Will not convert to Gray

[ninjaPB_43]

Anybody else having problems converting to grayscale with pdf's produced in Indd CS3??   this just started..  I get two newsletters a month from the same customer, and recently they upgraded to CS3..  They design their NL for web and print at same time, but send in the NL in 4c process and I had been converting in Acrobat to grayscale to print 1/1..   nothing is working to convert these files to grayscale??  I havent found a solution, just curious to if anyone else has seen this...   ???


edit:  Acro 7 & PSP 6.5

just got an error that told me to call enfocus support!!   

edit 2: to get the error I was editing a remap color action, just trying to find a solution.

edit 3: OK, I got it to convert.  but now Im getting that error(see attachment below) everytime I edit ANY actionlist, and when I try to close the Action List panel..   Me thinks the computer has gone screwy..   

is this a permissions or .plist thing?

[EyeTech]

What workflow do you have? Does it have conversion built in like ApogeeX? See screengrab. That's how we do it.

[ninjaPB_43]

Working with Trueflow here, and dont do ANY conversions there, I like to do them(the very few conversions that I do) during preflight with Acrobat..

I do believe TF could be setup to do the conversion though, just not using that method..   

I am starting to believe it has to do with corrupted .plist or Action db..  dont really have the time to investigate more now..  but I will be looking more into it next week, just to resolve the issue for future use..

thanks eyetech..

[Laurens]

I have occasionally had problems converting color PDFs to grayscale using PitStop Pro. The plug-in that has never let me down for such conversions is Quite-a-box-of-tricks.

The last time a customer sent a huge and complex (300+ MB) catalog filled with vector graphics from a CAD system. I killed Acrobat/PSP after waiting for an hour or so. QABOT did the trick in 10 to 15 minutes. It may have a bit of a quirky user interface but that plug-in is reliable, the service is excellent and the value for money is incredible.

[frailer]

Someone may confirm. was PSP a paid upgrade from 6.x to 7.2? Could be part of your problem. If not, then do that for starters.
Can confirm printing4fun's experience with QABOT. Use it all the time to do spotRGB to CMYK. Don't bother doing it in PSP; it's not one of it's strengths. If you can be bothered/have the time, there is a lengthy dissertation by Matt B somewhere on the old PPF on this topic. A search should spot it pretty quickly.
QABOT uses sRGB space, but it's a pretty good "one-size-fits-all" for anything I've had to convert. Face it, most of the stuff you have to convert is half a step off rubbish anyway. QABOT zaps to CMYK in moments. Sometimes almost too good to be true. It's quirky, as stated, but does the job no fuss. Also pretty good at shrinking PDFs for soft-proof. Not very expensive either...och, aye...written by Scots, if not mistaken. 

[EyeTech]

A no cost option (except time) would be print to ps from ID with colour setting set to gray and then distill to PDF.

Or if you get a PDF from your client, open in Acrobat Pro, save out as ps with settings to composite gray and redistill.

[frailer]

Use it all the time to do spotRGB to CMYK

what the?...shouldn't post when ya that tired...RGB>cmyk..

Yeah, as you say EyeTech, it's a time thing. QABOT is virtually "on-the-fly". 

[Joe]

Anybody else having problems converting to grayscale with pdf's produced in Indd CS3??   this just started..  I get two newsletters a month from the same customer, and recently they upgraded to CS3..  They design their NL for web and print at same time, but send in the NL in 4c process and I had been converting in Acrobat to grayscale to print 1/1..   nothing is working to convert these files to grayscale??  I havent found a solution, just curious to if anyone else has seen this...   ???


edit:  Acro 7 & PSP 6.5

just got an error that told me to call enfocus support!!   

edit 2: to get the error I was editing a remap color action, just trying to find a solution.

edit 3: OK, I got it to convert.  but now Im getting that error(see attachment below) everytime I edit ANY actionlist, and when I try to close the Action List panel..   Me thinks the computer has gone screwy..   

is this a permissions or .plist thing?

You probably need to upgrade to Pitstop 7.22. It's well worth the upgrade price.

[frailer]

Thanks, joe. Think I'm on 7.2, not 7.2.2. better look at that.

[ninjaPB_43]

Or if you get a PDF from your client, open in Acrobat Pro, save out as ps with settings to composite gray and redistill.

this was one of the methods attempted and it was leaving some color behind, that's what was so weird.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

[Joe]

Thanks, joe. Think I'm on 7.2, not 7.2.2. better look at that.

Then it's a FREE upgrade for you.

[frailer]

Yeah, I know!...gonna check manana..