IFPA

I applaud Affinity for the improvement of handling PDFs that come from outside our business. We can now place the file and it looks like it is supposed to with no font substitutions if we choose "Pass Through." Great! However, when a PDF is placed, like an ad on a page, and then sent as a PDF to the printer to print the magazine the beautiful single color black is converted to 4 color black, ie black being printed by Cyan, Magenta, Yellow AND Black. I'm importing (placing) the PDF in a CMYK page. Not sure why the type, especially, is changed to 4C Black. Attached is a screenshot of both the original PDF (on the left) and the PDF passed through Publisher (on the right) as viewed in Print Production -> Output Preview in Adobe Acrobat. The original shows type is single color black, the passed through file shows 4C Black. Am I missing something or is this a "Feature?" The printing company won't print my magazine with 4C Black type. It just looks poorly. Thank you

But the whole idea of a PDF (Portable Document Format) is to be able to use the file without the need for all fonts to be installed. For that reason PDFs are created with fonts embedded. The better way to handle this is to import the PDF as is without the need or even the ability to edit the file. Photo and Designer both need this feature as well. Maybe an option to either import or place the document as editable or use the embedded fonts, designers choice. That would be the best of both worlds.

Will do. I've been working on converting all the text to the new color space and will send the printer a test file to make sure it is good for them too. Thank you again.

GRACol worked perfectly. Thank you very much for your help. This did the trick. I converted the color space to GRACol then reimported the graphics and so far, so good. Have a great day.

I will give that a try. Can you tell me where to set the GRACol profile for the document? I try to avoid Acrobat by going directly to Export and selecting the PDFX/1-a:2003 profile. Thank you

I can manage the black color in text, that prints correctly. It is only when placing/importing external graphics into the document that the problem arises. The text in the PDF or JPG graphic converts to 4 color black. I am creating the files by using "Export" in InDesign (1 Color Black file) and "Export..." in APub (4 Color Black file), both of those files use the same PDF/X1-A:2003 as the preset. So again, I'm thinking I'm missing some checkbox or other specification that will turn this behavior off. Would someone take the "174734 HPI_Ad_TIPnl_UpdatedLogo2019.pdf" graphic I uploaded, place/import it onto a page and create a PDF of that page and upload it? That way I can see if it is even possible to use APub in a 4 color separations printing environment. I really want to make this work. I had to resort to re-creating the entire publication in InDesign just to get it printed. I sent the printer sample files last month to test APub to make sure it would work. They said it did fine but when I actually tried sending them a file this month it was rejected for the 4 color black problem. Looking at the sample test files I sent last month I find it too exhibits that 4 color black conversion. The printer just didn't bother telling me. I'm trying to give you great people enough information to help me. Thank you so much for your assistance.

I see K Only when I import a JPG graphic. However, that converts an otherwise good 4 color design to black only. That's not what I need. I need to be able to import a 4 color graphic and keep its color space intact. That is, not convert type in it from solid black to 4 color black. I'm including another file with a jpg graphic that has converted the plain black text to 4 color black. I'm hoping this is just some checkbox I'm missing. One can check the what the separations will look like (since I don't have a RIP here) by opening the file in Illustrator and selecting Separations Preview from the Window menu. Then turn on Overprint Preview and you can see that the otherwise black type has converted to 4 color black. The InDesign file attached above called 1 Color Black.pdf does not exhibit this anomaly. I hope this helps point me in the right direction. Thank you again for your help. 5 with JPG.pdf

Thanks for your help! Maybe I'm explaining this wrong. When I import a PDF using CMYK color space the black type in that imported PDF changes to four color black instead of simply black. This causes the type to print on all four plates creating a registration challenge. The printing plant doesn't want to even try to print it this way. I'm including the original PDF ad, one PDF of a sample page created in Affinity Publisher called 4 color black, the same file and layout done in InDesign called 1 color black The 1 color black prints correctly, the 4 color black is the problem. This occurs no matter what graphic I bring in to APub. Again, I appreciate your help. Douglas 1 Color Black.pdf 4 Color Black.pdf 174734 HPI_Ad_TIPnl_UpdatedLogo2019.pdf

I feel pretty stupid here. Where will I find the K-only button? I don't see a context toolbar when I select the PDF. Where might that be? Sorry to be a pain and thank you for your help.

When I import a PDF or JPG graphic into Affinity Publisher Beta on a page when I then output the resulting file as a PDF the solid black I had in the graphics (type for example) turns to 4 color type instead of simply black. This causes problems at the press as they are not able to hold registration close enough for small 4 color type. The black should be honored as a color and not degraded to 4 color black. I'm attaching an example of an ad (PDF) for Helmer Printing that should be black type but when separated or viewed in a RIP you can see that the type has gone 4 color. If you need further explanation I'm available. Thank you 15.pdf