Can an InDesign file be saved as grayscale?

[shantzT2h42l]

I am being asked by a client to convert an InDesign file to grayscale. It is now CMYK using only black ink. All placed files are grayscale or black only.

When separations are printed, only the black plate prints.

Can an InDesign file be saved as grayscale?

Below is the email from the client:

"to convert the PDF file was wrong. The InDesign file has to be in grayscale (1c) and not in RGB color mode (as mentioned below). This file than needs to be exported into a PDF file but the basic work needs to be done in the original InDesign file."

[Laubender]

Hi shantzt2h42l ,

the answer is no in a strict technically sense.
InDesign items on the page know nothing about color space Grayscale.

You cannot work in color space Grayscale with InDesign.

What you can do is output any mix of color spaces InDesign is knowing about, RGB, CMYK, Lab or "Mixed Ink" to Grayscale.

Or you can convert a color PDF to Grayscale with Acrobat Pro DC.

Regards,
Uwe

[AnneMarie Concepcion]

You can't convert an InDesign document to grayscale.  It is color-agnostic. The method you are using ... only  coloring things with a percentage of the default CMYK [Black] color ... is correct.

I'm not sure where you client got her information. I believe she's under a misapprehension.  Perhaps the document was set up with an RGB  intent (web or mobile), and so the default Black is an RGB black? If so you should change that to CMYK black.

Even so, if there are any colored elements in the layout, the best practice is to convert them to grayscale on output, to print or PDF. No need to do that in Acrobat.

AM

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Can an InDesign file be saved as grayscale?

It's not completely clear if you need to deliver an InDesign package or a PDF.

If it's an InDesign file you can create a Preflight rule that will flag any instance of a color that uses the CMY plates. So this would catch a rectangle filled with RGB but not one filled with 0|0|0|100 CMYK. Double clicking the error selects the item

If you are delivering a PDF, use the PDF/X-4 preset and set the Destination to a gray profile, and that will export a 1-color PDF even when there are RGB objects:

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

I would like to know if the steps suggested above worked for you, or the issue still persists.

Kindly update the discussion if you need further assistance with it.

Thanks,

Srishti