For the Fixups to do what it promises, the following requirements must be met:

• The file contains Pure Black objects.
• The objects can be in grayscale, CMYK and RGB.
• The file can contain images, vectors and text.

Figure 1: The dialog of the Fixup Convert Pure Black to Rich Black

To convert Pure Black to Rich Black select from the following options:

• Templates [1] – settings selected in the dialog can be saved as a template and thus applied to other Articles/Print Items.
• Color Space to convert [2] – in the selection menu select the Color Space in which the black that should be converted was created. The following options are available:
  • All Color Spaces – all Color Spaces – i.e. CMYK, RGB, and Grayscale – are included in the conversion.
  • CMYK – only Pure Black that was created in CMYK (0/0/0/100) will be converted.
  • RGB – only Pure Black that was created in RGB (0/0/0) will be converted.
  • Graustufen – only Pure Black that was created in Grayscale (100) will be converted.
  • Variable Content [6] – select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field - from which the value for the selection of Color Spaces should be retrieved. The following values must be present in the selected field so that the respective Color Space can be selected:
    • All
    • CMYK
    • RGB
    • Grayscale
• Apply to [3] – select the objects to which the conversion is to be applied in the selection menu.The following options are available:
  • All Objects – all object types are used for the conversion.
  • Images only – all images  are used for the conversion.
  • Vectors only – all vectors are used for the conversion.
  • Text only – all texts are used for the conversion.
  • Text and Vectors – all texts and vectors are used for the conversion.
  • Variable Content [7] – select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field - from which the value for selecting the object type should be retrieved. The following values must be present in the selected field so that the respective objects can be selected:
    • All Objects
    • Image
    • Vector
    • text
    • VectorAndText
• Include intermediate color values [4] –if this option is selected, all tonal values of the black color that should be converted are included.
• Color selection Rich Black [5] – enter the CMYK values for the desired Rich Black to be converted to here.

Figure 2: Left: values in the selected field for the option Color Space to convert; Right: values in the selected field for the option Apply to

To experiment with this function, refer to the sample file "Sample_Convert Pure Black to rich Black.pdf". Print Items show four flowers with flower pots. Each of these flower pots has been colored in Pure Black. The flower pot on the far left was colored with 0/0/0/100 in CMYK. The second pot from the left was colored with RGB (0/0/0) . The third pot from the left is an image. The pot on the far right was colored in grayscale (100). The file also contains a line of text that has been colored in 100% black (CMYK). The rest of the file consists of CMYK vectors.

After applying the Fixup, the file "Sample_Convert Pure Black to rich Black_End.pdf" is created. Here, all Pure Black objects from all Color Spaces were converted to Rich Black. The values from Figure 1 were used for this. This also changes the black visually. The goal of recoloring all pots in the same black was achieved.

Figure 3: Left: initial file; Right: edited file where all Pure Black text objects were converted to Rich Black

Article update: Workflow 1.17.1 – 04/2024