Spot colors do not show as spot colors in imported pictures in Publisher 2003 (823572)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 with Digital Image Pro

SYMPTOMS

When you have a publication with one or more spot colors defined, the colors in an imported picture do not show as spot colors in Publisher 2003.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if you import a picture into Publisher that contains colors that match the defined spot colors in your publication.

Publisher does not support spot colors in a non-Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) picture, or in any raster graphic format (with the special exception of Duotones as described in the "More Information" section).

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods as appropriate for your situation.

Method 1: Vector-based Pictures

If your picture is a vector-based picture, do one of the following:
  • If your vector-based picture is complex, open the picture in an illustration program (do not open the picture in Adobe Photoshop or other photo-editing program), and then convert the picture to an .eps file.

    -or-
  • If your vector-based picture is not too complex, you can use Publisher to ungroup the picture and recolor the portions of the picture that are supposed to appear as spot colors. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. In Publisher, select the picture.
    2. On the Arrange menu, click Ungroup.
    3. Click Yes when you receive the following message:This is an imported picture, not a group. Do you want to convert it to a Microsoft Office drawing object?
    4. On the Arrange menu, click Ungroup.

      The picture will be broken down into its component parts.
    5. You can now select the individual portions of the picture and use the Fill Color and Line Color tools as necessary to change portions of the picture to spot colors.

Method 2: Raster-based Pictures

For a raster-based picture (for example, a .tif, .gif, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, or .bmp file) to appear as a spot color, you must recolor the whole picture. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Open the picture in Publisher.
  2. On the Format menu, click Picture.
  3. On the Picture tab, click Recolor.
  4. In the Color list, click the spot color that you want, and then click OK.
The whole picture should now appear in shades of the spot color.

MORE INFORMATION

When you import a picture into Publisher, Publisher does not scan the picture for all the colors it uses, nor does Publisher check to see if those colors match its defined spot colors. The exception to this behavior is with .eps files, .eps files contain a list of spot colors in the file header.

Publisher does support spot colors in Duotones, with the following limitations:
  • The Duotone file must be saved as an .eps file, not a .psd or .dcs file.

    -and-
  • You must print the publication from Publisher as composite cyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK), not as separations.
The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/12/2006
Keywords:kb3rdparty kbImport kbgraphic kbprepress kbColor kbprb KB823572 kbAudEndUser
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