitan, some 3rd party XTensions (plug-ins) had some issues.
So to state the obvious: A new OS can potentially stop you from producing/working. Especially with High Sierra, introducing a new file system called APFS.
What’s best practice to install/use macOS High Sierra?
It’s quite easy:
- If you have a “play system”, use that to test macOS High Sierra and all applications critical for your workflow.
- In any case, always have a backup or better a clone available (and create them before you upgrade to macOS High Sierra)
- Create yourself a backdoor to be able to revert to your previous macOS:
http://www.planetquark.com/2015/09/28/how-to-create-yourself-a-backdoor-to-downgrade-os-x/
Remember, out-of-the-box there is no possibility to revert to your previous version of macOS, so you either need to create a backup via Time Machine and other methods. Or – better – use the above mentioned tip to create yourself a backdoor, as it is much more convenient by allowing you to work with both setups and revert immediately should you decide to do so.
When will QuarkXPress support macOS High Sierra?
Though we do not know of any critical issues of QuarkXPress 2017 with the pre-release of macOS High Sierra, Quark cannot foresee what Apple might still change between the last beta and the final version. Therefore Quark needs to wait until Apple releases macOS High Sierra and then test QuarkXPress 2017 on the release version of macOS High Sierra.
That will typically take 1-3 weeks. Afterwards Quark can certify and officially support QuarkXPress 2017 on High Sierra, which might coincide with a new update of QuarkXPress.