Using a safe CMYK workflow

A safe CMYK workflow ensures that CMYK color numbers are preserved all the way to the final output device, as opposed to being converted by your color management system. This workflow is beneficial if you want to incrementally adopt color management practices. For example, you can use CMYK profiles to soft-proof and hard-proof documents without the possibility of unintended color conversions occurring during final output.

Illustrator and InDesign support a safe CMYK workflow by default. As a result, when you open or import a CMYK image with an embedded profile, the application ignores the profile and preserves the raw color numbers. If you want your application to adjust color numbers based on an embedded profile, change the CMYK color policy to Preserve Embedded Profiles in the Color Settings dialog box. You can easily restore the safe CMYK workflow by changing the CMYK color policy back to Preserve Numbers (Ignore Linked Profiles).

You can override safe CMYK settings when you print a document or save it to PDF. However, doing so may cause colors to be reseparated. For example, pure CMYK black objects may be reseparated as rich black. For more information on color management options for printing and saving PDFs, search in Help.

Source: Adobe

Color-managing imported images (Illustrator, InDesign)

How imported images are integrated into a document’s color space depends on whether or not the image has an embedded profile:

• When you import an image that contains no profile, the Adobe application uses the current document profile to define the colors in the image.

• When you import an image that contains an embedded profile, color policies in the Color Settings dialog box determine how the Adobe application handles the profile.

Source: Adobe

Appending Pages to a PDF

Managing process and spot colors

When color management is on, any color you apply or create within a color-managed Adobe application automatically uses a color profile that corresponds to the document. If you switch color modes, the color management system uses the appropriate profiles to translate the color to the new color model you choose.

Keep in mind the following guidelines for working with process and spot colors:

• Choose a CMYK working space that matches your CMYK output conditions to ensure that you can accurately define and view process colors.

• Select colors from a color library. Adobe applications come with several standard color libraries, which you can load using the Swatches palette menu.

• (Acrobat, Illustrator, and InDesign) Turn on Overprint Preview to get an accurate and consistent preview of spot colors.

• (Acrobat, Illustrator, and InDesign) Use Lab values (the default) to display predefined spot colors (such as colors from the TOYO, PANTONE, DIC, and HKS libraries) and convert these colors to process colors. Using Lab values provides the greatest accuracy and guarantees the consistent display of colors across Creative Suite applications. If you want the display and output of these colors to match earlier versions of Illustrator or InDesign, use CMYK equivalent values instead. For instructions on switching between Lab values and CMYK values for spot colors, search Illustrator or InDesign Help.

Note: Color-managing spot colors provides a close approximation of a spot color on your proofing device and monitor. However, it is difficult to exactly reproduce a spot color on a monitor or proofing device because many spot color inks exist outside the gamuts of many of those devices.

Source:Adobe

Troubleshooting Adobe Acrobat 8 Problems

Creating Multimedia Projects

Change the appearance of CMYK black (Illustrator, InDesign)

Pure CMYK black (K=100) appears jet black (or rich black) when viewed on-screen, printed to a non-PostScript desktop printer, or exported to an RGB file format. If you prefer to see the difference between pure black and rich black as it will appear when printed on a commercial press, you can change the Appearance Of Black preferences. These preferences do not change the color values in a document.

1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Appearance Of Black (Windows) or application name > Preferences > Appearance Of Black (Mac OS).
2. Choose an option for On Screen:

   Option	Description
   Display All Blacks Accurately	Displays pure CMYK black as dark gray. This setting allows you to see the difference between pure black and rich black.
   Display All Blacks As Rich Black	Displays pure CMYK black as jet black (RGB=000). This setting makes pure black and rich black appear the same on-screen.

3. Choose an option for Printing/Exporting:

   Option	Description
   Output All Blacks Accurately	When printing to a non-PostScript desktop printer or exporting to an RGB file format, outputs pure CMYK black as using the color numbers in the document. This setting allows you to see the difference between pure black and rich black.
   Output All Blacks As Rich Black	When printing to a non-PostScript desktop printer or exporting to an RGB file format, outputs pure CMYK black as jet black (RGB=000). This setting makes pure black and rich black appear the same.

Source: Adobe