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ccarey1
Participant
May 9, 2022
Answered

Interactive PDF in CMYK inDesign

  • May 9, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 4256 views

Does anyone know of how you would export an interactive PDF as CMYK? Using Indesign 2022. It always wants to change the colour profile to RGB when I export?

Correct answer Laubender

Hi ccarey1,

you can create what you want, but it requires some extra steps.

 

[1] Export to PDF Interactive ( where of course all colors are converted to RGB )

[2] Export another PDF to Print where all colors stay intact or are converted to CMYK.

 

[3] Open the PDF from [1] in Acrobat Pro.

[4] Go to category Organize Pages

[5] Use the button command Replace to replace all pages from that PDF with the ones from [2].

The interactive elements will be maintained.

Save the result PDF to a new name.

 

Regards,

Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

3 replies

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
May 10, 2022

Hi ccarey1,

you can create what you want, but it requires some extra steps.

 

[1] Export to PDF Interactive ( where of course all colors are converted to RGB )

[2] Export another PDF to Print where all colors stay intact or are converted to CMYK.

 

[3] Open the PDF from [1] in Acrobat Pro.

[4] Go to category Organize Pages

[5] Use the button command Replace to replace all pages from that PDF with the ones from [2].

The interactive elements will be maintained.

Save the result PDF to a new name.

 

Regards,

Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

    C
    ccarey1Author
    Participant
    May 10, 2022

    Thanks! That worked 👏

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Legend
    May 10, 2022

    An interactive PDF is intended for use on screens, not for printing (other than printing to a desktop laser printer for personal use, not commercial printing). The "Interactive" part means the user must be able to click or do something with the PDF file, like fill in a form, access it for accessibility purposes, make comments, or sign a document.

     

    Digital screens are only RGB.  CMYK is for printing devices, especially commercial printing presses.

     

    As @Frans v.d. Geest said, you'll never find CMYK or other color profiles in interactive PDF.

     

    If you need CMYK color, then use Export / PDF (Print) instead, but the PDF will not have any interactive features.

     

    Designers who create layouts that are destined for both printing and online / screen viewing make 2 separate PDFs from their INDD layout: one for print, and a second for interactive. The print version will most likely have the CMYK color space and be sent to a print shop, while the interactive version will use RGB and be posted on a website or distributed electronically such as via email.

     

    Although both PDFs will look identical, each is custom-made for its specific purpose, print or digital (and never both).

     

     

    |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
      L
      Logan38303972a3kd
      Participant
      April 11, 2025

      What would your solution be if required to create a PDF for client with editable fields that will be printed?

      leo.r
      Community Expert
      leo.rCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 12, 2025
      quote

      What would your solution be if required to create a PDF for client with editable fields that will be printed?


      By @Logan38303972a3kd

       

      And what kind of client is that? If it's a printer, they should be able to print your PDF any way they want.

      Frans v.d. Geest
      Community Expert
      Frans v.d. GeestCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 9, 2022

      Sadly, the iPDF outport does not have an option to set colour profiles, it wil be (s)RGB always...

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