For a number of reasons, AI (Adobe Illustrator format) is the preferred file format instead of EPS for placing Illustrator artwork in InDesign. However, there is one small drawback to the AI format. If you have an AI file that contains only black or spot colors, and you place the AI file in InDesign, the Preflight command (File > Preflight) gives a false report. In the Colors and Inks section of the Preflight report, process C, M and Y will be listed as being used, even if they are not used in the AI file.
This is unfortunate, since in this case Preflight is no longer helpful as a way to see if you mistakenly used process colors in your layout. The best workaround is to choose Window > Output > Separations Preview, and examine the C, M, and Y separations individually to make certain that no objects using these colors appear on your pages.
I have recently run into this problem myself. Is there any particular reason this happens? Is there no way to change settings to stop it? Or do I have to suffer because inDesign says so?
ReplyDeleteThe only workaround that I know of at this point is to save your vector graphics in EPS format instead of AI format. Then you lose the benefits of using the AI format, such as support for transparency and manipulation of Illustrator layer visiblility within InDesign.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem I'm running into with InDesign's Preflight report: filenames of links with Japanese characters in their filenames are garbled in the report...
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's a consequence of InDesign outputting these reports as plain text .txt files -- there's no alternative (like Unicode-encoded .txt)?