Expert: Ken Black - 3/16/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I have Acrobat 7 and Pitstop 7.52 for Mac. Can you tell me how to convert PDFs to grayscale, please? Everything I find is for newer versions. Thank you!

ANSWER: Hi Shelly,

You can create an action that will change the entire document to grayscale.

Open the Action List Control Panel, Click the Managing Tab and then click New.

In the dialog that opens, click New, another dialog opens, select the Selections tab and click Select All. This adds the Select All action to your new Action List. In the same dialog, click the Changes tab and select Convert Color. After selecting convert color, select Gray from the drop down menu and click ok.

Now run your new Action List from the Action List Control Panel. Your document should be grayscale now.

Thanks,

Ken Black

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: OK, when I pull the PDF into InDesign and check separations, it does show only on the black layer. But the black shows up gray and I want a true black. Did I do something wrong or is that just the way it is? I will attach an image if this helps.

I really appreciate your help!

Answer
Hi Shelly,

This sometimes occurs when a file uses rgb black. When converted to grayscale or cmyk, solid black often will come in at 91% rather than 100%. This happens especially with files originally created in office applications.

Use the Global Change in Pitstop to change the color globally. Start by selecting something that should be solid black. In the Global Change window Grab the selected color, then in the change to side choose either 100% black from the repository or select cmyk and enter 100% black with cmy at 0% and click run. This only works on one object type at a time, so if you chose to change a fill, then all fills will be changed and you will need to repeat this for strokes and vice-versa.

Thanks,

Ken Black