Color problems in InDesign
tiska (57 points) | Wed, 2007-07-18 09:11I'm a fairly new user to InDesign and I have a problem which I cannot work out. I have an Indesign file which is supposed to use process black only. apart from tints of black there are no other swatches and there is no color anywhere - it's 2 page document so it was easy to check.
However when I do a preflight, it shows that the document uses all four process colors. How can I change this to process black only?
I would be really grateful if someone could help me.
When i try to see where the colours are with the ink manager, it shows me a blank page which doesnt exist in the doc for the three colours i dont want =(
Check your separations preview (Window > Ouput Preview > Separations. At least it is in CS. I don't know if it moved in the newer versions).
Have you tried deleting the CMY swatches? Does it ask to replace the color? If so, then your file is using the color somewhere and you need to fix it.
Also, try printing out separations. Do the other pages print blank or not at all? Then you're fine. If they print out with something on them, then your file is using the color somewhere and you need to fix it.
Also, are you sure you're using black and not "registration"?
Thnks very much for your reply.
So...the CMY swatches werent there in the first place - and the separations print blank pages.. so i guess i'm ok? im sure im using black and not registration too.
despite all this, i cant understand why my preflight is showing me four colors..
the file is the front part of a large document made up of several indd files, all b&w - and when i make PDFs of all the other files the preflight/ink manager brings up only the one process color - black.
do you think that the fact that the preflight shows four cols means this file may cause me printing problems despite the fact that the file does not contain those color swatches and prints blank pages for those separations?
I've found sometimes InDesign will hold on to colors that aren't there. Talk to your printer and let them know the CMY is printing blank, but still outputs. They should know enough to NOT output those plates.
I just set up a test file. When I placed a PDF that was only black, it showed up in preflight as CMYK. When I checked the PDF in Acrobat (checking seps), while the CMY colors each had a plate, they were blank. It's possible the PDF brings in the CMY plates even though they aren't used. In fact, I think I remember reading something about that, but I can't put my finger on what that memory is. Sorry.
Since you know there's nothing on those plates, I think you should be okay just communicating the situation with the printer for now.
Thanks again for your help. =)
What are you using to preflight?
doing the pre-flight in indesign and in acrobat. do you have any other recommendations?
Have you gone into output preview (in Acrobat) and opened each swatch individually? There may be something miniscule in there. If not, then you know you're good and can proceed without worry.
Sometimes I will get something on my preflight show up and it's just one little bitty dot of random CMYK. In Illustrator, what I do is I unlock all. Select something>select same fill/stroke>lock>select something else, and repeat this stupid tedious task until my RIP is happy and I find the little dot and everything is locked. :)
Just make seperation on and export or print to PDF.. then check each seperation, unwated seperation pages delete from PDF itself...
Cheers,
Baski
All ID files are technically in CMYK or RGB. The difference comes when you output your sep files for print. You can choose which colors to output. Make sure, though that if you want your black to be registration or some fascimilie thereof that you have that swatch in your pallette and that you make sure all blacks you want that color show that swatch as their chosen color.
Even with pantone colors when you add them to a file they are separate from the CMYK plates, or they combine with them if you output just CMYK files.
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