Converting CMYK Black Type to 100% Black

Cmyk black type? What is it an why is it a problem? CMYK black type is something we see quite often. It generally happens when a file is generated in a Microsoft product (word, powerpoint, etc.) or when a file is exported to PDF with the wrong ICC Profile selected in your distiller jobsettings (recommended jobsettings can be download from our downloads page). It's a problem when we have a slight mis-registration on the press, the result is a colored halo around the type. We recomend that the type be converted to just black. If at all possible the conversion to black only type should be corrected in the native application. However, if this is not possible use the following steps from Acrobat 8.0.

1. Open the file in Acrobat.
2. Utilizing the Touch Up Tool Circled in red.
   
3. Right or control click on the picture that you want to fix.
4. Select the "Edit Image function". The image will open in Photoshop.
5. Using the marque tool draw a marque around the black type that you want to change.
6. Notice that type that is eyedropped is made up of all 4 colors.
7. Now utilizing the adjustments--channel mixer menu. Select Monachrome and move your black slider to 100%.
8. Now the type that was inside the marque becomes black in the center and some shade of black on the edges.
9. Save the file and it will be placed right back into the pdf in the same location that it was originally