How to determine the color of a background in a PDF

[DigitalChickster]

Hi all! I have been asked to copy the design of an ad... I don't have the original artwork, but I do have an editable PDF (don't worry... it's the same company, they just can't find the original artwork... ). I am able to find the font and the color of the font, but I can't figure out how to determine the background color. I know I can open the file in Illustrator or Photoshop, but it got me to wondering if there's also a way to do this IN Acrobat. 

Thanks!

Julie

[Test Screen Name]

You could use output preview but Photoshop is probably better. Note that PDF does not have an actual background colour, unless there's a graphic sitting behind everything. 

[DigitalChickster]

Ah, that does make sense. When I opened up the file in Illustrator, the background was an image. Thank you! 

[JR Boulay]

Never never never open a "prepress PDF" with Illustrator !!!

It starts by screwing up all the color spaces in the document and then it gets worse: fonts, gradients, etc.

Preferably, in Acrobat Pro: select the background using the Edit tools and right-click on it: Edit with (Illustrator/Photoshop). Once you have made changes in Illustrator/Photoshop: Save > Close.

==> Changes are immediately reflected in Acrobat Pro without messing up the PDF document.

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

If it's just about determining the color, use the Oputput Preview function as suggested by TSN above, you are looking for the "Object Inspector":

This is part of the Print Production tools, and only available with Acrobat Pro. 

[DigitalChickster]

Thanks! I'm not familiar with the "Object Inspector." I'll check it out! 

[UdonJoe]

Thanks, Karl. Is there a way to check the background color of an image?

MS Paint won't do it. All I have is Adobe Acrobat DC Pro & MS Word.

JD, 1-12-2022.

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

Acrobat will only tell you that you are looking at an image, and some of the image properties, but not what the pixel color value is. I would use Photoshop for that.