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Participating Frequently
November 8, 2017
Answered

Substituting spot colors in InDesign

  • November 8, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 3202 views

I have a two hundred page 2-color catalog, black and pantone 294. Various tint fills of the 2nd color are used throughout the book, as well as solid values for text and rules. Now, the color needs to be switched from pantone 294 to pantone 300. I changed all the paragraph settings which quickly swapped the color for all appropriate text throughout the document. I also had to open and change the 2nd color in all the linked illustrator files in the doc. Now, I am left with an enormous amount of line color changes, most in very complex tables that would almost require the effort to be a line by line color substitution. Now that all the linked graphics using the color have been changed, I was hoping I could simply discard Pantone 294 from the swatch palette to the trash and then specify it to change to Pantone 300 as the substitution. BUT, putting the Pantone 294 color into the trash is not an option. Why? And what do I have to do so that I can remove this color from the swatch palette.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Colin Flashman

    When a spot colour will not delete for me, it usually means that the colour is still in use as a placed graphic, although this is not always the case.

    A workflow my employer has adopted for a particular use-case is to make a spot-colour called "Art" with a 100K value only but specifically made as a spot. After that, we map out the spot colour using the ink manager to a desired output spot colour.

    As Winterm points out as well, this can be done in the ink manager during the PDF export, BUT can also be done in Acrobat as well, and also mapped using a PDF plug-in called enfocus pitstop using a global change called "remap colors".

    3 replies

    S
    stimpii
    Participant
    November 9, 2017

    As someone has previously said, if you can't delete the swatch then it is being used by a linked image.

    Have you tried the Merge Swatches function? Select the 300 swatch, followed by the 294 swatch and then select Merge Swatches from the flyout menu.

    master page shows space
    master page shows spaceAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 9, 2017

    I¹ve never used this function, will give this a go in the future, but assume

    they won¹t be allowed to merge if the 300 swatch is used in a graphic.

    Colin Flashman
    Community Expert
    Colin FlashmanCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    November 9, 2017

    When a spot colour will not delete for me, it usually means that the colour is still in use as a placed graphic, although this is not always the case.

    A workflow my employer has adopted for a particular use-case is to make a spot-colour called "Art" with a 100K value only but specifically made as a spot. After that, we map out the spot colour using the ink manager to a desired output spot colour.

    As Winterm points out as well, this can be done in the ink manager during the PDF export, BUT can also be done in Acrobat as well, and also mapped using a PDF plug-in called enfocus pitstop using a global change called "remap colors".

    If the answer wasn't in my post, perhaps it might be on my blog at colecandoo!
    master page shows space
    master page shows spaceAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 9, 2017

    Thanks for your response.

    I agree about the color still is use as a placed graphic. I¹ve had that

    issue before, and it turned out to be at play here again.

    I went through the doc a second time in printing/proofing mode with

    separations turned on so that only the Pantone 294 is showing. Sure enough,

    two tiny graphics with a handful of little Pantone 294 bullets was the hold

    up. Once those were switched in the illustrations, it¹s easy to just drag

    the 294 to trash and have it switch everything over to 300.

    It¹s too bad there isn¹t a find/change function or like the Select Same

    Stroke/Fill function in Illustrator in order to make the lion¹s share of

    changes in InDesign first and then only be left with the remnant embedded

    illustrator usage to hunt down and change.

    Good to have this fixed. Now onto the second big brother 360 page catalog

    that needs the same changeover.

    Again, thanks for your prompt response and advice!

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 9, 2017

    It¹s too bad there isn¹t a find/change function

    Look at Object F&C

    winterm
    winterm
    Legend
    November 9, 2017

    Replace one color to another during PDF export process:

    In PDF Export dialog, go to Output tab, click Ink Manager here, from the list select Pantone 294, in Ink Alias dropdown menu select Pantone 300. Now it will appear in a final pdf, instead of your 'old' one.

    That's it.

    EDIT: ah, forgot somehow... Also you can get Ink Manager from the Swatches panel flyout menu and alias your PMS294 to PMS300 here. Result will be the same, and you'll be able to ensure before exporting PDF, just turn on Overprint Preview.

    master page shows space
    master page shows spaceAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 9, 2017

    Thanks for the response, but I¹m not trying to substitute the color in the

    PDF, I¹m trying to change it in the InDesign file itself.

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