Black Text Not Displaying as CMYK in Acrobat Preview

[carlosa34663574]

Hi everyone,

I'm facing an issue when exporting a file from InDesign to PDF and would like to ask for your help in resolving it. In InDesign, I have set the black text to be 100% black (C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100). However, when I open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro and check the output preview, the black text is showing as DeviceRGB instead of CMYK.

Here are the steps I've followed:

1. Configured my document in InDesign to CMYK color mode.
2. In the Swatches panel, I set the black text color to C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100.
3. During PDF export, I used the following settings:
   • Color Conversion: Convert to Destination (Preserve Numbers)
   • Destination: Working CMYK - U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2
   • PDF/X-4:2010
   • Disabled Optimize for Fast Web View
4. In Adobe Acrobat Pro, I checked Print Production > Output Preview and the black text appears as DeviceRGB.
5. In the Transparency Blend Space settings, I selected CMYK.
6. In the Appearance of Black settings, it's configured to "Display All Blacks Accurately".

I've watched several tutorials and checked various settings, but I still can't resolve the issue. Has anyone faced this problem or knows what might be causing it? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

[carlosa34663574]

I've attached my PDF for reference. Has anyone faced this problem or knows what might be causing it? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Can you upload the InDesign file?

[carlosa34663574]

It is attached here.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

The top black text is set to Registration color, not Black. My PDF separated properly.

You didn't include the graphics, but PNGs can only be RGB or grayscale, so your graphic text is a 4/C black. If they are in Adobe Illustrator, work in CMYK mode and import the Illustrator file directly. Otherwise, use a CMYK TIFF file. (Technically, you can convert to CMYK and convert RGB Black to 100K in Acrobat Pro, but that's not what is causing your problem.)

[carlosa34663574]

Thanks for your response. I didn't quite understand what to do. The images are being converted to CMYK normally, but the text is not (neither in registration black, nor in black, nor in 0,0,0,100K).

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

What program created the graphics?

[carlosa34663574]

The photos were taken by cameras. 

I've already tried creating a new clean file, putting black texts and exporting them and they didn't appear in cmyk.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I would delete the text in Photoshop and then, either:

Place the graphic in Illustrator, redo the text there (in CMYK mode), and place the AI file.

Place the graphic in InDesign and redo the text there. (I would create a separate ID document and then place the ID doc into your layout like a PDF.)

For the top text line, simply change the color from registration to black in InDesign. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Unless you make custom color settings, black in Photoshop will be a 4/c black, not 100K.

[carlosa34663574]

I didn't quite understand what to do. The images are being converted to CMYK normally, but the text is not (neither in registration black, nor in black, nor in 0,0,0,100K). My problem is specifically with the text when writing or exporting. I've tried everything. This issue didn't happen before, but now it does. When I set the text to CMYK in InDesign, it disappears (in any PDF that I create).

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

The graphic text is in RGB, so when you convert to CMYK, it becomes a 4/C black. Recreate the text portion in Illustrator or InDesign as described 

[rob day]

Also, You can fix the RGB PNG problem by opening the logo in Photoshop, convert to Grayscale, and Save As .PSD

[rob day]

Hi @carlosa34663574 , The PDF you shared also shows that you used the default [Registration] swatch for your black headline text, and the body text uses black only CMYK, the default [Black] swatch. You can use the Separation Preview panel to check the Export to Document CMYK values before you Export the PDF:

For black only use the [Black] swatch

The [Registration] swatch outputs 100|100|100|100 to Document CMYK

An RGB black either in a placed image or as a native swatch always separated to 4-color CMYK—the document CMYK profile assignment determines the values:

[rob day]

Here from your InDesign file:

The PNG format color mode is always RGB:

[carlosa34663574]

Thank you very much for the explanations. Would it be possible for you to send me the same file I sent in InDesign so I can take a look and understand what and how I might be doing wrong?

[rob day]

I don’t have your placed .PNG with the RGB black and you have pasted rather than linked a graphic, so they can’t be fixed without the original files. I’ve replaced [Registration] with [Black], see attached:

[carlosa34663574]

It's strange, even when I export your file with the preset "Press Quality," I still don't see the text in Acrobat for CMYK printing.

[rob day]

Use the PDF/X-1a preset or the PDF/X-4 preset with the Output>Destination set to Document CMYK—see attached.

I get this:

[carlosa34663574]

I just did that, and also opened the PDF in the file you sent me, but the black text still doesn't appear. Could the problem be with my Acrobat?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Your body text (color-text.png) was already in Black and not the problem. It's the black subhead above it (and under the blue heading) that is set to Registration color. Select it and change it to Black.

Your graphics are a different issue altogether. They are in RGB format and are separating like a photograph. (When I say the text in the PNG is 4/C Black, I don't mean 100% of each color, I mean it is a mix of different CMYK colors instead of 100% Black.) Your best option is to re-do the text in Illustrator or InDesign. Just use the graphics from the original PNG. 

If you plan on doing a lot of this type of work, I would consider some classes.

[carlosa34663574]

I'm a programmer and they often assign me this type of work. I've never had a problem with the text coming straight from InDesign before; this issue has only started happening recently. I usually resolve it by sending the PDF to Photoshop and converting the document to CMYK, but I really want to understand why the text is not outputting in CMYK directly from InDesign.

[rob day]

Just to be clear, I removed your pasted image and the linked PNG image and replaced them with gray fills.

Export using the default PDF/X-1a preset, the PDF/X-1a Standard forces all color to CMYK or Spot—other color spaces are not allowed. It would not stop RGB blacks from converting to 4-color CMYK.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

However, while the RGB graphic would convert to CMYK, the RGB graphic would still create a 4/C black for the text.