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shirleyh52042780
shirleyh52042780
Inspiring
March 16, 2018
Question

Changing uneditable rgb black to cmyk black

  • March 16, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 9293 views

I'm cleaning up an idd document created by someone else and converting all the color swatches to cmyk. However, [Black] has the un-editable strike-thru not allowing me to change it to cmyk. All the text is in this. I have changed to a print document, the color mode and nothing changes this Black. I can't delete it or change it.

I would rather not re-create a whole new document. What am I missing?

    4 replies

    Colin Flashman
    Community Expert
    Colin FlashmanCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 30, 2018

    As a matter of interest, David Blatner of InDesignSecrets.com has elaborated on this issue and also provides another workaround that involves making an idml and digging into the code to change the color. The article is here: https://indesignsecrets.com/turning-rgb-black-to-cmyk-black.php

    If the answer wasn't in my post, perhaps it might be on my blog at colecandoo!
    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 30, 2018

    David seems to be describing what I would call a bug (or a bad feature) with the changing color appearance of the default colors.

    You can create your own default swatch colors by editing the Swatch panel's colors with no documents open. It looks to me like the only swatches affected by an appearance change when choosing web intent are the default named swatches, (i.e., C=100 M=0 Y=0 K=0).

    Normally CMYK colors shouldn't change in appearance when they are converted to RGB from CMYK, but the installed default swatches can change in appearance and name. It's hard to think of a case where one would want that to happen.

    So here I've left the default Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow swatches:

    The 3 primary CMY colors change in appearance and name, but note that my other colors are converted via color management and I get RGB versions with the same appearance

    If I give the 100% CMY swatches a custom name, or change the percentages slightly, the conversion is color managed and the appearance doesn't change:

    davidblatner
    Community Expert
    davidblatnerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 30, 2018

    Good point, Rob. (Thanks, Colin, for mentioning my article.)

    There are definitely a number of "bad features" here (or bugs). The fact that [Black] isn't changed if your Transparency Blend Space is already set to CMYK when you change to a Print intent is also a "bad feature" (or bug).

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 17, 2018

    Colin's right, changing the document's intent will convert existing swatches and colors—RGB for Web or CMYK for Print. It will also change the Transparency Blend Space. The Web and Print Intents don't prevent you from creating or editing swatches in any color mode—a Print doc can have RGB swatches and a Web doc can have CMYK swatches. It's just the initial setup or change in Intent that converts the swatches but you can't manually edit the [ ] colors.

      shirleyh52042780
      shirleyh52042780Author
      Inspiring
      March 19, 2018

      I did change the intent before I started my question here. It did not change the swatches. Not a doc of my own, it was picked up from someone else. I created a new document and pasted in all the pages.

      rob day
      Community Expert
      rob dayCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 19, 2018

      Must have been a corrupt document. Another thing to try after you set the Intent to Print is clear your InDesign Caches file. Sometimes panels can get corrupted and often clearing caches will fix the interface.

      Colin Flashman
      Community Expert
      Colin FlashmanCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 17, 2018

      Did the document ever start off as an RGB web file? That would explain the [Black] swatch being RGB (Note the RGB icon to the right of the [Black] swatch):

      If this is the case, does the following change to the picture below if the Intent in the Document setup is changed from Web to Print?

      As an aside, anything in [Square Brackets] indicates a default. I've made a video that elaborates on that topic here:

      Episode 20: Items that appear in [Square Brackets] in Adobe InDesign - YouTube

      If the answer wasn't in my post, perhaps it might be on my blog at colecandoo!
        winterm
        winterm
        Legend
        March 16, 2018

        [Black] (exactly this - with the name in a square brackets) is un-editable system swatch. You can't delete or edit it. However, it is CMYK already.

        Notice the small icons showing this:

        You can duplicate it to editable version, but even a copy can't be named as Black - InDesign won't allow this saying it's reserved swatch name.

        FWIW, there are scripts that convert all RGB swatches to CMYK, in one click. It may be useful to you.

        Anyway, before converting consider a command Add Unnamed Colors from Swatches panel flyout menu. There may be some RGB colors used but not saved as a swatch

        And some swatches may still stay uneditable/undeletable, indeed. Usually this indicates they're used in placed vector artwork(s).

        shirleyh52042780
        shirleyh52042780Author
        Inspiring
        March 16, 2018

        Thanks, yes I'm familiar with the vector placement issue, I fixed that. I ended up creating a new doc in cmyk and dropping everything back in. I'd rather not deal with scripts.

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