Black colors don't match when export to PDF

[mgl41]

Hi, I'm trying to export my design to PDF, and the black looks fine in Illustrator, however when I export as PDF some of the blacks turn to grey. I have rich blacks turned on in Illustrator preferences, I tried high quality print and checked no conversion and include all profiles, none of that changed anything. Any help would be appreciated.

[barbara_a · Accepted solution]

When saving an Illustrator file as PDF, in the Save Adobe PDF dialog box, click on Output on the left side.

Under Color Conversion", select “No Conversion.” And then wit "Color Profiles" select ”Include All Profiles.”

Make sure that in the Illustrator Color Palette that the black is 100%K (If using CMYK) and 0, 0, 0 if using RGB.

[Bobby Henderson]

Depending on the printing workflow, I'll be inclined to use a manually input CMYK Rich Black color. Not every print setup will automatically convert 100% K colors in a PDF to Rich Black. However, for manually chosen Rich Black colors the total ink limit can vary depending on what type of print media is used (newsprint, vinyl for large format printing, photo print papers, etc). For instance 100% on all four CMYK ink colors is going to be a really bad idea on almost any kind of media. It's lots of fun discovering a color like that in client-provided artwork when using a thermal inkjet printer. The setting might be able to fly when using a latex-based printer, but it would still be overkill. 300 usually works as a general purpose total ink number for rich blacks.

[Ton Frederiks]

The Preferences > Appearance of Black does influence the Options for Black on RGB and Grayscale Devices.

Printers, images and monitor screens.

It does not change the values in a PDF or Illustrator file.

A 100% black ink (which always reflects some light) is never as dark as an RGB black (which means the absence of light).

The preferences settings are just for display and export to image purposes.

If you want a darker black in your PDF, use the suggestions for rich black as mentioned in the other replies.