Printing color and black text from InDesign

[valerieatmidd]

I have a 76 page book that has both all color and just black text interior pages. Is there a way to send an InDesign document to a Xerox CP1000 so that we don't get charged for all color clicks (about half of the pages are all black text, and the other pages have cmyk images)?

[JR Boulay]

Hi.

This is the Acrobat forum, let's move to the InDesign forum.

[valerieatmidd]

Can you move it to the InDesign forum or is that something I have to do? I thought I was posting in the InDesign forum (that's what I initially clicked on).

[rob day]

You can set up a preflight rule that flags objects that use CMY or Registration so the only color that won't get flagged is [Black] or grayscale objects. Use the preflight rule to check the pages you assume are black only. Also you can't include printer marks because they use the registration swatch, which includes CMY.

This preflight rule catches the oval because it is filled with an RGB black and the square because it is filled with the Registration swatch. The "A" passes because it is filled with the [Black] swatch

[Abambo]

If I understand you right:

• colour pages should print in colour
• black and white pages should print in K only

At least at my site there is nothing I need to do. The printer has 2 different counters and we get charged accordingly. a BW page prints in K only, other pages get charged as colour copies, even if there is only the thinnest colour point on.

You can print, however, the would document as greyscale. You can configure PDF printing like that or you configure the printer driver.

[gibbyd25411941]

I have the same problem with InDesign printing black and white pages as full color pages when "Auto Color" is selected in the print driver. It only happens with InDesign and the only workaround I have been able to find is that I have to export the document and open each page in photoshop and convert to grayscale and then place those pages back into InDesign and then it will print correctly. This is completely unacceptable.

I have done the preflight and it shows my black text as K only and nothing appears in the CMY plates....but it prints as a full color click.

[rob day]

when "Auto Color" is selected in the print driver.

Does your driver have a grayscale option? In InDesign [Black] is still considered a CMYK color, so to get it to output unchanged a driver would need a CMYK or Grayscale option. Also make sure your appearance of black preferences are set to Output All Blacks Accurately.

[@russellsdesk]

IF you want to convert all colours to greyscale - export as pdf, open in Acrobat Pro > Print Production > Preflight > Digital Printing and oline publishing. Convert all colours to greyscale.

[rob day]

@russellsdesk  wrote

IF you want to convert all colours to greyscale - export as pdf, open in Acrobat Pro > Print Production > Preflight > Digital Printing and oline publishing. Convert all colours to greyscale.

You can also make the conversion on export by using the PDF/X-4 preset and setting the Destination to a grayscale profile—the grayscale profiles are usually at the bottom of the list:

[gibbyd25411941]

The problem is that there is One color page in the document so I have to print with "Auto Color" selected. That setting should print all the black as black clicks and the one color page should be one color click. Instead, all the pages are color clicks. This only happens with InDesign and if I export it as a PDF and try to print from Reader, it does the same thing.

[rob day]

This only happens with InDesign and if I export it as a PDF and try to print from Reader, it does the same thing.

But obviously it happens in Acrobat too.

The problem is with the printer software not InDesign—it's converting the c=0 m=0 y=0 k=100 into a new 4-color mix. I'm guessing the same would happen over in Photoshop if you set black text in an RGB or CMYK color document.

[gibbyd25411941]

It happens with Acrobat only when printing an exported document from InDesign. I have made a new document with one line of text and made it black just to test and it prints as color from InDesign with auto color selected. I created a similar document in microsoft word and it prints correctly. I have opened other PDF files and they print correctly. I have tried with a mac and with windows.

I have tried "Text as Black" and I have created a new spot color as well, but nothing seems to work outside of exporting, converting, and replacing the black pages.

[Abambo]

If in Indesign you export an all black text it stays all black.

[rob day]

It happens with Acrobat only when printing an exported document from InDesign.

Your black only text could be converting to 4-color during export, depends on the preset you use. Try exporting with the default PDF/X-1a preset which will preserve black only text. In AcrobatPro use Print Production>Output Preview to check if the text is indeed black only.

[gibbyd25411941]

Your black only text could be converting to 4-color during export, depends on the preset you use. Try exporting with the default PDF/X-1a preset which will preserve black only text. In AcrobatPro use Print Production>Output Preview to check if the text is indeed black only.

It still printed as a color click after checking the Output Preview.

[rob day]

Right, your print driver is making the conversion to 4-color—the color in Acrobat has no CMY and is black only. The problem is with the printer software.

[rob day]

Have you tried the Text as Black checkbox? You might need to set the black text as a spot color for that to work.

[gibbyd25411941]

Right, your print driver is making the conversion to 4-color—the color in Acrobat has no CMY and is black only. The problem is with the printer software.

But why doesn't it only happen with Indesign and PDFs made from InDesign?

[rob day]

Illustrator should do the same—black text is set as a CMYK color when the document mode is CMYK, and the text would get exported to PDF as 0|0|0|100 CMYK.

I don't use Word, but it has no CMYK space. It looks to me like its text is set as a grayscale object, which would explain why you can get it to work out of Word. InDesign has no native grayscale space, placed grayscale objects are output or exported to the CMYK black plate.

It is certainly possible print black only text out of InDesign, but you would probably need a RIP or a Postscript driver.

[Abambo]

The CP 1000 is definitively a production machine and should be able to handle 0,0,0,100 as pure black.

[rob day]

The CP 1000 is definitively a production machine

That was the OP's printer—I don't think we know what gibbyd25411941 is printing from?

[Abambo]

You're right!

[gibbyd25411941]

I have been printing to a Konica Bizhub C364e, C654e, & C368. The older models like the C552 don't have this issue but it seems that every machine from the 4 series to the 8 series have this issue with Indesign. I haven't tried the 9 series but I'm sure it is the same.

I found that the document I was trying to print had an 80% black (C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=80) and when I changed that to K=100, the document would print with the correct color and b&w clicks. So for some reason, anything less than 100% black is read as a color. I have a ticket open with Konica and we have found a firmware that deals with this color issue, but it did not resolve it.

I can print the document fine with a PCL driver on a windows pc, but only after clicking an option to "convert to grayscale" and then set a threshold. The Post Script driver doesn't have that option on windows or mac.

[rob day]

I found that the document I was trying to print had an 80% black (C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=80) and when I changed that to K=100, the document would print with the correct color and b&w clicks.

Almost all composite color print drivers ("RGB" drivers) make color managed conversions—it would be unusual for a CMYK color to output to a composite printer with its values unchanged. Some printers make exceptions for 0|0|0|100 CMYK so that black text does not print as 4-color, which would likely make it appear bolder.