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CASTOinfo
Participant
March 11, 2020
Question

Phantom Pantone swatch in Illustrator document?

  • March 11, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 588 views

I am trying to work with an InDesign document, and I am getting a weird phantom Pantone color whenever I place an .ai or .eps file. In the Illustrator document itself, there is no orange swatch. 

 

 

 

 

 

When I place the document into InDesign, the image remains green, but adds an orange Pantone swatch to my swatches (I guess it's linked to the .eps file somehow?)

 

What's frustrating is that when the file is exported (interactive PDF,) the green outlines all show up as orange. 

 

 

 How do I resolve this? These files are not originally mine, so I'm not sure where to look to troubleshoot.  I've combed through the layers to see if there's anything hiding in the .eps file, and I've tried deleting the object and recreating a new one from scratch. I don't know if this issue lies in the InDesign or Illustrator document. If I copy and paste anything with a green outline from Illustrator to InDesign, it shows up with an orange outline.

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3 replies

rob day
Community Expert
rob dayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 11, 2020

You can select all of your swatches, double click, and convert them to Process, which will also reset any aliases:

 

rob day
Community Expert
rob dayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 11, 2020

Also, you have 16 spot colors in the document, but I doubt you are ever going to output a 16 plate separation for an offset press, and you certainly wouldn’t need spot colors for an interactive PDF. The color will be easier to manage if you set all of your swatches to process color both in AI and InDesign.

    Dave Creamer of IDEAS
    Community Expert
    Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 11, 2020

    In both programs, it's possible to have colors that are not in the Swatches panels. Using the panels menu, add used colors and see if the color shows up in AI. 

    In the ID Swatches panel menu, go to Ink Manager and see if the green spot has been aliased to the orange.

    David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
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