For the Fixup to work as intended, the following conditions need to be met:

• Text must still be present as text in the PDF so that a Spot Color Separation can be created for text objects.
• The print file should not already have been flattened into pixels and vectors by transparency flattening.

Figure 1: Left: The Basic Settings tab in the Create Spot Color Separation for Object Type dialog; Right: The Advanced tab in the Create Spot Color Separation for Object Type dialog

To create a Spot Color Separation for specific object types, the following options are available:

• Templates [1] – the settings selected in the dialog can be saved as a template and subsequently applied to other Articles/Print Items, used within Fixup Chains, and applied in the Apply Fixups and Check Print Item and Apply Fixups operations.

Basic Settings

• Apply to [2] – select from the drop-down menu which object types the Spot Color Separation should be created for. The following options are available:
  • Images – a separation is created for images only.
  • Vector – a separation is created for vector objects only.
  • Text – a separation is created for text only.
  • Text and Vector – a separation is created for text and vector objects only.
  • Variable Content [10] – select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the object type should be retrieved. The selected field must contain one of the following values for the selection to be applied:
    • Image
    • Vector
    • Text
    • Text_Vector
• Limit to Objects with CMYK Values [3] – enable this option to restrict the selected object type to the specified CMYK values. When enabled, the CMYK value input fields are displayed. Enter the desired CMYK values so that a Spot Color Separation is created only for objects of the selected type with the specified CMYK values.
• Limit to Objects using the Spot Color [4] – enable this option to restrict the selected object type to the specified Spot Color. When enabled, the Spot Color selection is displayed. Select a Spot Color from the drop-down menu so that a Spot Color Separation is created only for objects of the selected type using the selected Spot Color.
• Invert Search [5] – enable this option to invert the Spot Color Separation. This creates a separation not for the selected object type, but for all other object types in the file.
• Create Spot Color Channel [6] – select from the drop-down menu the Spot Color to be used to create the Spot Color channel. All system-wide defined Spot Colors that can be output as separations are available for selection.
• Overprint State [7] – select the overprint state for the separation. You can choose between Overprint and Knockout.
• Tint Value [8] – reduce the tint value of the fill color by moving the slider or entering a percentage value.
• Opacity [9] – reduce the opacity of the fill color by moving the slider or entering a percentage value.

Advanced

• Quality [11] – select from the drop-down menu how accurately the printable objects in the Print Item should be traced to create the white separation. The more intricate and smaller the Print Item, the higher the tracing accuracy should be. Please note, however, that higher tracing accuracy also requires significantly more processing time. The following options are available:
  • Accurate – the objects are traced with a very high accuracy, but the process takes somewhat longer. The tracing resolution depends on the size of the object. The following resolutions are used depending on the object size:
    • For a width or height of up to 300 mm, the objects are traced at 1200 dpi.
    • For a width or height of up to 1000 mm, the objects are traced at 800 dpi.
    • For a width or height of up to 2000 mm, the objects are traced at 600 dpi.
    • For a width or height greater than 2000 mm, the objects are traced at 300 dpi.
  • Fast – the objects are traced accurately while maintaining fast processing. The tracing resolution depends on the size of the object. The following resolutions are used depending on the object size:
    • For a width or height of up to 300 mm, the objects are traced at 600 dpi.
    • For a width or height of up to 1000 mm, the objects are traced at 300 dpi.
    • For a width or height of up to 2000 mm, the objects are traced at 150 dpi.
    • For a width or height greater than 2000 mm, the objects are traced at 100 dpi.
  • Custom – select the resolution at which the objects should be traced. Enter the desired resolution in the corresponding field.
  • Variable Content [14] – select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the quality setting should be retrieved. The selected field must contain one of the following values for the selection to be applied:
    • Accurate
    • Fast
    • Custom
• Resolution [12] – enter the desired resolution to be used when tracing the objects. For the Variable Content [15], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the custom resolution should be retrieved.
• Layer Name [13] – enter the name of the layer on which the white separation is to be created. If no separate layer is to be created, remove the name from the input field. For the Variable Content [16], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the layer name should be retrieved.

Figure 2: Left: Values required in the selected field for the Apply to option; Right: Values required in the selected field for the Quality option

To experiment with this function, you can use the sample file "Sample_Separation for selected Object.pdf". A Spot Color Separation is to be created for the text in the file.

After applying the Fixup, the file "Sample_Separation for selected Object_End.pdf" is generated, in which a Spot Color Separation has been created for the text. The values shown in Figure 1 were used for this purpose.

Figure 3: Left: Original file; Right: Modified file with a Spot Color Separation created

Article Update: $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW 2.3.0 – 10/2026