Hi,
pdf files, created with export option, aren’t K=100. Elements in PDF are divided into CMYK colour space.
Printing to PDF (using Adobe Acrobat DC Printer / WIn 10 PRO) gives proper result: K=100.
Best wishes,
Piotr Kolodziej
Dorico does not support the full CMYK colour space in PDFs that it exports: it uses the RGB (technically ARGB) colour space.
However, if you set the ‘Mono’ (monochrome) option in the right-hand panel in Print mode, then you will get a PDF that uses true PostScript monochrome black.
If mono option works… on my PC (win 10 pro) doesn’t.
It makes pdfs in CMYK/RGB colour space. Checked in Output preview (Acrobat DC).
The crucial thing is that you will not find any strokes, paths, or fonts in the PDF file described using anything other than PostScript’s “setGray” method. We have had our PDFs verified by professional publishers’ pre-press process and they have confirmed that they satisfy their requirements for output without requiring further manipulation of the colour of any of the items in the file.
If, of course, this is not satisfactory for you, then you can continue to use Adobe Acrobat Pro as you currently do.
I will stay with Acrobat DC Printer - it is much better than Dorico’s pdf export. I don’t think it will pass publisher’s requirements. As written: pdf exported includes composite colours. Screenshot attached.
I’ve been looking into this further and although I don’t have the most recent version of Adobe Acrobat (I have Acrobat XI, the version before Acrobat DC) I don’t get the same results as you when looking at a PDF exported from Dorico with the ‘Mono’ option set. You can see what the Output Preview dialog shows for the PDF I have exported in the attached image.
If I choose to hide the different separations, only ‘Process Black’ makes any visible difference to the appearance of the document, which is exactly as I would expect. Likewise, if I select an item in the document via the ‘Object Inspector’ Preview, I am told that the ColorSpace is DeviceGray, which is also what I would expect.
I have tested a pdf export (different sample files created), then tested using acrobat output preview.
The same result: composite colors. So it will print on 4 plates (CMYK), when sending to a professional printer.
Piotr
Can you attach your PDF here, or email it to me, so I can run it through the Output Preview tool in Acrobat on my own Windows machine? I can’t understand why there should be any difference.
Here attached the generated pdf and the result from Acrobat Pro Apple System (last version, OS X 10.12.2).
As you can see, it’s printed on 4 plates (CMYK). The percentages are taken pointing on a note.
I need to process the pdf (mono) created by Dorico through an Acrobat BN function to have a result that fulfils the requirements of the publishers I collaborate with (black 100%).
The file ‘test PartituraBeforeAcrobat.pdf’ is created by Dorico.
PdfTest.zip (754 KB)
small test file attached.
Piotr
PC Windows 10 Pro (64bit), i7 6700K, 32GB RAM, Asus 1060 (40’’ 4K Display + 2 x 24” Dells)
MIDI: Studiologic VMK188plus, Korg nanoKEY2, Foot Controller Behringer FCB1010, Bome’s Midi Translator Pro
Audio: Soundblaster Z, Behringer MS40
Finale 2011b-25 | Sibelius 4-8 | Dorico 1
Adobe CS 5 | Adobe Acrobat Pro DC | Font Creator 8 Pro | Wacom Intuos Pro M
Macbook Pro / Retina, 10.11
Untitled Project 1 Full score 2017-01-06-141534.zip (15.8 KB)
EDIT: PDFs exported from Dorico as Mono and Color are byte identical. There is no difference between them.
I can only presume that in the latest release, the UI switch doesn’t work.
Just thought I’d bump this while Daniel’s online. It does look like a bug.
Please don’t bump threads, especially not if you want to get my attention. I find it really obnoxious! I have my own methods of keeping track of which threads need my further attention. I will look into this further and report back when I’ve had a chance to do so.
Sorry. 
Won’t happen again. Here’s two identical PDFs for your consideration: one saved as MONO, the other as COLOR.
Dorico Output.zip (74.3 KB)
To follow up on this: we’ve found the problem, and we have a fix, which will hopefully be included in a bug fix update in the relatively near future.
I seem to be having this very problem six years later. I’m trying to have a set of 150 songs published. I’ve exported all to PDF with Mono selected in the Print dialog. I collated them in Preview and added page numbers using PDFpen. I then loaded the file in ColorSync, ran the B&W filter and created a generic PDFX-3 file. The reaction from the publisher was, “The document is still four-color, see screenshot “CMYK”. Incidentally, I’ve never seen the output intent “CGATS TR 001” used. I tried to research it on the Internet: It seems to be something that happens in Indesign if you don’t actively take care of color management. For comparison, I’ve attached what it looks like in the final ads: Output Intent “PSO Coated v3” and the font is 100% black (the other color channels are not used).”
I’m including the two screen shots the publisher sent.
You’ll need to provide the actual PDF files, Vaughan. In particular, I would need to see both the original PDF as exported from Dorico, and the combined PDF exported from Preview.
I appear to see the same. I am not a pre-press professional, and CMYK colour management is a very complex issue, but exporting a mono PDF from Dorico 5 creates a file that Acrobat (Creative Cloud) says has CMYK separations, at first glance. Installing all the full print production analysis tools gives a wealth of information about the colour profile and content. But I confess this is so advanced that it is way beyond my current understanding. My next project is obviously to learn about these pre-press matters in depth. All I can say is that it’s not simple and I am not surprised people - and even print shops! - are confused about this. I’ll report back! I’m on Windows 11 not Mac.
It has always been my experience that, when using PDFs from Dorico in InDesign, I have to set a color profile conversion for preflight in order to print in BW.
At least in InDesign, this is fairly simple to achieve, so I’ve set it along time ago and forgotten about it. However, I still get a warning message when using PDFs from Dorico exported as color.
I agree with @Andro that color conversion seems to be incredibly complicated. Most InDesign wizards I talk to will tell me that they don’t mess around with color conversion and can’t help me there.
Strange. From the page about SWOP on wikipedia:
SWOP also endorse, produce or specify some other things.
- ICC profiles for color management, based on the standard called TR001, an ANSI technical report whose full title is “CGATS TR001-1995 Graphic Technology-Color Characterization Data for Type 1 Printing.” A number of profiles using TR001 are made with SWOP in the title, such as the profile USWebCoated (SWOP), which is widely available because it is included with many Adobe applications. TR001 profiles are not universal, because they were generated and tested with specific inks, papers, and printing technologies.