Is There an Easy way to Find Grayscale Images in an InDesign File?

[LJSquared]

We create 30 catalogs that contain thousands of images in each one. Occasionally, between the image creation process and placing those images in the catalogs, a grayscale image might sneak through. Our commercial printer now says that we need to convert those to CMYK. I can't image clicking on thousands of images to see if any of them are grayscale...is there an easier way to find them?

Thanks,

Lloyd

[rob day · Accepted solution]

You can do it with preflight, but your printer really shouldn't care. Grayscales have the advantage of perfect neutrality—if the CMYK profile used to make a conversion isn't perfect for the press, or if the press gray balance changes during the run you will get a color cast. On the other hand, if handled correctly, CMYK has better dynamic range—richer blacks. The choice should be yours.

This preflight profile finds the grayscale and skips the CMYK version

[TomSchenck]

Hi Lloyd,

Package your book and click the Links and Images group in the Package dialog box. The Type column lists the color space. Create a report and you'll see how many images don't use your CMYK profile. 

You can also use bridge to see the links folder with your graphic files. View the folder as a list and sort the Color Profile column. You should see all of the grayscale images because the color profile is not your regular CMYK profile.

[rob day]

The advantage of a preflight profile is it will generate a list where you can click on the items, which selects and takes you to the image in the layout. From there you can right-click or option click to edit the original and make the conversion.

[LJSquared]

How do I click on all of these replies as "Correct." Each of you has given me the answer!

I appreciate it...thank you!

Lloyd

[BobLevine]

Choose helpful. There can only be one correct answer.

[Jongware]

All excellent options, and they even can be combined!

Pick the one for a workflow you are comfortable with: selecting one by one and fixing them through Edit Original, or create a list so you can edit them in Photoshop en masse and then update the links.

If all images must be converted then you can skip this and export to a greyscale profile PDF.

[DBLjan]

What about an apple script:

Its a quickndirty modification of a quickndirty script, so dont exspect perfection.

Look at line 40: set fname to space of …

Originally I was looking for a name in my linklist. I change that.

set ProgrammName to "ƒ{s} FiLL"
set ProgrammNameLang to "ƒ{s} FiLL (Find In Link-List)"
set myLinks to {}
set errormsg to ""
set Proz to "100%"
tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017"
    activate
    if (count documents) = 0 then set errormsg to "Kein Dokument geöffnet."
    try
        tell active document
            set AlleBilder to every link
        end tell
        if (count AlleBilder) = 0 then set errormsg to "Keine Verknüpfungen vorhanden."
    end try
    if errormsg is not "" then
        display dialog "" & errormsg buttons {"Mist!"} default button 1 with icon 0
    else
        tell active document
            set DokName to name
            set FindWhat to ""
            repeat until FindWhat ≠ ""
                set DialogResult to (display dialog "Dokument " & DokName & linefeed & " durchsuchen nach: " with title ProgrammNameLang with icon 1 buttons {"Los", "Beenden"} default button "Los" default answer "12345")
                if button returned of DialogResult = "Beenden" then
                    return
                end if
                set FindWhat to text returned of DialogResult
            end repeat
            my myProgressBarCreate(ProgrammNameLang, "Untersuche Verknüpfung…", length of AlleBilder)
            repeat with k from 1 to (length of AlleBilder)
                set myItem2 to parent of item k of AlleBilder
                if class of myItem2 as string = "image" then
                    set fname to space of myItem2 as string
                else
                    set fname to ""
                end if
                set myItem to item k of AlleBilder
                if link type of myItem = "EXCLUDE SOMETHING" then
                    beep (1)
                else
                    --set fname to file path of myItem as string
                    if FindWhat is in fname then copy myItem to the end of myLinks
                    -- my ZoomSelection(MyItem)
                    set whatsleft to (((length of AlleBilder) + 1) - k)
                    my myProgressBarStatustext("(" & whatsleft & ") – " & fname)
                    set tempzent to round ((((100 / (length of AlleBilder))) * k)) as real
                    my myProgressBarIncrement(tempzent & "%")
                end if
            end repeat
            my myProgressBarClose()
            -- display dialog "End with " & length of AlleBilder
        end tell
        -- end repeat
    end if
    if (length of myLinks) = 0 then
        display dialog "Nix gefunden" with title ProgrammNameLang with icon 0 buttons {"Hmpf."} default button "Hmpf." giving up after 3
        return
    end if
    if length of myLinks = 1 then
        --        set LinkPage to name of parent page of parent of parent of link LinkNum
        set SmallResult to button returned of (display dialog "Gefunden:" & linefeed & name of item 1 of myLinks & linefeed & linefeed & "Seite " & name of parent page of parent of parent of item 1 of myLinks & " in " & linefeed & linefeed & DokName with title ProgrammNameLang with icon 1 buttons {"Anzeigen", "Beenden"} default button "Anzeigen")
        if SmallResult = "Anzeigen" then
            try
                my GotoLink(item 1 of myLinks)
            end try
        end if
    else
        set showResults to {}
        repeat with k from 1 to (length of myLinks)
            set TempName to name of item k of myLinks
            if length of TempName > 25 then set TempName to (((characters 1 thru 25 of TempName) as string) & "…")
            -- copy "" & k & ". " & "Seite " & name of parent page of parent of parent of item k of myLinks & " | \"" & TempName & "\" | id" & id of item k of myLinks to the end of showResults
            copy "" & k & ". " & " | \"" & TempName & "\" | id" & id of item k of myLinks to the end of showResults
        end repeat
        set BigResult to true
        set last_item to item 1 of showResults
        repeat until BigResult = false
            set BigResult to choose from list showResults with title ProgrammNameLang with prompt "Vorkommnisse gefunden: " & (length of myLinks) OK button name "Anzeigen" cancel button name "Beenden" default items {last_item}
            if BigResult ≠ false then set last_item to item 1 of BigResult
            repeat with J from 1 to length of showResults
                if "" & BigResult = "" & (item J of showResults) then
                    my GotoLink(item J of myLinks)
                end if
            end repeat
        end repeat
    end if
end tell
tell application "Finder"
    try
        -- my myProgressBarClose()
    on error the error_message number the error_number
        display dialog "Error: " & the error_number & ". " & the error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1
    end try
end tell
on GotoLink(VAR)
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017"
        set selection to nothing
        select parent of VAR
        set GotoLinkAction to menu action id 132629
        --invoke GotoLinkAction
    end tell
end GotoLink
on ZoomSelection(vari)
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017"
        set selection to nothing
        select parent of vari
        set ZoomSelectionAction to menu action id 118790
        invoke ZoomSelectionAction
    end tell
end ZoomSelection
on myProgressBarCreate(pbBarName, firstAction, pbMax)
    set pbJS to "#targetengine 'pbar' 
    var ProgressBar = function(/*str*/title) 
    { 
         var w = new Window('palette', ' '+title, {x:0, y:0, width:360, height:60}), 
              pb = w.add('progressbar', {x:10, y:12, width:300, height:12}, 0, 100),
        pt = w.add('statictext', {x:320, y:10, width:40, height:20}, ''),
              st = w.add('statictext', {x:10, y:36, width:360, height:20}, ''); 
         st.justify = 'left';         w.center(); 
         this.reset = function(msg,maxValue) 
              { 
              st.text = msg; 
              pb.value = 0; 
              pb.maxvalue = maxValue||0; 
              pb.visible = !!maxValue; 
              w.show(); 
              }; 
         this.statustext = function(msg) 
              { 
              st.text = msg; 
              w.show(); 
              };
        this.prozent = function(msg) 
              { 
              pt.text = msg; 
              w.show(); 
              };                   
         this.hit = function() {++pb.value;}; 
         this.hide = function() {w.hide();}; 
         this.close = function() {w.close();}; 
    }; 
    pBar = new ProgressBar('" & pbBarName & "'); 
    pBar.reset('" & firstAction & "', " & pbMax & ");"
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017"
        activate
        do script pbJS language javascript
    end tell
end myProgressBarCreate
on myProgressBarStatustext(newText)
    set pbJS to "#targetengine 'pbar' 
    pBar.statustext('" & newText & "');"
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017" to do script pbJS language javascript
end myProgressBarStatustext
on myProgressBarIncrement(prozent)
    set pbJS to "#targetengine 'pbar' 
      pBar.hit()"
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017" to do script pbJS language javascript
    set pbJS to "#targetengine 'pbar' 
    pBar.prozent('" & prozent & "');"
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017" to do script pbJS language javascript
end myProgressBarIncrement
on myProgressBarReset(newAction, newMax)
    set pbJS to "#targetengine 'pbar' 
      pBar.reset('" & newAction & "', " & newMax & ");"
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017" to do script pbJS language javascript
end myProgressBarReset
on myProgressBarClose()
    set pbJS to "#targetengine 'pbar' 
      pBar.close();"
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2017" to do script pbJS language javascript
end myProgressBarClose
on replaceString(theText, oldString, newString)
    local ASTID, theText, oldString, newString, lst
    set ASTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
    try
        considering case
            set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldString
            set lst to every text item of theText
            set AppleScript's text item delimiters to newString
            set theText to lst as string
        end considering
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ASTID
        return theText
    on error eMsg number eNum
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ASTID
        error "Can't replaceString: " & eMsg number eNum
    end try
end replaceString