Making "global" color changes to your designs; trouble replacing spot colors

[K***@adobeforums.com]

I have a simple design that I'm working on that involves 2 Pantone spot colors (518 and 445), plus the usual black/paper/registration, etc. I have been told that everything regarding the design is fine, with the exception of the two colors. I would like to simply replace or swap the two existing Pantone swatches with two new Pantone swatches. That is, everything that now appears as Pantone 518 change to Pantone 229, and everything that now shows as 445 change to 1685. However, the option to delete the current swatches is grayed out. It won't let me make a "global" color change. I know I've done this before and have been given the option to replace existing colors with another swatch. But the trash can icon is grayed out. I did have a couple .eps images that had a spot color in them, but I deleted them, and it still won't let me do it. This seems like it should be easy, and it would save a lot of time, rather than going through the whole document and manually making each color change. Any suggestions?

[S***@adobeforums.com]

It's not the nice, tidy, idiot-proof (although there's no such thing) solution you want, there is a simple option. Do nothing. Spot colour names on output don't have to conform to the ink used on the press. Document clearly for all concerned that all PANTONE 518 plates are to be printed using PANTONE 229, with similar instructiond for the other replacement colour. Include swatches on the replacement colours, and keep in touch with the printer all the way to the press. This sort of thing happens a lot, when clients demand sudden changes.

[K***@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, Scott. That will work in a pinch given the time crunch I'm under. Still, isn't this something that one should be able to do quickly within InDesign? Ideally I'd like to preview the color combinations onscreen before sending to press--just to get some idea of how they work together. It seems this would make color experimentation and selection much easier as well.

[S***@adobeforums.com]

Why can't you double-click on the swatch and change the colour there?

[K***@adobeforums.com]

When I double-click on the swatch to bring up the Swatch Options dialogue box, the options to select new swatches are grayed out. It will not let me choose a new color. Otherwise, yes, this would be very simple. My question is: why is the Swatch Option dialogue box not letting me select other swatches? This happens even when images that have spot colors applied have been removed. I can't think of any reason why it is hanging up on this. It's probably something simple, but I haven't been able to figure it out.

[T***@adobeforums.com]

Kent

I have just posted the same issue: wanting to replace one Pantone with another, but the Delete option in the Swatches palette is not active.

The strange thing is that I can do it in an earlier version of the file.

I can give no help though, since I am also looking for the solution.

[d***@adobeforums.com]

Kent

I came across a similar problem both with ID and Illustrator CS. I found that whilst I thought I had deleted all instances of a spot colour I hadn't.

I used Print to PDF and selected to print out only the separation of the particular problem colour. And there it was small and faint specks that were going to be very time consuming to manually delete as they were intermingled with black. A problem we have a lot because we deal with EPS's created from cad plots.

I ungrouped and using the direct selection tool managed to grab one of the specks. Then it was just a case of using the select, and same options from the drop down menu and applying black.

After a couple of trials the problem swatch allowed me the option of deleting it.

Note if you get an error message when printing a colour separation from ID to locate the rogue colour which says "The pages selected to print do not contain any inks that will produce plates" then it is a sure sign that the colour is with an EPS file which you have linked to from ID.

Hope this helps.

[unknown]

With ID CS you don't need to go through all that. Just use the
separations preview palette to turn off all inks but the one you're
looking for.

The same can be done in Acrobat Professional 6.0. Great feature in both
programs.

Bob

[@adobeforums.com]

I've actually never used In Design and am looking to buy this new product. I am somewhat familar with quark, but don't like the program. Can someone tell me what my advantages would be with purchasing In Design? Is In Design also a type of ghost layout like Quark is?

Help I'm lost in layout!

[unknown]

http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/conversion.html

Bob

[d***@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for that Bob.

I'm sure that works great with darker coloured intruders. But, unfortunately when your looking for a dozen hairlines in one EPS that are Pantone 460, on one page of a 200+ page document the separations preview isn't really the most efficient method of finding the blighters. PDF'ing then printing hard copy was the only way we found them you just couldn't see them on screen.

kat