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Participating Frequently
February 22, 2024
Question

Grey background showing in PDFs and in Print, even with fill color

  • February 22, 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 1205 views

Hello,

 

Wondering if anyone has a solution in this new issue I've only seen in InDesign 2024. As you can see below, the 1st image of a previewed file I created in InDesign is showcasing grey boxes where I have typed text. Unfortunately, when I send this off to my vendor, it's also printing that way.

 

The 2nd picture, however, shows a white background as it is designed. At first, I did empty fill as I have no reason to fill the text boxes, but when the error occurred I decided to put in a fill in hopes that would resolve it. It has not, and I don't understand why I need to suddenly have a white background for a label that will be printing in white but those boxes show up when they are run through my vendors rip process.

 

And no, they do not display in the final PDFs. Which is frustrating. The rips on my machines in office do not have this issue. My printers don't rebuild the files with the grey boxes when they are process through a Fiery system.

 

Is there a new "feature" or setting I need to turn on / off to stop this?

 

When I export to PDF my presets are for CMYK. My transparency option is greyed out under Advanced, but it's not really something I have needed before.

 

 

Thanks so much for any suggestions or input.

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

Participating Frequently
February 23, 2024

Here is another one I'm doing that shows the greyed out area where the images and text have an empty background because they will be printing on a white cardstock.

I'm working in layers. Surely this isn't an issue with that?

Robert at ID-Tasker
Legend
February 23, 2024

You call them TEXT BOXES ??

 

Interactive PDF - Text fields for entering data?

 

Participating Frequently
February 23, 2024

No, this isn't an interactive PDF. I make sure to setup my documents for print only when they are not going to be interactive.

BobLevine
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 23, 2024

Can you post the file for us to examine?

Participating Frequently
February 23, 2024

Am I able to post the original InDesign file? Or PDF? Jpegs aren't the issue, but my customer very much recognizes when I convert a file into a picture.

 

For note, I never experienced this issue in InDesign 2023 and previous versions. I can go back and continue in 2023 for as long as it's available, but that's a temporary solution to a new problem.

Robert at ID-Tasker
Legend
February 27, 2024

No. You actually only see the grey boxes when you have Overprint Preview off. I only have 1 vendor who uses a specific rip process that seems to make them appear post InDesign. In house, I have no issues with them. I cannot, however, control that vendor's print process and I'm trying to find a fix that isn't me exporting these as jpegs, then importing them back in to InDesign.


I remember a thread about problems with Agfa RIPs after some InDesign update - the solution was to update RIP's software. 

 

Found it:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/has-the-method-of-encoding-pdfs-changed-recently-it-s-broken/m-p/14147943#M545206

 

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 22, 2024

I cannot think of a benefit to adding paper white to the fill color. Is your Paper swatch defined as 0,0,0,0 in CMYK?

What are your PDF settings in detail?

Mike Witherell
Participating Frequently
February 22, 2024

Neither can I, yet those grey boxes show up with or without it.

 

My PDF settings are: High Quality Print [Modified] set for Abrobate 7 Compatibility. Export Visible & Printable Layers. Default viewing. Automatic jpeg Compression for images above 450. Compress text/line art is checked, as well as Crop Data to frames. Conver to Destinations, which is WebSwop Coated v2 and include destination profiles.

 

I have to be missing something for these grey boxes to be visible in a preview and to return when run through a rip, yet not be present on the PDF. And not every rip, just that vendor's who states their process is confidential and cannot tell me what system or process they are using.