In this article, you will learn
- the prerequisites that must be met for this Fixup, and
- how to apply this Fixup.
1. Introduction
The Rename, Convert or Remove Spot Colors Fixup is available in $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW application. The purpose of this Fixup is to rename selected Spot Colors or Technical Colors, modify their alternate color space, convert them to CMYK, or remove them.
2. General
The Rename, Convert or Remove Spot Colors Fixup can be used to rename or remove selected Spot Colors. In addition, Spot Colors or Technical Colors can be converted to a different alternate color space, such as CMYK, LAB, or RGB.
You can find this Fixup in the Data Preparation tab of an Article, Order or Production Job by:
- entering the name of the Fixup in the Filter section,
- enabling the option Color in the Category section,
- enabling the option Rename or Delete in the Action section,
- enabling the option Spot Color, Pantone, HKS or RAL in the Property section.
3. Description
With this Fixup, Spot Colors or Technical Colors can be renamed, removed, converted to a different alternate color space, or converted to CMYK. To do this, select the desired Spot Color and the corresponding operation.
3.1. Prerequisites and Functionality
For the Fixup to work as intended, the following requirement must be met:
- The file contains Spot Colors or Technical Colors.
Depending on whether the selected Spot Color or Technical Color is to be renamed, removed, converted to a different alternate color space, or be converted to CMYK, different options are available in the dialog. The individual options are described in detail below.
3.1.1. Rename Spot Color
To change the name of a Spot Color, first select the Rename [1] action. You can then enter the new name for the desired Spot Color.
Figure 1: The dialog of the Rename, Convert or Remove Spot Colors Fixup with the Rename action enabled
To rename a Spot Color, the following options are available:
- Source Spot Color Name [2] – select the Spot Color to be renamed from the dropdown menu. All Spot Colors available in the Print Item are listed for selection.
- Target Spot Color Name [3] – enter the new name for the Spot Color. If you select a name that already exists system-wide or in the Print Item, all objects colored with the Source Spot Color are automatically converted to the Target Spot Color.
3.1.2. Delete Spot Color
To delete a selected Spot Color, first select the Delete [4] action.
Figure 2: The dialog of the Rename, Convert or Remove Spot Colors Fixup with the Delete action enabled
To delete a Spot Color, the following option is available:
- Source Spot Color Name [5] – select the Spot Color to be deleted from the dropdown menu. All Spot Colors available in the Print Item are listed for selection.
3.1.3. Change Alternate Color
To modify the Alternate Color Space and the alternate color values of a selected Spot Color, the Change Alternate Color [8] action must first be selected. The desired ICC profile for CMYK or RGB can be selected as the basis for the color conversion.
Figure 3: The dialog of the Rename, Convert or Remove Spot Colors Fixup with the Change Alternate Color action enabled
To change the alternate color of a Spot Color, the following options are available:
- Working Color Space CMYK [6] – the assigned CMYK working color space profile is used as the basis for the conversion. The selection menu contains all ICC profiles that have been uploaded to the $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW application for CMYK. A new ICC profile can be added to the application via Add [7].
- Working Color Space RGB [10] – the assigned RGB working color space profile is used as the basis for the conversion. The selection menu contains all ICC profiles that have been uploaded to the $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW application for RGB. A new ICC profile can be added to the application via Add [11].
- Source Spot Color Name [9] – select the Spot Color whose alternate color is to be changed from the selection menu. All Spot Colors present in the Print Item are available for selection.
- Color Space [12] – select the color space to be used as the new alternate color space from the selection menu. The following options are available:
- RGB – the alternate color values must be entered in RGB.
- CMYK – the alternate color values must be entered in CMYK.
- LAB – the alternate color values must be entered in LAB.
- Color Values [13] – enter the new alternate color values here. If only the alternate color space is to be changed, the color values are automatically calculated for the new color space using the selected working color space profile.
3.1.4. Convert to CMYK
To convert a selected Spot Color to CMYK, the Convert to CMYK [15] action must first be selected.
Figure 4: The dialog of the Rename, Convert or Remove Spot Colors Fixup with the Convert to CMYK action enabled
To convert a Spot Color to CYMK, the following options are available:
- Working Color Space CMYK [14] – the assigned CMYK working color space profile is used as the basis for the conversion. The selection menu contains all ICC profiles that have been uploaded to the $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW application for CMYK. A new ICC profile can be added to the application via Add.
- Working Color Space RGB [17] – the assigned RGB working color space profile is used as the basis for the color conversion. The selection menu contains all ICC profiles that have been uploaded to the $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW application for RGB. A new ICC profile can be added to the application via Add.
- Source Spot Color Name [16] – select he Spot Color to be converted to CMYK from the selection menu. All Spot Colors present in the Print Item are available for selection.
3.2. Before / After
To test this function, you can use the sample file "Sample_Rename, Convert or Remove Spot.pdf". The file contains the following Spot Colors: "Spot Black", "Spot Gray", "Spot Brown", and "Spot Blue". The Spot Color "Spot Black" is to be renamed to "Black_New". The Spot Color "Spot Gray" is to be deleted. The alternate color space of the Spot Color "Spot Brown" is to be converted to LAB. The Spot Color "Spot Blue" is to be converted to CMYK.
After applying the Fixup, the file "Sample_Rename, Convert or Remove Spot_End.pdf" is created. The values shown in Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, and Figure 4 were used for this process.
Figure 5: Left: Original file; Right: Revised file with renamed, removed, and converted Spot Colors
Article Update: $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW 2.0.0 – 04/2026