Pantone colours to CMYK in AI Files

[scott_8547]

I am new to this community and relatively new to using Adobe products so apologies if I am asking a stupid question.

I have thousands of Master AI files containing multiple layers of text, symbology, graphics etc., containing a mixture of Pantone colours and CMYK. 

Is there a tool (or scripts) that will convert my unwanted Pantone colours to CMYK for multiple files or do I have to go in manually to each Master AI file and convert them myself? The files themselves, although having multiple layers, only contain around 6 diff Pantone blacks and 3 or 4 other base Pantone colours - they are not complex at all really.

Any help would be much appreciated 👍🏻

Scott

Milton Keynes

[sublimechaos]

You can do it a few ways. Easiest is to select all and use the Edit>Edit Colors>Convert to CMYK menu command (screenshot attached).
Record it as an action, or make a script and you can batch process your entire library of files automatically.



Record an Action:

• Open the Actions panel (Window > Actions).
• Click the "Create New Action" button.
• Name your action and choose a keyboard shortcut (optional).
• Perform the steps you want to automate (e.g., convert colors to cmyk).
• Click the "Stop Recording" button when finished.
  
  
   Batch Process Files:
  • Open the Actions panel.
  • Select your recorded action.
  • Go to the "Action" menu (the three line icon on the panel, aka "the hamburger") and choose "Batch".
  • Specify the source folder containing your files.
  • Choose the destination folder for the processed files.
  • Select the appropriate options for overriding existing files or creating a new folder.
  • Click "Play" to start the batch process. 

[Ton Frederiks]

Be careful with converting spot colors set to Overprint to CMYK.