Mystery overprint problem with InDesign

[ovidc6381689]

We're a printer, and generally we can manage overprint issues, but this one has all of us completely stumped. (No judging the design, we have little control.)

The blue line of text in the image below will not print. It's Process Blue, no funny spot colors, no effects, no shadows, and no font errors. It's one line in a text box full of other text that prints fine. It disappears in the Overprint Preview but gives no errors in a Acrobat Preflight. I've done the Object Search to find anything set to "Overprint" with no results, I've checked our black overprint settings, I've printed from pdfs, I've made outlines of the text, and I am completely out of ideas.

The same color swatch printed fine on the front of the cards... and the background is rich black - we converted it from 100%K hoping it would help. It did not.

Please help me before I throw my computer out the window.

[rob day]

You didn't mention it in your post, but I assume you've selected the cyan text and checked the Window>Output>Attributes panel? Is it native text or a placed link?

[ovidc6381689]

It's native text. No attribute issues to be seen - but the other text in the text box is displaying correctly.

[MW Design]

I use to work at a service bureau once upon a time. We would have gotten either fresh files from the client or offered to rebuild it...for a slight design fee to make a point or, if a decent or potentially decent client, for free. Unfortumately, getting fresh files often took either our time walking them through the issue or the reps.

It literally took me 15 minutes to remake it as close as I did. All vector and the fonts used (as close as I could ferret out).

I don't know if any of us can make any guesses that you haven't made yourself. Without at least a PDF or the original files, I am uncertain I can be of help--I'm not as smart as some of these guys...

Mike

[ovidc6381689]

Thanks Mike, I think we're going to have to recreate it.

We are out of ideas. You have all been so helpful with your insights! Thanks for your time

[MW Design]

It's a bummer. But we had to redo so much stuff it became routine...I worked there in the day of everyone is a desktop publisher (late '80s into the mid '90s) and we got so much crap.

It would be cool to see it. You could share it privately via a private message if desired. For myself, I would need to have an IDML so I could open in CS6 if it was from a later version. But that raises a point. Have you exported as IDML and tried opening that?

Mike

[rob day]

What happens if you add .5% to the MYK of the CMYK text fill? If it really is an overprint problem a color using all 4 channels would have to knockout. Also I assume you tried to save as an IDML and reopen?

[rob day]

Can you share the file via DropBox or your cloud account?

[Jeffrey_Smith]

A placed link with overprint does not show up as a preflight error in Indesign. The fact that it disappears with overprint preview, sounds like it's a graphic, And would need the overprint turned off in Illustrator.

[Willi Adelberger]

My guess is, that the creator has done this text in black in Illustrator (or even in InDesign itself), after that converted to outlines (which should never be done). Therefore the new object inherited the overprint property of black and after that he changed the color to blue.

If it is an InDesign object (open paths in InDesign), select it and change the overprint attribute to no, if it is an Illustrator file, open it there an do the same in Illustrator.

Blue-overprint becomes invisible in rich black as it here.

Later you have to educate your client that outlining fonts is NEVER a good idea, as this is one of many reasons why it should never be done.

[Luke_Jennings]

There could be a character style applied to the blue type, with the character style set to overprint, although that should be indicated in the attributes panel (window> output> attributes), if just the blue type is selected.