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SebastiaoV
SebastiaoV
Known Participant
March 7, 2012
Answered

Color PDF to Black and White

  • March 7, 2012
  • 4 replies
  • 71312 views

Hi guys,

I have an InDesign file of a magazine which is printed in black and white. A friend sent me a color PDF for an event to be include in the inside pages. I was wondering if

1) should i previously convert the pdf to black and white to minimize any printing problem or

2) when i export the InDesign file to PDF i put an ouput preset for the whole magazine PDF to be converted in black and white?

What do you think is the best thing to do? by the way, how can i convert a color PDF to Black and White?

Thanks for any info,

Cheers,

Sebs

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer Peter Spier

      If I did, I couldn't say.

      I know, I just couldn't find the facetious emoticon.

      Grayscale support has been one of those long-requested additions that has to make it into the program someday.

      By the time it does, we will be living and working in a paperless world of the future, that we won't have any need for grayscale.


      Jeffrey_Smith wrote:

      Grayscale support has been one of those long-requested additions that has to make it into the program someday.

      By the time it does, we will be living and working in a paperless world of the future, that we won't have any need for grayscale.

      Oh ye of little faith. I expect print to last for many more years, slimmed down, perhaps, but that probably also means it will be higher quality work for those willing to pay.

      I gave up being a bench jeweller about 18 years ago because my eyes and shoulders couldn't take the strain anymore. At the time, mainstream jewelery was moving very heavily into mass-production casting, but I have no doubt at all that were I to choose to get back into high-end hand fabrication I'd have no trouble finding work. I feel the same way about print. Magazines and advertising will probably move more and more toward the all-digital end of the spectrum, but people will still want beautiful books and artwork.

      4 replies

      MW Design
      MW Design
      Inspiring
      March 8, 2012

      K only values produces a single plate with varying degrees of black values. So yes, you are using (or need to achieve) the K component of CMYK, not composite black made up of a mixture of either CMYK to produce a rich black or RGB which gets converted to a rich black either when the PDF is created or processed.

      Point is, you can make the magazine in full color or a mix of color modes, make the PDF, and use the "convert to gray scale" command in Acrobat and it is K only. And Acrobat does a very fine job of it too.

      Take care, Mike

      Peter Spier
      Community Expert
      Peter SpierCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 7, 2012

      InDesign does not yet support conversion to grayscale during export to PDF, so if you are placing this PDF and exporting, rather than distilling/printing to PDF, you'll need to convert the color PDF to grayscale before palcing, or convert the larger PDF after export. I think the first option is a no-brainer, myself, and it's pretty easy to do in Acrobat Pro.

      J
      Community Expert
      Jeffrey_SmithCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 7, 2012

      InDesign does not yet support conversion to grayscale during export to PDF

      Hmm, using the word "yet" implies that this may eventually happen... know any secrets

      Peter Spier
      Community Expert
      Peter SpierCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 7, 2012

      If I did, I couldn't say. Theres a bit of a sneak preview over at ID secrets, though. I haven't checked it out.

      As far as "yet" goes, we all hold out hope for the future, don't we? Grayscale support has been one of those long-requested additions that has to make it into the program someday.

      Steve Werner
      Community Expert
      Steve WernerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 7, 2012

      Currently, this has to be done with Acrobat. You can't do it in InDesign.

      If you have Acrobat X, use these steps:

      In Tools, make sure the Print Production tools are showing (panel menu). Choose Tools > Print Production > Convert Colors. In the Conversion Attributes section, choose Conversion Profile and pick a grayscale profile (for example, one of the Dot Gain or Gray Gamma profiles). Click OK.

      If you have Acrobat 9:

      Choose Advanced > Print Production > Convert Colors, and follow the remaining steps.

      MW Design
      MW Design
      Inspiring
      March 7, 2012

      Is the magazine a composite gray (cmyk or rgb gray) or is it actually k only values?

      If it is actually gray scale, I use Acrobat's "convert to grayscale" preset to pre-convert PDFs before placing.

      Take care, Mike

      SebastiaoV
      SebastiaoVAuthor
      Known Participant
      March 8, 2012

      Thanks guys for the very useful info. By the way, the magazine use Only Black tint. I guess just K value, not CMYK Black. Would that be a problem of any kind for conversion purposes?

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