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Inverting colors of a placed pdf

New Here ,
Jul 01, 2024 Jul 01, 2024

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Hi there,

I was wondering if there is a way to invert the pages and text colors of a placed multi-page pdf once it's in InDesign? In the past, I've literally had to select "Edit With" then "Photoshop" for every individual page in order to invert and add a textured background, before saving and then dropping it back in place of the page. Is this the only way to do it?

 

**For context, I'm not seasoned in this program yet and have never used a word document rather than a pdf, so I realize there might be more functionality for a docx than a pdf. Problem is, I use one main program to format the bulk of my books, then transfer to InDesign after generated to create additional formatting the other program does not offer.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 01, 2024 Jul 01, 2024

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If you save a Word Doc as a PDF - then the text is live in the PDF - that is selectable and editable.

Once you open it in Photoshop it rasterises the text - it's no longer live. 

 

This is not a recommended workflow. 

 

You're better off importing your text to InDesign for the layout. 

 

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-------------

 

Can you tell us exactly what your goal is here? 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 02, 2024 Jul 02, 2024

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You can do it by setting your Transparency Blend Space to RGB, and with the container frame set to 255|255|255, set the placed PDF or Graphic to Difference:

 

Screen Shot 15.pngScreen Shot 16.png

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Community Expert ,
Jul 02, 2024 Jul 02, 2024

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Hi @deegarciawithBWD , Also, the Difference Blending mode has no affect on a transparent page (a fill set to [None]). So for it to work with a placed PDF where the page background might be transparent, you will need to set the Object to Difference and make a rectangle filled with white behind that covers the page. Here the placed PDF page on the right is set to Difference and there is another rectangle set to 255|255|255 RGB behind. I’ve attached my example

 

 

Screen Shot 18.png

 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 02, 2024 Jul 02, 2024

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Just a very general observation that may be completely off-target: it sounds as if you have a very complex workflow that might have some simpler path. It's easy to have a project or process advance, one step at a time, until it's several slightly random steps to an end goal. I'd wonder if you could back up and achieve your (evolved) goal with a simpler workflow and processes.

 

Maybe not. But sometimes work put into streamlining a process is more productive than finding better ways to do each step.


┋┊ InDesign to Kindle (& EPUB): A Professional Guide, v3.1 ┊ (Amazon) ┊┋

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Community Expert ,
Jul 02, 2024 Jul 02, 2024

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it sounds as if you have a very complex workflow

 

Staying in InDesign would make things a lot easier—it’s not exactly intuitive, but with RGB transparency the Difference mode with white underneath does produce the exact same output values as an Invert in Photoshop:

 

Screen Shot 21.png

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