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kiski
Known Participant
December 14, 2012
Question

How to change CMYK art to grayscale?

  • December 14, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 30700 views

I am trying to change a CMYK vector file to grayscale in CS4.

I went to Edit/Edit Colors/ Change to Grayscale. The .AI vector art now looks gray on screen, but the title says "Icon.ai@100% (CMYK/Preview)". It still reproduces as a CMYK file and not Grayscale.

I can't place this into a 2 spot colour document. What am I missing?

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    2 replies

    E
    emil emil
    Inspiring
    December 14, 2012

    kiski wrote:

    ....

    I went to Edit/Edit Colors/ Change to Grayscale. The .AI vector art now looks gray on screen, but the title says "Icon.ai@100% (CMYK/Preview)". It still reproduces as a CMYK file and not Grayscale.

    I can't place this into a 2 spot colour document. What am I missing?

    Why not? If you sent to print CMYK file with nothing on the CMY channels and all you have is on the K channel then this is in effect 1 color job that can be printed with any spot color.

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 14, 2012

    kiski,

    There is no Grayscale Color Mode, so it will still appear as CMYK.

    K
    kiskiAuthor
    Known Participant
    December 17, 2012

    Here is a recap -

    - the vector file was received from the customer as a CMYK PDF file. It is to be placed in a two spot colour flyer.

    - I used Illustrator CS4 to open it and convert it to grayscale. It will print black only in the flyer.

    It looks grayscale on the screen and yet says "CMYK" in the title.

    I am not sure where to look in the palettes to confirm its colour mode.

    - When I place the file in my InDesign CS4 document and Package the document, it shows up as a CMYK file. When I delete the file from that document, I end up with one spot colour and one process colour (black) job which is what I want.

    So, this vector file is confusing me. How do I tell in Illustrator if it is CMYK or grayscale?

    How to change the color mode?

    Thank you!

    A
    Anonymous
    December 17, 2012

    How do you tell if it's grayscale (which is black or shades of black)?

    Open your file, go to the Window menu and select Separations Preview. Click off the box next to the Black plate, and your artwork will all disappear if it is grayscale.

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