Change color globally in document

I concur with Derek. While as a concept printing in rich black seems like a good thing, in practice it can introduce as many issues as it seems to solve.

1) You will never be able to delete/edit 100% Key color black within InDesign. You and I generally see it as Black, but InDesign defines it as [Black] and it's not a color you can delete or edit. If you want to create a rich black, you have to do it yourself. And if you want to apply rich black, you'll need to do it yourself. By design — InDesign doesn't use rich black.

2) Actually, you may find you need multiple rich blacks. Different printing processes have different standards for applying rich black. For example, the magazine-standard rich black 40%C/30%M/30%Y/100%K, which quality bright-white coated paper stock can handle just fine, can be perilously close to the maximum ink percentage ro running newsprint at 35mph through a typical-quality community newspaper press. Instead of getting the deep, rich black you'd expect you'd get a messy blob because that much ink at high dot gains is too much for a spongy substrate like newsprint to hold.

3) You want to be selective on where you use rich black. Using it against sharp edges like stroked frames around images and headline type will show even the slightest press misregistration at once. Using it on small type like text and captions is much, much worse. That's a great way to get printers to start questioning your ancestry in really graphic terms. And not in a good way. While doing those stroked frames around your images with 100% key color Black actually allows you to trap/hide slight mis-registrations on press and ensures better results for your work.

If you really want to develop rich black builds, work that out with your printer(s). Oftentimes they can help you get what you want on their end, and in most all the rest, they'll be happy to share what you need to do on your end to get the best results from their presses. As Derek says, working with 100% Key color black builds is generally the better option.

Hope this helps,

Randy

You might also have registration issues on thin lines and type when using 4C black for offset printing. You might consider using a spot color black. If you are printing digital, check with your printer for suggestions.

You can also use Edit> Find/Change> Object> Fill, Stroke to find and change your existing colors.

It's not advisable to use Rich black as you describe – too much ink!

Regarding selecting a colour to use on text and objects, use Styles – such as Paragraph, Character and Object Styles.