Adobe Community: Reverse Type and Print Text as Black

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1. [Jongware],

Aug 5, 2012 3:18 AM in reply to Library Scribe

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"Print text as black" does nothing else than printing all text as black. It's kind of hard to think of anything else it *could* mean. Yes, it looks the same on screen, but of course that is because this is a Print option, only active when printing.

Why would this make the rest of your document look better if that text is *already* black? If it does make a difference, then I suppose your "better looking" text is *not* black, and the obvious remedy is to make it so.

(That said: the Online Help clearly states

Text As Black Select this option to print all text created in InDesign in black, unless it has the color None or Paper or a color value that equals white. This option is useful when you’re creating content for both print and PDF distribution. For example, if hyperlinks were blue in the PDF version, they would print black on a grayscale printer, rather than in halftone patterns that would be difficult to read.

I wonder why the idiot-proof clause "unless it has the color None or Paper" did not apply for you.)

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2. Peter Spier,

Aug 5, 2012 5:05 AM in reply to [Jongware]

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[Jongware] wrote:

I wonder why the idiot-proof clause "unless it has the color None or Paper" did not apply for you.)

Wouldn't be the first time the help files were incorrect...

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3. Bob Levine,

Aug 5, 2012 5:44 AM in reply to Library Scribe

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That’s what you asked for, isn’t it? Text as black means all of the text, not just some of it.

Now, before you get horribly frustrated I suggest taking a step back in your move to InDesign.

First, buy this book: http://amzn.to/ORQqtT ; Sandee Cohen’s Visual Quick Start Guide is the best beginner book on the market. It’s the best $20 you’ll ever spend.

Secondly, check out the video training on Lynda.com. Here’s a link for a one week free trial: http://bit.ly/fcGpiI

Bob

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4. Rob Day,

Aug 5, 2012 6:23 AM in reply to Library Scribe

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because I thought the text in the rest of the doc looked better with that choice.

In some cases default black (CMYK) will print as gray to a composite printer, so your choice to check Print Text as Black is understandable. Sounds like that's happening in your case. How a composite printer handles black text depends on your print setup and in some cases your preference settings (none of which are intuitive).

If you are printing to a black and white laser printer, choose Composite CMYK and not Composite Grayscale as your Output Color. If you are printing to a composite color printer, set your Appearance of Black Printing preference to Output Blacks as Rich Black.

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5. Bob Levine,

Aug 5, 2012 7:01 AM in reply to Rob Day

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You can only choose composite CMYK if you’re printing to a postscript printer (unless something’s changed that I don’t know about).

Bob

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6. Rob Day,

Aug 5, 2012 8:19 AM in reply to Bob Levine

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Right. For any composite printer the black preference will work.

Checking Print Text as Black is the intuitive but wrong choice. Unless you have a fairly advanced understanding of color management there's no obvious reason why black text should every be haftoned or print as gray.

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7. Peter Spier,

Aug 5, 2012 9:06 AM in reply to Rob Day

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Rob Day wrote:
Checking Print Text as Black is the intuitive but wrong choice.

The real reason, I think, that Print Text as Black is an option is for when you are using a monochrome device to output a color file. Any text that is other than black in such a case would be rendered as some shade of gray, and light colors might be practically unreadble in grascale when they were fine in color.

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8. Rob Day,

Aug 5, 2012 9:39 AM in reply to Peter Spier

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I know, but it's understandable that the OP did not realize that—he just wanted black text to print black and crisp.

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9. Library Scribe,

Aug 5, 2012 12:37 PM in reply to [Jongware]

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Thanks for answer on how to get text with hyperlinks printed black while allowing PDF hyperlinks to print blue.

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10. Library Scribe,

Aug 5, 2012 1:05 PM in reply to Library Scribe

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I think the best solution is to make a jpeg of a black box with white print and then place it in the InDesign doc. Then I will get the same result for both on screen and in print.

I want the black text to be output as rich black and I also use colored text as headlines in various places of the document. So far the colored text has come out in various shades of gray which I make certain is readable when printed (I want black and white output even though I am using a color laser printer--client photocopies the final work for distribution and a pdf with colored headlines goes on the web.)

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11. Rob Day,

Aug 5, 2012 1:43 PM in reply to Library Scribe

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I think the best solution is to make a jpeg of a black box with white print and then place it in the InDesign doc.

You don't have to do that, that's why the appearance of black preference is there. Set Printing/Exporting to Output All Blacks as Rich Black

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Reverse Type and Print Text as Black

Aug 4, 2012 9:52 PM

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