Changing cmyk or rgb blacks to true blacks.

[timothyh70102503]

We pull pdf pages into indesign create a pdf and use File Minizer to create nice quality and the size is great.

We were using Pittstop on a mac to change the blacks in the pdfs to true black and true grey  instead of Blacks and greys in CMYK or RGB.

In the past, the Pit
Stop process was doing this and it saved on the more expensive colored ink on
the machines by using the black ink for black print, instead of using the RGB
or CMYK to create black on the printer. Do you know if there is a way to do that
in Indesign or some other program?

[Here is the list of all Adobe forums... https://forums.adobe.com/welcome]

[Comments is to ask about the operation of the Forum, not a specific program]

[Moved from the Comments forum to the specific Program forum... Mod]

[Test Screen Name]

PitStop is still available.

[timothyh70102503]

    Is there a way to do the same thing with existing adobe programs?

[timothyh70102503]

    Also is that on a PC as well as a Mac?

[Test Screen Name]

Yes.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

In other thread, Dov Issacs (Adobe) gave these instructions on how to convert RGB to K blacks in Acrobat DC Pro:

Quoted from Re: Technicians claim my file doesn't have fonts embedded…but they're incorrect, right?

Acrobat Pro DC provides a preflight fixup explicitly for this. In Acrobat Preflight, access the Essentials library, select Single Fixups, and choose the Convert color to B/W fixup under the Color spaces, spot colors, inks group. Run that fix and this color issue is gone.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS · Accepted solution]

This is from a previous post on using Excel charts and converting RGB black:

>Open PDF in Acrobat Pro and Convert Colors (under Print Production).

>Set appropriate color conversion profile and check the Preserve Black and the Promote Gray to CMYK Black settings.

Keep in mind that if you convert to CMYK upon export from InDesign, the RGB black is converted too. Export PDF without converting colors.

That said, PitStop Pro is more powerful. I just got an email yesterday advertising the release of PitStop Pro 2018.

Enfocus

[timothyh70102503]

Question is Pittstop now a subscription service you renew each year or a one time purchase?

[sd5e8a]

Open PDF in Acrobat Pro and Convert Colors (under Print Production). Set appropriate color conversion profile and check the Preserve Black and the Promote Gray to CMYK Black settings.

By @Dave Creamer of IDEAS

@Dave Creamer of IDEAS, sorry for reviving an old thread, but I recently posted a similar question on the forum (link) and I would appreciatte your advice.

The procedure that you described, is it a 'must do' when preparing grayscale content for offset printing?

For example, I have a PDF with sRGB and sGray images. Should I convert them all to the CMYK profile specified by the printer? That is: sRGB  converts to CMYK and sGray to CMYK - Black Ink.

Or should I only convert the sRGB to CMYK, while sGray should be converted to Dot Gain %?

This is very confusing to me.

Thanks.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

My post was for converting RGB black to K-only. Your question is best posed to your printery. The sGray to K-only might be too dark, but you would need to know the dot gain the printer requires, which is paper and press dependent. 

[Test Screen Name]

Check with Enfocus.

[Test Screen Name]

if doing a web search note only one T in pitstop.

[timothyh70102503]

Thanks I still found it, Enfocus

[Colin Flashman]

I have some free scripts on my scripts page of www.colecandoo.com that can change colours within indesign. In illustrator, there is a new ability to control colours via the edit menu.