How to Replace Color Swatches in a PDF Export Without Modifying the InDesign Document

[MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz]

Hi everyone

Is it possible to replace all incidents of a swatch, eg. C40 M40 Y80 K0 (or Pantone for that matter) to another, eg.
C25 M35 Y65 K5

when exporting a PDF without doing the change in the actual document?

Would love to hear your experiences, thanks

<Title renamed by MOD>

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz,

Thanks for reaching out! I understand that you'd like to replace color swatches in a PDF without altering the original InDesign document. Unfortunately, InDesign doesn't offer a direct feature to replace colors during PDF export. 

You might need to make the color changes in the document itself. However, if you want to keep the original document unchanged, you could create a copy of your InDesign file and perform the color replacements there before exporting the PDF.

Could you please let me know which version of InDesign you’re using and what operating system you’re on? This will help me provide more precise advice or check if there are any updates that might assist with your needs.

If you have any more questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!

Thank you, 

Abhishek Rao

[DTPtutorialyCZ-L.Zalesky]

https://creativepro.com/alias-one-color-swatch-to-another/

[rob day]

when exporting a PDF without doing the change in the actual document?

Hi @MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz , You can alias colors, but they have to be Spot (not Process) colors. Aliasing via Ink Manager (see Export>Output>Ink Manager) does change the document, so I would say no, unless you want to close the document without Saving after the Export.

[Laubender]

Hi @MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz ,

it is possible! But it requires a specific setup of spot colors.

You need both colors as spot colors. And you'll do the substitution with InDesign's Ink Manager.

Attached the InDesign document where I did this. Plus the exported PDF.

Below three screenshots from my German InDesign that show the settings.

[1] Rectangle where spot color C40 M40 Y80 K0 is attached. Another spotcolor is present as well.

The Ink Manager is showing two spot colors. C40 M40 Y80 K0 that is substituted with spot color C25 M35 Y65 K5.

Only spot color C25 M35 Y65 K5 is converted to CMYK at output!

Exported PDF/X-4 in Acrobat Pro showing the substituted color values in CMYK:

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[rob day]

Hi Uwe, I read the original question to be can the fill in the document be kept as C40 M40 Y80 K0 and Exported as C25 M35 Y65 K5? Ink Manager is changing the fill in the document to 25 M35 Y65 K5 as well as the fill in the PDF.

[Laubender]

Hi Rob,

well, as you can see from my screenshots of InDesign, the original fill is still applied to the rectangle.

So it's a matter of setting/resetting the Ink Manager to get the original fill with a different export to PDF.

That's the best workflow we can offer in this case…

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[rob day]

I’m guessing this is actually a color management problem—the export or print output color does does not match the InDesign soft proof preview?

[Laubender]

Hi Rob,

as soon as you change the setting of the Ink Manager to this one, all spots converted to CMYK:

you will output the still applied original fill color.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

Hi everybody,

FWIW: if i take this seriously, "…without doing the change in the actual document", there is no way to change the color on PDF export. It always requires a new spot color and one color that is converted to spot and some settings in the Ink Manager. Too much to change in a document. Less would be to change the desired color's values, export to PDF and not saving the document…

@MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz ,

what I am not clear about: why changing the color at all and not changing the document?

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[MPW_Verwaltung_Schweiz]

Hi everyone

Thanks for all your input, which I am happy to go through and test.

Long story short:

On demand we print some items in house, on a simple laser machine, and are not working with calibration tools. The value we are looking to change, would simply be a workaround to achieve a more satisfactory look of our pantone or/cmyk value, which does not please us on this specific printer.

Adjusting the printer has not been an option as we do not look to change the general tones, but this specific swatch application. We are hoping for a workaround via export to avoid the extra step of duplicating the document (which we want to retain with its original values for the bigger print demands which go to a printer).

[leo.r]

I wonder if you looked into editing your final PDF colors with PitStop Pro? Frankly, I don't know if PitStop can do exactly what you want, but it can do a lot, plus many tasks can be automated.

[rob day]

would simply be a workaround to achieve a more satisfactory look of our pantone or/cmyk value

This is a color management problem—CMYK values are device dependent and would not print with the same appearance from different printers or presses. Pantone switched their color definitions to Lab values 10 years ago for this reason.

Have you tried setting the solid Pantone color to Process, sending the Pantone Lab values to the printer, and let the print driver make the conversion into the printer space?