Adobe Acrobat XI - Manual (Page 530)

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Print production tools (Acrobat Pro)
Last updated 1/14/2015
Check ink coverage
Too much ink can saturate paper and cause drying problems or change the expected color characteristics of the
document. Total Area Coverage specifies the total percentage of all inks used. For example, 280 means 280% ink
coverage, which could be accomplished with 60C, 60M, 60Y, and 100K. Ask your print service provider for the
maximum ink coverage of the press you use for printing. You can then preview the document to identify areas where
total ink coverage exceeds the press limit. If you find any problems, you can Shift-click the area to insert a comment.
The comment is prepopulated with the ink coverage details.
1 In the Output Preview dialog box, choose Separations from the Preview menu.
2 Do one of the following:
• To set a sample size, choose an option from the Sample Size list. Point Sample specifies the value of the pixel you
click. 3 By 3 Average and 5 By 5 Average specify the average value of the specified number of pixels within the
area you click. Sample size does not have an impact on the Total Area Coverage warnings. It only has an impact
on the percentages next to each of the individual plates.
• To check for total document coverage, select TotalArea Coverage, and choose a number from the pop-up menu
or type a percentage in the box. Highlights identify areas where the ink coverage exceeds that percentage. To
change the highlight color, click the colorswatch and select a new color.
• To check for specific area coverage, use the pointer to hover over that area in the document window. Ink coverage
percentages appear in the ink list next to each ink name.
You can adjust ink coverage by converting some spot colors to process colors using the Ink Manager.
3 To record problems, shift-click the area. Acrobat inserts a comment that contains the ink coverage percentages.
Set the background color
You can simulate what your document would look like if printed on color paper.
1 In the Output Preview dialog box, choose Separations from the Preview menu.
2 Select the Set Page Background Color option at the top of the dialog box, and then select a color.
View color warnings
Output problems can occur when the colors in a document are not reproducible on a particular press, or when rich
black is used unintentionally on type. To diagnose such color problems before handing off a PDF for high-end output,
you can use the various color warnings in the Output Preview dialog box. Pixels in areas that trigger the warning are
displayed in the warning color, which is identified by the swatch color next to the warning type.
1 In the Output Preview dialog box, choose Color Warnings from the Preview menu.
2 Select either or both of the following options:
Show Overprinting Indicates where on the page overprinting appears in color-separated output. If you select
Simulate Overprinting in the Output panel of the Advanced Print Setup dialog box, you can also see overprinting
effects when you output to a composite printing device. This option is useful for proofing color separations.
By default, when you print opaque, overlapping colors, the top color knocks out the area underneath. You can use
overprinting to prevent knockout and make the topmost overlapping printing ink appear transparent in relation to
the underlying ink. The degree of transparency in printing depends on the ink, paper, and printing method used.