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This is an old bug from v1 (see the thread below). On some systems (mostly macOS/Apple Silicon, but also some Windows 10 computers), when exporting as PDF/X-3:2003, the RGB color space option is missing. This affects anyone who has to produce flattened PDFs (no transparencies) without converting to the CMYK color space. Any updates on this issue?

There's a Bug from V1 which made it's way into V2, too. If you try to export PDFs with custom CIE/LAB spot Colors in Publisher V2, the colors export as spot colors but the color space is converted into Device CMYK. detailed description here:

LuLu.com, Amazon KDP, and other on-demand book publishing platforms sometimes prefer RGB rather than CMYK color space PDFs. Apparently the thinking is it is best to allow the outsourced printing house to apply whichever CMYK conversion is most appropriate to the particular press that happens to run the job in question. The LuLu guidelines put a lot of emphasis on ensuring the press-ready PDF is "flattened" with no transparencies. I experimented with a large number of Affinity Publisher PDF export options, examining the output of each with the transparency pre-flight checks in Adobe Acrobat DC. I also examined many of these PDFs using the pre-flight checks LuLu.com performs on them when uploaded. Prior to export from Affinity Publisher I would also run Affinity Publisher's default pre-flight checks. I was unable to create a single PDF in the RGB color space which didn't generate transparency warnings within both Adobe Acrobat and Lulu.com. Ultimately, I ended up using a PDF/X-1a:2003 based export (plus bleed) to produce a PDF in the CMYK color space. This fixed the transparency warnings, but strictly speaking it isn't what LuLu.com prefers. Based on some of the Affinity forums, it seems Affinity Publisher could best solve this by supporting an RGB color space option when using a PDF/X-3:2003 compatible export. Apparently the PDF/X-3:2003 standard provides the necessary support for RGB, but Affinity Publisher does not currently support an RGB color space option for PDF/X-3:2003. It would also be very nice if the Affinity Publisher pre-flight checks could help identify any potential problem areas related to transparency flattening. I am quite out of my depth in completely understanding all the problems I encountered. What is very clear to me is producing press-ready PDFs for POD book printing companies who prefer RGB based PDFs should be trivial to do and not consume a day or two of work to try and figure out. I also think it would be great if there were well tested tutorials or FAQs regarding the proper Affinity Publisher export settings for LuLu, Amazon KDP, and IngramSpark. Relevant Links: https://assets.lulu.com/media/guides/en/lulu-book-creation-guide.pdf https://blog.lulu.com/dont-cry-over-spilled-ink/

I need some quick help. How exactly Do I get my CIE/LAB Spot colors to export into my PDF-X3? They are converted to Device-CMYK everytime, no matter what I try. Ohne Titel.afpub Ohne Titel.pdf

If Choosing X3 in the PDF-Export Settings, RGB colors will always be converted to CMYK, but instead they should have an RGB profile attached. Otherwise, X3 makes no sense since it is not different from X1a, where only CMYK Colors are allowed. Document color mode is sRGB This bug also affects Affinity Designer

Hi everyone, I'm trying to solve this problem I have using Roland versaworks 5. This suite has many problems with transparencies. The file I am sending is composed by a png image and the cutcontour sign. I attach 4 files trying to explain: the first one is the original (.af design) The second one is called affinity designer pdf for print. This one has perfect quality, but the cut is no recognized. To avoid this, the only solution seems to be to save the file as a x3 pdf. If I save it on affinity designer, the cut is recognized, but the quality is very very bad (file affinity designer pdf x3) totally flattened, no contrast at all. If i save it on illustrator, the cut is recognized, and the quality is perfect (file illustrator pdf x3). So my question is: why there is so much difference between this 2 results? Do I need to process the files with Illustrator to have an acceptable quality? Thank you in advance, have a good day. Illustrator pdf x3 cut recognized, optimum quality when printed.pdf Affinity desginer pdf x3 cut recognized, but very bad quality when printed.pdf Affinity Designer Pdf for print no cut in versaworks.pdf original.afdesign