Set up a publication for spot-color or process-color printing

Be sure that you talk with your commercial printing service before setting up your publication for color printing. Your printer can tell you how your choice of color printing options will affect the cost of printing your publication. Typically, you will want to choose final colors from a color matching system that your printing service supports. Microsoft Office Publisher provides the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM®, which you can use to specify the spot or process colors you use in your publication.

Work with a printing service to choose colors

Before you begin designing a publication for commercial printing, you'll want to discuss with your commercial printing service whether to use process color (also known as CMYK color) or spot color. Publisher supports process-color and spot-color printing, and provides all the tools your commercial printing service needs to prepare your color publication for printing. After you make a decision about color, you can design your publication for the type of color printing you've chosen.

Choosing process-color or spot-color printing     In most cases, your decision to use process color, spot color, or a combination of spot and process color will be based on the printing issues that you discuss with someone from a commercial printing service. These issues include the following:

The number or range of colors that will best suit your publication

Spot color printing uses premixed inks, typically one or more colors. Spot colors are often used in publications to:

• Emphasize headings, borders, and logos.

• Match colors in line drawings or other simple graphics.

• Specify special inks, such as metallic or varnish.

Process-color (CMYK) printing, which can reproduce a wide range of colors using just four inks, is often used when a publication:

• Includes full-color photographs.

• Uses detailed, multicolored graphics.

The cost of producing the publication

Typically, a process-color publication is more expensive to produce than a spot-color publication. Every ink requires a separate press plate and process color printing always requires four inks, which entails more setup time for a printer. If you are printing only a small number of publications, the cost per publication may be prohibitively expensive.

Spot color costs vary depending on how many inks you will use. Typically, you will use very few, but you can create the effect of a wider range of colors by using tints of an ink. For example, a printer can create screen tints of spot colors, rather than separate plates, and thus vary the colors without increasing printing costs.

The cost of producing a publication also depends on the type of paper used for printing, the complexity of the publication's graphics, and on the number of publications that will be produced.

Set up a publication for spot-color printing

1. On the Tools menu, point to Commercial Printing Tools, and then click Color Printing.

2. Under Define all colors as, click Spot colors.

   Publisher converts all colors in your publication to spot-color inks, which are listed in the Inks tab. You can change, duplicate, or add new spot-color inks as desired.

   How?

   Change a spot-color ink

   When you change a spot-color ink, you replace it with another ink, which you can choose from the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM or the Microsoft Windows color palette, or define using the the RGB, CMYK, or HSL color model.

   1. In the Inks tab, click the arrow next to the spot-color ink you want to change, and then click Change.

   2. In the Change Ink dialog box, select the spot-color ink you want, and then click OK.

   Duplicate a spot-color ink

   When you duplicate a spot-color ink, you create a new ink by altering the definition of an existing ink. Alternately, you can choose a new ink from the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM or the Windows color palette, or define it using the the RGB, CMYK, or HSL color model.

   1. In the Inks tab, click the arrow next to the spot-color ink you want to duplicate, and then click Duplicate.

   2. In the New Ink dialog box, select the spot-color ink you want, and then click OK.

   Add a new spot-color ink

   When you add a new spot-color ink, you can choose a new ink from the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM or the Windows color palette, or define it using the the RGB, CMYK, or HSL color model.

   1. In the Inks tab, click New Ink.

   2. In the New Ink dialog box, select the spot-color ink you want, and then click OK.

Note: When you switch your publication to spot-color printing, any color schemes you have will be lost.

Set up a publication for process-color printing

1. On the Tools menu, point to Commercial Printing Tools, and then click Color Printing.

2. Under Define all colors as, click Process colors (CMYK).

   Publisher converts all colors in your publication to CMYK values, and then lists cyan, magenta, yellow, and black as the only inks in the Inks tab. Publisher lists all the colors in the Colors tab, showing their CMYK values.

Note: Some colors that appear on your screen cannot be matched exactly to a CMYK color. After setting up for process-color printing, be sure to evaluate the publication for color changes. If a color does not match the color you want, you can change the color of individual objects in the publication.

Set up a publication for spot-color and process-color printing

1. On the Tools menu, point to Commercial Printing Tools, and then click Color Printing.

2. Under Define all colors as, click Process colors plus spot colors.

   One of the following will result:

   • If your publication was set up for Any color (RGB), Publisher converts all colors to process colors and lists only the process-color inks cyan, magenta, yellow, and black in the list of inks in the Inks tab.

   • If your publication was set up for Spot colors or Single color, Publisher retains the spot-color inks and adds the process-color inks cyan, magenta, yellow, and black to the list of inks in the Inks tab.

   • If your publication was set up for Process colors (CMYK), Publisher initially lists only the process-color inks in the Inks tab. However, if you click New Ink you can add any spot-color inks to the list of inks in the Inks tab.

     How?

     When you add a new spot-color ink, you can choose a new ink from the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM or the Windows color palette, or define it using the the RGB, CMYK, or HSL color model.

     1. In the Inks tab, click New Ink.

     2. In the New Ink dialog box, select the spot-color ink you want, and then click OK.