Color conversion issues when converting to PDF/X-3 in preflight (Acrobat 8 Professional, and Acrobat 3D 8 on Windows and Mac)Products affected
Issue
When you perform a a PDF/X-3 conversion using the Preflight tool in Adobe Acrobat 8.1, Device Gray is converted to CMYK.
Reason
The ISO Standard, PDF/X-3, allows for ICC based RGB and Lab color in print workflows. In Acrobat 8.1 a color conversion to CMYK colorspace was executed by the Preflight tool when you used any of the PDF/X-3 creation paths. Unfortunately these PDF/X-3 creation paths also convert Device Gray to CMYK, resulting in objects which originally only used the Black plate imaging on all four CMYK plates.
While converting ICC-based RGB profiles may be suitable, converting Device Gray information results in CMYK output. One plate becomes four plates.
As a result, Adobe is providing a replacement build of the Preflight plug-in that solves the Gray to CMYK problem. You must completely remove the Preflight plug-in from your system due to the complexity of the problem.
Solution
Download the replacement Preflight plug-in, remove the Preflight plug-in you currently have installed, and then install the replacement Preflight plug-in.
On Windows
Install the Acrobat 8.1.2 update from the Adobe website at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3853.
On Mac OS
For the Mac OS solution, see "Droplet feature fails to work properly on Acrobat 8.1.2 Professional (Macintosh only)" (Technote kb403208).
Additional Information
The following chart illustrates what what happens before and after you update the preflight plug-in:
Acrobat 8.1 Preflight |
Acrobat 8.1.1 Preflight |
||
Colorspaces |
Colorspaces |
||
before conversion |
after conversion |
before conversion |
after conversion |
Device Gray |
Device CMYK |
Device Gray |
no change |
ICC-based Gray |
Device CMYK |
ICC-based Gray |
decalibrate (to Device Gray) |
Device RGB |
Device CMYK |
Device RGB |
Device CMYK |
ICC-based RGB |
Device CMYK |
ICC-based RGB |
Device CMYK |
Device CMYK |
no change |
Device CMYK |
no change |
ICC-based CMYK |
Device CMYK |
ICC-based CMYK |
decalibrate (to Device CMYK) |
Lab |
Device CMYK |
Lab |
Device CMYK |
Doc ID
(kb402541)
Last updated
2009-11-16
OS
Mac OS 10.4
Mac OS 10.5
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Products affected
