How to Replace Color Swatches in a PDF Export Without Modifying the InDesign Document

Hi everyone

Thanks for all your input, which I am happy to go through and test.

Long story short:

On demand we print some items in house, on a simple laser machine, and are not working with calibration tools. The value we are looking to change, would simply be a workaround to achieve a more satisfactory look of our pantone or/cmyk value, which does not please us on this specific printer.

Adjusting the printer has not been an option as we do not look to change the general tones, but this specific swatch application. We are hoping for a workaround via export to avoid the extra step of duplicating the document (which we want to retain with its original values for the bigger print demands which go to a printer).

Hi everybody,

FWIW: if i take this seriously, "…without doing the change in the actual document", there is no way to change the color on PDF export. It always requires a new spot color and one color that is converted to spot and some settings in the Ink Manager. Too much to change in a document. Less would be to change the desired color's values, export to PDF and not saving the document…

@MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz ,

what I am not clear about: why changing the color at all and not changing the document?

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

when exporting a PDF without doing the change in the actual document?

Hi @MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz , You can alias colors, but they have to be Spot (not Process) colors. Aliasing via Ink Manager (see Export>Output>Ink Manager) does change the document, so I would say no, unless you want to close the document without Saving after the Export.

Hi @MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz,

Thanks for reaching out! I understand that you'd like to replace color swatches in a PDF without altering the original InDesign document. Unfortunately, InDesign doesn't offer a direct feature to replace colors during PDF export. 

You might need to make the color changes in the document itself. However, if you want to keep the original document unchanged, you could create a copy of your InDesign file and perform the color replacements there before exporting the PDF.

Could you please let me know which version of InDesign you’re using and what operating system you’re on? This will help me provide more precise advice or check if there are any updates that might assist with your needs.

If you have any more questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!

Thank you, 

Abhishek Rao