Achieving Reliable Print Output from Adobe ... - Adobe Partners

3 Choose File > Print or File > Export, and then click Advanced in the Print or Export dialog box
to make use of an existing Flattener preset.
Choosing a Transparency Flattener preset in
InDesign CS
The Flattener preset option of the Print and Export
dialog boxes.
You can apply a Flattener preset to a document by means of the Print, Export, and in the case
of Illustrator CS, Save As dialog boxes. A menu in the various dialog boxes lets you select the
desired preset.
Note that in InDesign CS, an option also lets you temporarily disable any Spread Flattening
override options applied by means of the Pages palette. (See Spread flattening overrides in the
Adobe InDesign CS chapter.)
No Flattener presets in Acrobat 6 Professional
Acrobat 6 Professional software, on the other hand, does not use Flattener presets. You manually
control the Flattener from within the Print or Save As dialog box. When printing, you adjust
the Flattener settings by selecting File > Print and then by clicking the Advanced button. In the
Advanced Print Setup dialog box, choose Transparency Flattening from the list on the left to edit
the settings. When you save a file as PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript, adjust the Flattener
settings by selecting File > Save As, select the desired file format, and then click the Settings button.
In the Save As Settings dialog box, choose Transparency Flattening from the list on the left
to edit the settings.
Object flattening in Illustrator CS
In addition to flattening a file during printing or exporting, Illustrator lets you to flatten individual
objects while you edit the file. Select the objects you wish to flatten and choose Object >
Flatten Transparency. This option is not available in other Adobe publishing software.
The Object Flattener’s Flatten Transparency
dialog box in Illustrator CS
This is the Flattener dialog box you see when choosing
Object > Flatten Transparency in Illustrator CS.
Note that the two options at the bottom of the dialog
box are not present when creating a Transparency
Flattener preset.
To keep files that contain transparency as device independent as possible, it’s best to keep
transparency live until just prior to printing—flattening using Object > Flatten Transparency is
discouraged. However, if you need to apply object flattening to objects in an Illustrator file, it’s
important to note that there are two options available in the Object Flattener’s Flatten Transparency
dialog box that are not available in the Flattener Preset Settings dialog box:
• Preserve Alpha Transparency
• Preserve Overprints and Spot Colors
These options are included in the following discussion, but keep in mind that they are unique to
the Object Flattener’s Flatten Transparency dialog box in Illustrator CS.
Achieving reliable print output from Adobe
applications when using transparency
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