Changing all occurrences of "pure black" text to "rich black" in Publisher document?

[Ken Hjulstrom]

Hi,

I currently have a Publisher document in which all of the black text is "pure black" (CMYK 0.0.0.100).  We'll be switching to a new print shop, which recommends that "rich text" (CMYK 60.40.40.100) be used.  Is there a straightforward way for me to convert all of the "pure black" text to "rich black", or at least for me to be able to search for any instances of "pure black" so I can verify that all of the black text has been changed?  Pretty much all of the document text is styled, but there are certain places where I've made adjustments to small portions of text (color, size, emphasis, etc.), so I'm hesitant to change the text color in the style description, lest I lose the small bits of "custom" color.  In the past, when I needed to confirm that all of the black text was "pure black", I'd open the exported PDF in Acrobat, and turn off the black channel in the "Output Preview", and scroll through the preview, verifying that none of the black text was visible.  In my current situation, I could use the same approach to do the opposite, verifying that all black text *was* visible with the black channel turned off.  What would be really nice would be if Publisher had an option to globally replace all text of a specified color to a different destination.  I'm assuming that such an option doesn't exist, but any suggestions for how I can make this change relatively easily and without the risk of losing special text attributes would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[thomaso]

You can use the Find & Replace panel > cog icon > Format > ...

[lacerto]

2 hours ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

We'll be switching to a new print shop, which recommends that "rich text" (CMYK 60.40.40.100) be used.

This is a bit strange procedure (especially if you have regular body text or notes in K-only), and also, because determining "rich black" with a predefined mixture is a bit odd, unless a specific tone (e.g. bluish, brownish, etc. tone is wanted), but in case neutral rich black is wanted, the easiest solution, as long as all you have in your design is text (anything laid out using fonts) and native shapes, is to use a different CMYK profile than what you currently use, either by using File > Document Setup > Color and switch the CMYK target profile, and make sure that you have Convert option selected. Or, when exporting, using a different CMYK profile than what your document uses. This will make sure that the rich black conversion is optimal and neutral (determined by the color profile). If your current CMYK profile is already correct, first switch to another CMYK profile but using the "Assign" option. Then convert to final CMYK profile and use the "Convert" option.

But if what you really need is having CMYK 60, 40, 40, 100 (and limit the change strictly to text), then Find/Replace, shown above by @thomaso, would be the solution.

[Ken Hjulstrom]

2 hours ago, thomaso said:

You can use the Find & Replace panel > cog icon > Format > ...

Hi thomaso.

Thanks for this.  It worked great, and let me convert all of the document's text at once!  I didn't realize that it was possible to search for practically any formatting that's supported.

Ken

 

 

[Ken Hjulstrom]

25 minutes ago, lacerto said:

This is a bit strange procedure (especially if you have regular body text or notes in K-only), and also, because determining "rich black" with a predefined mixture is a bit odd, unless a specific tone (e.g. bluish, brownish, etc. tone is wanted), but in case neutral rich black is wanted, the easiest solution, as long as all you have in your design is text (anything laid out using fonts) and native shapes, is to use a different CMYK profile than what you currently use, either by using File > Document Setup > Color and switch the CMYK target profile, and make sure that you have Convert option selected. Or, when exporting, using a different CMYK profile than what your document uses. This will make sure that the rich black conversion is optimal and neutral (determined by the color profile). If your current CMYK profile is already correct, first switch to another CMYK profile but using the "Assign" option. Then convert to final CMYK profile and use the "Convert" option.

But if what you really need is having CMYK 60, 40, 40, 100 (and limit the change strictly to text), then Find/Replace, shown above by @thomaso, would be the solution.

HI lacerto,

I agree that this is a bit odd, but the print shop is on the other side of the U.S. from where I am, so I'm restricted to remote correspondence only, and I'm relying on the shop manager to provide me with the color profile and "rich black" values that he feels will work best with his equipment.  It turns out that the new shop is capable of digital printing only, whereas the previous shop was using an offset printing process, where I was instructed to use K-only text to eliminate any loss of clarity due to minor registration differences between the different color plates.  We did have the new shop do a couple of test prints, with the first one having some color tint issues as well as the black text (at that time K-only) wasn't as clear as the printing done by the previous shop.  The second test print came out very nicely, with the shop making some "adjustments" on their side.  The new shop recommended the 60.40.40.100 "rich black", and I'm assuming that this is one of the adjustments that they did in preparation for the second test print.  FYI, we had no problem with the first shop, but it was located in the UK, and the staff in our organization who had been responsible for picking up the printed magazines, packaging them, and mailing them out are no longer available, so we're switching to a more locally-located shop.

Thanks,

Ken

[lacerto]

2 hours ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

The new shop recommended the 60.40.40.100 "rich black", and I'm assuming that this is one of the adjustments that they did in preparation for the second test print.

If it has been tested there is no doubt that this will work perfectly!

The method I was referring is based on color profiles and basically guarantees that too much ink is not applied, taking into consideration the actual media that will be used, while the visual appearance should be retained and be kept neutral, but that method would never result in K100 + a specific mixture of CMY inks applied, so the result could be less "rich", less intensely "black" than when using a predefined mixture where K100 + CMY mixture is applied (especially when tested).

If I am assuming correctly, your are applying this to musical notation, and in this case the rich black would also be applied to thin lines like staff and stems (as all elements of the score would be created using fonts and fills), so therefore I was wondering the purpose of this procedure. But as you're printing digitally, misregistration issues are different from offset printing, and if they happen (showing as misaligned colors), would show anywhere and not just in thin and small objects, and the remedy is also different (done on the device and not in the design).

[Ken Hjulstrom]

7 minutes ago, lacerto said:

If it has been tested there is no doubt that this will work perfectly!

The method I was referring is based on color profiles and basically guarantees that too much ink is not applied, taking into consideration the actual media that will be used, while the visual appearance should be retained and be kept neutral, but that method would never result in K100 + a specific mixture of CMY inks applied, so the result could be less "rich", less intensely "black" than when using a predefined mixture where K100 + CMY mixture is applied (especially when tested).

If I am assuming correctly, your are applying this to musical notation, and in this case the rich black would also be applied to thin lines like staff and stems (as all elements of the score would be created using fonts and fills), so therefore I was wondering the purpose of this procedure. But as you're printing digitally, misregistration issues are different from offset printing, and if they happen (showing as misaligned colors), would show anywhere and not just in thin and small objects, and the remedy is also different (done on the device and not in the design).

HI lacerto,

The document I'm working on isn't musical notation; it's a 40-page magazine containing about 60 images, about 80% of which are full color, and text, mostly black, and mostly sized between 9 point and 12 point.  In the sample print, text as small as 8 point looked good, so I'm hoping that the shop knows their machines well enough that they are confident that the "rich black" color blend that they suggested will work.  My editor lives nearby the new shop, so I'll see if they can do a sample print so my editor can verify the print quality before committing to the full run of 200 magazines.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions,

Ken

 

[lacerto]

Just now, Ken Hjulstrom said:

The document I'm working on isn't musical notation; it's a 40-page magazine containing about 60 images, about 80% of which are full color, and text, mostly black, and mostly sized between 9 point and 12 point.

My apologizes for all wrong assumptions!