In this article, you will learn
- which Fixups in Check-in Preflight and Fixup Templates are available in the area of Colors, and
- for which Use Cases these Fixups are suitable.
1. Introduction
When print files are uploaded into the Workflow, the documents are checked and partially corrected using Check-in Preflight and Fixup Templates, thereby being brought into a normalized state. Normalizing print data is a key step in prepress, as it saves time, minimizes errors, and automates part of the work.
Not all Fixups are available in a «Check-in Preflight and Fixup Template»
The Workflow clearly distinguishes between normalizing print data and preparing print data for printing. The normalization step brings print data to a consistent standard for data preparation. The corresponding data preparation for production is initiated at a later stage by applying individual Fixups or Fixup Chains.
2. Available Fixups for Colors
To take full advantage of Check-in Preflight and Fixup Templates, these templates must first be created. A template essentially consists of Fixups and Checks. Currently, more than 44 Fixups are available in the Workflow. To maintain clarity, the individual Fixups have been divided into categories.
This article provides a detailed description of all Fixups that fall under the category Color.
2.1. Convert Grayscale into CMYK
Category: Object, Color, Image, Text
Description: This Fixup converts grayscale information into CMYK by copying the image data into the K channel. The user can specify which objects – All Objects, Images, Text, Vectors, or Text and Vectors – the Fixup should affect.
Use Case: This Fixup helps reduce potential errors that may occur during grayscale conversion within color management. It also enables other Fixups that require a CMYK color value as input to recognize objects originally created in grayscale, allowing them to be processed accordingly.
Figure 1: The activated Fixup Convert Grayscale into CMYK with already entered values
2.2. Convert Registration Color to Rich Black
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup converts all Registration Colors located within the selected Page Box – TrimBox, BleedBox, and MediaBox – into a Rich Black. The desired color values for Rich Black can be defined by the user.
Use Case: It is recommended to convert objects colored in Registration Color black within the print file to Rich Black. This saves ink and ensures a consistent black appearance for black areas in the print output. Additionally, this helps reduce errors related to color management.
Figure 2: The activated Fixup Convert Registration Color to Rich Black with already entered values
2.3. Convert Spot Color names to UTF-8
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup converts all Spot Color Names whose characters are not encoded in UTF-8 to UTF-8 encoded Spot Color Names.
Use Case: Some PDF-based ISO standards require Spot Color Names to be UTF-8 encoded. Activate this Fixup if you aim to comply with such ISO standards.
Figure 3: The activated Fixup Convert Spot Color names to UTF-8
2.4. Convert Spot Colors with CMYK Alternative Color Values to CMYK
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup converts Spot Colors that have a CMYK alternate color value into CMYK. Spot Colors defined under Exclude Spot Color Names as well as Technical Spot Colors can be excluded from the conversion. Regular expressions (RegEx) can be used to specify the names to be excluded.
Use Case: This Fixup converts Spot Colors with CMYK alternate color values into the assigned CMYK values. This helps avoid color discrepancies between CMYK colors and Spot Colors that share identical CMYK alternate color values in the final print output.
Figure 4: The activated Fixup Convert Spot Colors with CMYK alternate Colors to CMYK with already entered values
2.5. Remove Control Characters in Spot Color Names
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup removes control characters – such as line breaks, page breaks, and tab characters – from Spot Color Names and replaces them with a space.
Use Case: Spot Color Names can only be distinguished by their names. Therefore, clear and consistent naming is essential. This Fixup helps minimize errors and ensures that Spot Color Names are free from control characters.
Figure 5: The activated Fixup Remove Control Characters in Spot Color Names
2.6. Rename prohibited Spot Color Names
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup renames prohibited Spot Color Names. Renaming prohibited Spot Color Names ensures that the colors are correctly converted into the target color space. Without renaming, the affected Spot Colors are output exclusively in the printer's available Process Color, bypassing proper color conversion.
Use Case: If Spot Color Names are used in print data that are identical to process color names in your printing systems, the output may occur without proper color management, leading to color shifts. This Fixup allows you to define substitute names for all Process Colors used in the printer, ensuring correct color imposition during rendering.
Figure 6: The activated Fixup Rename prohibited Spot Color Names with already entered values
2.7. Rename Spot Colors
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup allows selected Spot Color Names to be renamed to predefined Target Spot Color Names. RegEx (Regular Expressions) can also be used for this Fixup.
Use Case: Use this Fixup to normalize print data by aligning common designations for Dielines, Varnish, White or Primer with internal naming conventions. This ensures consistent Spot Color naming throughout production.
Figure 7: The activated Fixup Rename Spot Colors with already entered values
2.8. Set Spot Colors to «Overprint»
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup sets the overprint state of the selected Spot Color to Overprint. If you want to avoid overprinting, you can alternatively set the Spot Color to Multiply.
Use Case: This Fixup ensures that all objects with Technical Colors or colors that are output as separations – such as Die Cut, Crease, Dieline, Kiss Cut, Thru-Cut, White, or Varnish – are set to Overprint. To guarantee that all Technical Colors are processed correctly during production, this Fixup should be added to every Check-in Preflight and Fixup Template.
Figure 8: The activated Fixup Set Spot Colors to «Overprint» with already entered values
2.9. Set transparency blend color space to DeviceCMYK
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup sets the transparency blending color space on all pages to DeviceCMYK. Additionally, this ensures compliance with PDF/X-4 and PDF/X-6 standards.
Use Case: When colors are converted to the CMYK intermediate color space for output within the Workflow, activating this Fixup is recommended. It ensures that RGB and LAB colors with transparencies are first flattened to CMYK using the defined blending mode, thereby avoiding undesired color effects in the output.
Figure 9: The activated Fixup Set transparency blend color space to DeviceCMYK
2.10. Unify Spot Color appearance
Category: Color
Description: This Fixup identifies Spot Colors (Spot Color Names) that have differing alternate color spaces or alternate color values and standardizes them. The synchronization of the alternate color space and alternate color value is based on the first occurrence of the Spot Color.
Use Case: This Fixup ensures that the same color value is used consistently for identical Spot Colors in the output. Whether the color conversion is accurate depends on the first encountered Spot Color Name. Color variations between objects using the same Spot Color in the print can be more distracting than a uniform – but potentially incorrect – conversion.
Figure 10: The activated Fixup Unify Spot Color appearance
Article update: Workflow 1.20.1 – 05/2025