Prepress PDF

Jeremy B · External Since: Jun 18, 2007 Posts: 1

Hello,
We need to convert publisher files to PDF so they can be sent to press from
our macs properly but every time the black text, black lines etc. convert to
a mixture of CMYK values instead of 100% black. If I open the PDF file in
Illustrator, it says the file is in RGB mode. We have checked that the
settings in Publisher are set to CMYK (Tools > Commercial Printing) and
Distiller 5 is set to PRESS quality for the settings. All text etc. is set to
100% K and yet the PDF file converts to RGB.

Any idea what we are missing or doing wrong in maintaining this as a CMYK
file?
Thanks!

Matt Beals · External Since: Aug 27, 2006 Posts: 108

On 6/18/07 8:52 AM, in article
B64C91D1-C5D7-4EF9-8C60-51DB61151FA8.RemoveThis@microsoft.com, "Jeremy B" <Jeremy
B.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Hello,
> We need to convert publisher files to PDF so they can be sent to press from
> our macs properly but every time the black text, black lines etc. convert to
> a mixture of CMYK values instead of 100% black. If I open the PDF file in
> Illustrator, it says the file is in RGB mode. We have checked that the
> settings in Publisher are set to CMYK (Tools > Commercial Printing) and
> Distiller 5 is set to PRESS quality for the settings. All text etc. is set to
> 100% K and yet the PDF file converts to RGB.
>
> Any idea what we are missing or doing wrong in maintaining this as a CMYK
> file?
> Thanks!

There are a couple of ways of getting Publisher files prepared for printing.

Callas pdfColorConvert - A plug-in for Acrobat that does the best job of
color conversions because it has a specially tuned configuration that
provides better RGB to CMYK conversions for Office (Windows GDI)
applications. All the RGB grays/blacks are converted to separation black.
This is also the only program that can find RGB grayscale images and convert
them to black. Everything else converts them to rich gray (CMYK gray).

Apago PDF Enhancer - A "everything and the kitchen sink tool" that does an
excellent job of converting RGB to CMYK. It doesn't do it as well as
pdfColorConvert, but it does many things pdfColorConvert cannot do.

Acrobat Pro - can convert colors to CMYK using the ACE engine.

PitStop Pro - more flexible than any of the other tools above but doesn't
convert colors as well. With global changes and action lists you can make
some pretty sophisticated selections and conversions.

Matt Beals
Consultant
Enfocus Certified Trainer
Markzware Recognized Trainer
(206) 201-2320 - Main
(720) 367-3869 - eFax
mailto:matt@mattbeals.com

Come visit me at:

http://www.automatetheworkflow.com
http://www.mattbeals.com
http://blog.mattbeals.com

Friends don't let friends write HTML email

Jeremy B · External Since: Jun 19, 2007 Posts: 1

"Matt Beals" wrote:

> On 6/18/07 8:52 AM, in article
> B64C91D1-C5D7-4EF9-8C60-51DB61151FA8.DeleteThis@microsoft.com, "Jeremy B" <Jeremy
> B.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > We need to convert publisher files to PDF so they can be sent to press from
> > our macs properly but every time the black text, black lines etc. convert to
> > a mixture of CMYK values instead of 100% black. If I open the PDF file in
> > Illustrator, it says the file is in RGB mode. We have checked that the
> > settings in Publisher are set to CMYK (Tools > Commercial Printing) and
> > Distiller 5 is set to PRESS quality for the settings. All text etc. is set to
> > 100% K and yet the PDF file converts to RGB.
> >
> > Any idea what we are missing or doing wrong in maintaining this as a CMYK
> > file?
> > Thanks!
>
> There are a couple of ways of getting Publisher files prepared for printing.
>
> Callas pdfColorConvert - A plug-in for Acrobat that does the best job of
> color conversions because it has a specially tuned configuration that
> provides better RGB to CMYK conversions for Office (Windows GDI)
> applications. All the RGB grays/blacks are converted to separation black.
> This is also the only program that can find RGB grayscale images and convert
> them to black. Everything else converts them to rich gray (CMYK gray).
>
> Apago PDF Enhancer - A "everything and the kitchen sink tool" that does an
> excellent job of converting RGB to CMYK. It doesn't do it as well as
> pdfColorConvert, but it does many things pdfColorConvert cannot do.
>
> Acrobat Pro - can convert colors to CMYK using the ACE engine.
>
> PitStop Pro - more flexible than any of the other tools above but doesn't
> convert colors as well. With global changes and action lists you can make
> some pretty sophisticated selections and conversions.
>
> Matt Beals
> Consultant
> Enfocus Certified Trainer
> Markzware Recognized Trainer
> (206) 201-2320 - Main
> (720) 367-3869 - eFax
> mailto:matt@mattbeals.com
>
> Come visit me at:
>
> http://www.automatetheworkflow.com
> http://www.mattbeals.com
> http://blog.mattbeals.com
>
> Friends don't let friends write HTML email

Okay, so basically we already have one of your suggestions installed,
Acrobat 5, and we use the Printer Driver portion to "print" the file to a
PDF. The problem still remains though... we can't figure out how to get the
PDF to retain it's CMYK settings. Whether it's an issue with Acrobat or
Publisher I'm not sure.

Matt Beals · External Since: Jul 07, 2006 Posts: 29

You need at least pro 6. The problem is Publisher printing composite cmyk;
it doesn't. You are better off printing to distiller using rgb colors and
then converting to cmyk. I've gone through this with several different
Publisher versions including 07. Convert all the pub colors to rgb, print to
Distiller and then convert to cmyk.

--

Matt Beals
Consultant
Enfocus Certified Trainer
Markzware Recognized Trainer
(206) 201-2320 - Main
(720) 367-3869 - eFax
mailto:matt@mattbeals.com

Come visit me at:

http://www.mattbeals.com
http://forums.mattbeals.com
http://blog.mattbeals.com

Friends don't let friends write HTML email
"Jeremy B" <JeremyB.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1640CD3B-FAC7-472B-9DBE-5D8C0B846908@microsoft.com...
"Matt Beals" wrote:

> On 6/18/07 8:52 AM, in article
> B64C91D1-C5D7-4EF9-8C60-51DB61151FA8.RemoveThis@microsoft.com, "Jeremy B" <Jeremy
> B.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > We need to convert publisher files to PDF so they can be sent to press
> > from
> > our macs properly but every time the black text, black lines etc.
> > convert to
> > a mixture of CMYK values instead of 100% black. If I open the PDF file
> > in
> > Illustrator, it says the file is in RGB mode. We have checked that the
> > settings in Publisher are set to CMYK (Tools > Commercial Printing) and
> > Distiller 5 is set to PRESS quality for the settings. All text etc. is
> > set to
> > 100% K and yet the PDF file converts to RGB.
> >
> > Any idea what we are missing or doing wrong in maintaining this as a
> > CMYK
> > file?
> > Thanks!
>
> There are a couple of ways of getting Publisher files prepared for
> printing.
>
> Callas pdfColorConvert - A plug-in for Acrobat that does the best job of
> color conversions because it has a specially tuned configuration that
> provides better RGB to CMYK conversions for Office (Windows GDI)
> applications. All the RGB grays/blacks are converted to separation black.
> This is also the only program that can find RGB grayscale images and
> convert
> them to black. Everything else converts them to rich gray (CMYK gray).
>
> Apago PDF Enhancer - A "everything and the kitchen sink tool" that does an
> excellent job of converting RGB to CMYK. It doesn't do it as well as
> pdfColorConvert, but it does many things pdfColorConvert cannot do.
>
> Acrobat Pro - can convert colors to CMYK using the ACE engine.
>
> PitStop Pro - more flexible than any of the other tools above but doesn't
> convert colors as well. With global changes and action lists you can make
> some pretty sophisticated selections and conversions.
>
> Matt Beals
> Consultant
> Enfocus Certified Trainer
> Markzware Recognized Trainer
> (206) 201-2320 - Main
> (720) 367-3869 - eFax
> mailto:matt@mattbeals.com
>
> Come visit me at:
>
> http://www.automatetheworkflow.com
> http://www.mattbeals.com
> http://blog.mattbeals.com
>
> Friends don't let friends write HTML email

Okay, so basically we already have one of your suggestions installed,
Acrobat 5, and we use the Printer Driver portion to "print" the file to a
PDF. The problem still remains though... we can't figure out how to get the
PDF to retain it's CMYK settings. Whether it's an issue with Acrobat or
Publisher I'm not sure.

Mike Koewler · External Since: Aug 29, 2003 Posts: 1239

Matt,

I don't have a PS printer installed to test this, but would it be
possible to create a PS file and convert Black to PS Black then open the
PS file in Acrobat 5?

Mike

Matt Beals wrote:

> You need at least pro 6. The problem is Publisher printing composite cmyk;
> it doesn't. You are better off printing to distiller using rgb colors and
> then converting to cmyk. I've gone through this with several different
> Publisher versions including 07. Convert all the pub colors to rgb, print to
> Distiller and then convert to cmyk.
>

Matt Beals · External Since: Aug 27, 2006 Posts: 108

On 6/24/07 10:40 AM, in article 5d4fe$467eac64$453de1ab$27221@FUSE.NET,
"Mike Koewler" <wordwiz.RemoveThis@fuse.net> wrote:

> Matt,
>
> I don't have a PS printer installed to test this, but would it be
> possible to create a PS file and convert Black to PS Black then open the
> PS file in Acrobat 5?
>
> Mike
>
> Matt Beals wrote:
>
>> You need at least pro 6. The problem is Publisher printing composite cmyk;
>> it doesn't. You are better off printing to distiller using rgb colors and
>> then converting to cmyk. I've gone through this with several different
>> Publisher versions including 07. Convert all the pub colors to rgb, print to
>> Distiller and then convert to cmyk.
>>

Depending on what you've got you probably have a Distiller printer already
installed. You can use that. In the advanced options of the printer you can
set the driver to convert gray/black to postscript gray/black automatically.
You still have the problem of the RGB colors. You'll need some sort of
plug-in for Acrobat to do the color conversion unless you let Distiller do
it for you.

Matt Beals
Consultant
Enfocus Certified Trainer
Markzware Recognized Trainer
(206) 201-2320 - Main
(720) 367-3869 - eFax
mailto:matt@mattbeals.com

Come visit me at:

http://www.automatetheworkflow.com
http://www.mattbeals.com
http://blog.mattbeals.com

Friends don't let friends write HTML email