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

Chapter 6: Flattening controls in Adobe InDesign CS
This chapter provides a high-level overview of the relevant transparency controls and features in
Adobe InDesign CS software. This chapter describes all of the menus, dialog boxes, preferences,
and palettes that let you interact with the transparency features of Adobe InDesign CS. For more
information about Adobe InDesign CS and it features, consult the online documentation.
Transparency Flattener Presets dialog box (Edit > Transparency Flattener Presets)
To access the Transparency Flattener Presets dialog box, choose Edit > Transparency Flattener
Presets. This dialog box provides access to defined Flattener presets. Use New and Edit to create
and modify custom styles. From the Flattener Presets dialog box, you can also import Flattener
presets created by customers or export your own presets for distribution to others. The presets
you create will be available to you when you print or save a file to a format that needs to be flattened.
PDF 1.3 Export (File > Export)
Because the PDF 1.3 format doesn’t support live transparency, your file may need to be flattened.
To choose the Flattener preset that the Flattener will use during the export process:
1 Choose File > Export.
2 For Save as Type (Windows) or Format (Mac OS), choose Adobe PDF. Type a filename, choose
a location for the file, and click Save to go to the Export PDF dialog box.
When the Export PDF dialog box appears, it displays the General panel (you can select the
General panel from the list on the left of the Export PDF dialog box).
3 In the Options section, set the Compatibility to Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3).
4 Select Advanced in the list on the left of the PDF Export dialog box to go to the Advanced
panel.
5 In the Advanced panel’s Transparency Flattener section, select the Flattener preset you wish to
use.
If this section is grayed out, make sure that you have chosen the Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) setting
in the General panel. The PDF 1.4 and 1.5 formats support live transparency, so no flattening
occurs when exporting to these formats.
EPS Export (File > Export)
Because the EPS format doesn’t support live transparency, your file may need to be flattened. To
choose the Flattener preset that the Flattener will use during the export process:
1 Choose File > Export.
2 For Save as Type (Windows) or Format (Mac OS), choose EPS. Type a filename, choose a location
for the file, and click Save to go to the Export EPS dialog box.
The Export EPS dialog box appears and is displaying the General panel (you can select the
General panel at the top of the Export EPS dialog box).
3 Click on the Advanced tab at the top of dialog box to go to the Advanced settings panel.
4 In the Transparency Flattener section, select the Flattener Preset you wish to use.
SVG and SVG Compressed Export (File > Export)
Because the SVG format doesn’t support live transparency, your file may need to be flattened. To
choose the Flattener preset that the Flattener will use during the export process:
1 If desired, select an object to export. (You do not need to select anything to export a page or
spread.)
2 Choose File > Export.
3 Specify a location and a filename. Be sure to include the .SVG extension.
4 For Save as Type (Windows) or Format (Mac OS), choose SVG or SVG Compressed, and click
Save. The SVG Options dialog box appears.
Achieving reliable print output from Adobe
applications when using transparency
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