Multi page InDesign file changes colors when exported to pdf.

[thomaswm1983]

Hello all. I've seen multiple color management posts but none that seem to reference my exact issue. I have a multi page in design document I'm using to create variable data templates for some teams with distinct colors. All of the text was created in InDesign. The file is set up to CMYK and the colors are set up to spot colors. I was initially trying to save some time by setting up a spot color swatch that I could globally edit so I wouldn't need a new swatch for every new color. ie: Set up on team >>save>>replace text>>change swatch color>>save...and so on. My problem is that when I export to pdf or merge the files as a multi page pdf so I have all teams as one pdf to send for proofing, it will change the colors to reference other team colors in the file. So one team will be gold and several teams seemingly at random will have all of their colors changed to the same gold. I assumed it was a problem with the swatch being set to a global state so I recolored each layout using a new swatch every time. Same thing happened. The merged file started copying the color of on team into another page. When you try to print the file I prints every team as a single color. I primarily use Ai and never have a problem with my global or spot colors. I'm only using InDesign because I will ultimately need to data merge these on a level that Illustrator can't handle. I've had luck starting from scratch and completely re-doing teams one at a time but I was hoping that someone could shed light on the cause and maybe offer a less time consuming solution. Thanks!

[andy_white]

You have a multi page Indesign Document but you also mention merging (and data merging), so I assume you have set up more than one Indesign Document, one for each team colour? Then are you merging them in Indesign and then making a PDF?

If you have a swatch colour in multiple documents with the same name but differing color values the merged document will change all the documents colours to the colour values of the 'original' file you are merging to. But you should see this in the file prior to making a PDF.

If the content was the same only the color changes you could create a swatch library or a separate colour file for reference of all the teams colours, you can delete used swatches and replace them with another color and export a pdf the merge them in Acrobat. That way you won't have multiple files of the same content but different colors. You would set up an original file, with all the colours loaded, export the first PDF in the first color set, delete the 1st swatch replacing with the 2nd color and export, delete the 2nd swatch, replace with 3rd and export etc.

If the files are reletively similar but you are replacing text and color for each I have used the alternate layouts feature keeping the files the same size in the past that can share elements across the different layouts, then each layout is named by team or color.

Otherwise seperate files, seperate colors.

[thomaswm1983]

Thanks. Yes I considered all of those factors. I did not have a multiple in design documents. The way its being set up is both as a data merge document for a client and then as a variable data template for our company site that can have information plugged into it. That part is being set up in pageflex. So the actual schedule is saved as a print quality pdf and either referenced in pageflex or linked in an excel sheet so our client can supple a list of names, addresses, and what team they would like and then we set those up using data merge. My problem is that I thought I would save some time making the pdf for the teams by using a single indesign document setup and just copy and pasting new info over the old info then adjusting a global swatch to change all of the team colors at once. I did consider the swatch name issue. I was renaming the swatch to the corresponding color before i saved each time. I even deleted the old swatch and created a completely different one and its still doing it. the only thing i can think of it that for some reason ID has locked in the swatch values from the initial save and is referencing them on every version of that file afterwards. I know the  most obvious solution is to just set up a new file every time, but in my office you have to take advantage of anything that could possibly shave a few minutes off of a project so I thought I'd see if there was an actual solution before I commit to just doing it the long way.

[Silly-V]

Huzzah! A fellow PageFlex survivor.

[thomaswm1983]

I'd hardly call it surviving. More like tolerating until I can dig and escape tunnel. 80% of my design issued fall under the category of  "great idea. But pageflex doesn't do that". Or "Pageflex SHOULD do that but for some reason it doesn't want to today"

[Danny Whitehead.]

If the colour is the same name in each file, that's probably causing the problem. And using spot colours could cause even more problems.

How about this... just have one document, with a separate swatch (not spot unless you're actually printing using spot inks) for each team colour. Have each team in your CSV as a separate column. Make a master page of the layout. Make a page for each team, with the appropriate elements coloured in their corresponding swatch. Place your data in those pages, and export to PDF.

[Colin Flashman]

I have recently written a couple of articles for InDesignsecrets.com about changing colours during a data merge that may assist you:

https://indesignsecrets.com/changing-colors-during-a-data-merge.php

https://indesignsecrets.com/applying-any-cmyk-color-during-a-data-merge.php

[Silly-V]

Hello!

While ID data merge is clearly superior to Ai, beginning at the conceptual level - what kind of differences prevent you from performing the data merge in Ai?

By the way, Colin's ingenious methods are awesome!

[thomaswm1983]

Ok. So I did some tests and I think I've narrowed down the problem. So after it was suggested that it was a problem with the swatch name I made a swatch library of all of the team colors as separate swatches. However, If I have team A set up as TeamAorange and then I replace the team name and recolor it as TeamBred it will export fine as a single page document. As soon as I merge it into multiple pages so that I can send it to a client for proofing it will detect that the same elements in TeamBred were once colored TeamAorange and replace the color with the original swatch. Maybe there is a checkbox somewhere I'm forgetting to unchecked, but this seems like a really silly issue to have in a program designed for multi page documents. I even tried setting up a muti page document and trying it that way instead of combining them in acrobat. But all copy and paste text seems to go back and reference previous colors after i assign a new one. It doesn't happen every time. But I can't seem to narrow down exactly when it will happen to eliminate the issue.

[RECmachine]

Sounds like a job for styles. Set up paragraph and object styles for each team color in InDesign. You can replace styles all at once with another style for global changes using find and replace. There is a limit on spot colors anyway, you can still use spot colors in the styles but it is not necessary. I am sorry that you work with pageflex somethings just won't die.

[thomaswm1983 · Accepted solution]

Yes. I used styles. It still did the same thing because the style sheets still assign a swatch. I eventually fixed the issue by creating a new file for every team. It was unnecessarily time consuming, but it got the job done.

[RECmachine]

A Spot color swatch name should refer to one color for almost eternity. It should not be treated as a variable for many reasons. There are plenty of ways to change colors in the creative suite. Make sure all your programs, teams, or clients have personalized swatches and there should be no issues. Share your file with me if you like.

[thomaswm1983]

Thank you RECfile. That's helpful to know. I can't share any files for NDA reasons, but its still good to narrow it down to possibly having assigned a spot color in the beginning. I've long since changed the swatches to CMYK Process colors and the problem was persisting. But if a spot color swatch maintains the color call out info, even after you change it, then that could very well be the root of the problem. I haven't used InDesign since I finished school 4 years ago and they always hammered home that you should always set your swatches as global spot colors every time you do anything. It was the Art Institute so I've long since learned that they were sometimes full of crap.

[RECmachine]

Glad that was helpful. Also styles work similarly. If you paste in a paragraph from one document into another that has a style name already in use, that paragraph will then take on those settings in that destination document. This can be frustrating or very useful, knowing how these things behave will save you from a headache and help you plan accordingly.