Expert: Ken Black - 8/12/2008

Question
QUESTION: I have a document that I created in In Design (Mac version CS3) and it is
comprised of a black background with text boxes and graphics.  But when I
print to PDF, the output is more a charcoal grey background and not true black.  
I have checked the settings (high quality) and went back to the document to
make sure I had true black.  Can you provide some guidance.

ANSWER: Hi Andrew,

You need to set your Preferences to display and print "Rich Black".

To do this select Preferences from the Indesign menu. InDesign->Preferences->Appearance of Black

Check that the On Screen and Printing menus show display and print as Rich Black. This will not change the color in your document, it will just cause anything black to print as a mixture of all colors to create the blackest black possible for the device.

Thanks,

Ken Black
www.bestprintingonline.com

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

QUESTION: Hi Ken
Just checked preferences and both display and print were already set to Rich black.  I really think that this problem is occurring between InDesign and Adobe PDF.  Any other idea what it could be?

Answer
Does the black look black on screen?

If this happens when you print from the pdf the only other idea that I can come up with is that there may be something wrong in your print settings or with the printer itself.

When you print, click the advanced button in the print dialogue. Check that Simulate Overprinting, under Output, is not checked.

That is all I believe I can offer at this point.

Thanks,

Ken Black