In this article, you will learn
- which prerequisites are required for this Fixup, and
- how to apply this Fixup.
1. Introduction
The Fixup Change Overprint-State of a Spot Color is available in the Workflow. The purpose of this Fixup is to change a Spot Color that is set to Knockout to Overprint or a Spot Color that is set to Overprint to Knockout.
2. General
The Fixup Change Overprint-State of a Spot Color can be used to change the overprint status of a Spot Color - Knockout to Overprint or Overprint to Knockout.
You can find this Fixup on the tab Data Preparation of an Article, Order or Production Job by:
- entering the name of the Fixup in the area Filter,
- activating the option Color in the area Category,
- activating the option Change in the area Action,
- activating the option Overprint, Knockout or Spot Color in the area Property.
3. Description
Use this Fixup to set overprinting Spot Colors to Knockout or Spot Colors in Knockout to Overprint. For example, a technical Spot Color that is set to knockout can be changed to overprinting.
3.1. Prerequisites and Functionality
For the Fixup to perform as intended, the following requirements must be met:
- Spot Colors that are either overprinting or set to knockout are used in the file.
Figure 1: The dialog of the Fixup Change Overprint-State of a Spot Color
Use the following options change the Overprint State of a Spot Color:
- Set Spot Colors to "Overprint" [1] – select the Spot Color for which the Overprint State should be set to "Overprint" from the selection menu. All Spot Colors from the Print Item with the "Knockout" Overprint State are available.
- Selected Spot Color [2] – after you have selected a Spot Color in the menu, it will be displayed below the respective menu. The information on the origin of the Spot Color (PDF, System, Library, Substrate, Customer, or Print Item), the color values and the current Overprint State is also visible. If you do not want to change the Overprint State of the respective Spot Color, remove it by clicking the icon Remove [4].
- Set Spot Colors to "Knockout" [3] – select the Spot Color whose Overprint State should be set to "Knockout" from the selection menu. All Spot Colors from the Print Item with the Overprint State "Overprint" are available.
3.2. Before/After
To experiment with this function, refer to the sample file "Sample_Change Overprint State of a Spot Color.pdf". The roofs of the towers were colored in the Spot Color "Dark Red". All elements with this color were set to overprint. In addition, the Dieline was placed on the TrimBox. The Technical Color was set to Knockout. Now the Overprint State of these colors should be changed.
After applying the Fixup, the file "Sample_Change Overprint State of a Spot Color_End.pdf" is created. The Overprint State of the Spot Color "Dark Red" has been set to Knockout. The Overprint State of the Dieline was set to overprint. The values from Figure 1 were used for this.
Figure 2: Left: Original file; Right: Edited file where the Overprint State of the Spot Colors was changed
Article update: Workflow 1.20.1 – 04/2025