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Loomanator
Participant
Jun 8, 2020 6:38 PM UTC
Answered

Why InDesign changes 100% Black (K) text to CMYK in PDF?

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me. I have an InDesign document (v15.0.3) with 100% Black text. When I export this to PDF using just the Adobe PDF preset "Press Quality", my 100% black text is converted to CMYK with the text appearing on all 4 printing plates instead of just the black plate. I sent the same file to a friend and he exported to PDF using the same "Press Quality" and the black text came out on only the black plate as 100% black (which is what I want). I have switched computers recently to a Macbook Pro 15, 2019 running Mojave 10.14.6, so I am wondering if there is some setting somewhere in InDesign that I need to change so that 100%black text in InDesing seperates to 100% black text on only the Black plate when exporting to PDF. I hope my explaination is clear. 

 

  • Macbook Pro 15, 2019 running Mojave 10.14.6
  • InDesign (v15.0.3)
  • I have in set my preferences "Appearance of Black" to Display/Output All Blacks Accurately (but from what I understand this is just for on-screen and digital printing NOT press. 
  • I have my "Document Blend Space" as "Document CMYK"
  • My colour setting is "North American General Purpose 2"
  • I even tried selecting the text and clicking "overprint" in the Attributes menu.
  •  

Please help me.

 

Thanks, Loomanator

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LoomanatorCorrect answer
Participant
Jun 11, 2020 4:09 PM UTC

Thank you to everyone for your help! I ended up taking everyone's advice and my problem is solved. I think Acrobat was the problem.

  • I unintalled and reinstalled Acrobat and overwrote my existing preferences
  • I made sure I was using the same Simulation Profile in AcrobatPro and my Document CMYK profile
  • I double checked to make sure Acrobat preference> Accesibility> Replace document colors was turned off
  • And I noticed one other little thing - under Convert Colours, I clicked Preserve Black on

Everything seems fine now, with my 100% black text only on the black plate in PDF. Thank you so much for all your help!!

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8 replies

Luke Jennings3
Community Expert
Luke Jennings3Community Expert
Community Expert
Jun 9, 2020 12:44 PM UTC

I suspect the issue is with Acrobat, not InDesign. Check the Acrobat preference> Accesibility> Replace document colors, if this is on, it could change the color of the black type. Try resetting your Acrobat preferences, or re-install, taking care to say yes to overwriting the existing preferences.

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    LoomanatorAuthorCorrect answer
    Participant
    Jun 11, 2020 4:09 PM UTC

    Thank you to everyone for your help! I ended up taking everyone's advice and my problem is solved. I think Acrobat was the problem.

    • I unintalled and reinstalled Acrobat and overwrote my existing preferences
    • I made sure I was using the same Simulation Profile in AcrobatPro and my Document CMYK profile
    • I double checked to make sure Acrobat preference> Accesibility> Replace document colors was turned off
    • And I noticed one other little thing - under Convert Colours, I clicked Preserve Black on

    Everything seems fine now, with my 100% black text only on the black plate in PDF. Thank you so much for all your help!!

    Translate
    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Jun 8, 2020 7:46 PM UTC

    Is the black text filled with the default [Black] swatch, and is the color mode of the swatch CMYK? If the Intent of the document is something other than Print the default [Black] swatch would be RGB.

     

    Try exporting using the PDF/X-4 preset and view the PDF in AcrobatPro with Output Preview turned on.

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    LoomanatorAuthor
    Participant
    Jun 8, 2020 9:36 PM UTC

    Rob:

     

    Thanks for your help as well.

    Is the black text filled with the default [Black] swatch, and is the color mode of the swatch CMYK? - Yes

    If the Intent of the document is something other than Print the default [Black] swatch would be RGB. - The document is for print. When I roll the mouse over default [Black] it gives me a C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100 break.

     

    It is odd. When I view with seperations preview in InDesign the CMYK break looks fine (my text is on the black plate only), but when I use Output preview in Acrobat my text is broken into CMYK and is on all the CMYK plates.

     

    I tired PDF/X4-2008 as well, but unfortuately that did not work either. Thanks again. Any help is much appreciated. I did notice another thread where the person re-installed Adobe Acrobat. I will try that as well. Also I did a test from Illustrator with the same result. I have never encountered this before.

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    vladan saveljic
    vladan saveljic
    Inspiring
    Jun 8, 2020 7:44 PM UTC

    It's better to export to PDF/X4-2008

    but if you want to check your "press quality" optons can we see this your settings?

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      LoomanatorAuthor
      Participant
      Jun 8, 2020 9:26 PM UTC

      Thanks for your help. I tired PDF/X4-2008 as well, but unfortuately that did not work either. Attached is a screen shot of my settings. Thanks again. Any help is much appreciated. I did notice another thread where the person re-installed Adobe Acrobat. I will try that as well. Also I did a test from Illustrator and had no success.

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      rob day
      Community Expert
      rob dayCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      Jun 8, 2020 10:10 PM UTC

      Is the Simulation Profile in AcrobatPro your Document CMYK profile:

       

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        Community Expert
        Manan JoshiCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        Jun 8, 2020 6:49 PM UTC

        Moving to InDesign forum for better responses

         

        -Manan

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        -Manan
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