Can't find those colors

[JoePixel]

Have you ever had those InD files with extra PMS swatches that you can't find out where they are?

I had a bunch of extra PMS colors in one file today that I just couldn't figure out where they were. They weren't in the links, they weren't on any master pages, I just couldn't figure out where they were.

I did a preview by separations and they did not show up there, but they showed up in the swatch pallette and I couldn't delete them.

When I went to rip the file, the pesky swatches showed up at my rip.

I searched everywhere for these. I checked all the support, I checked the master pages, I checked every line of type, I checked character, paragraph, object styles and anything that I could think of to get rid of those swatches.

Have any of you ever found a weird place that a PMS color existed, and if so, where was that pesky color hiding.

Last resort for me was deleting all the art on each page, one by one until I could delete the swatches. I ended up with 16 pages, all blank and I still couldn't delete the swatches. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sequoyah]

Try exporting to INX and then opening that back in Indesign. You MAY be able to delete them then, or they may not be there in the new file.

Al Ferrari

Just use the Ink Manager... and be done with it - move on to the next job.
I use it in cases like this. Instead of spending time looking for a space!
If I do have to use the ink manager, I'll put a Smiple Text file in the job folder and tell what I did and why. I'll name it with the workorder # followed by JobNotes. ie; 450240_JobNotes.txt
Hope this helps,
Vee

[JoePixel]

I didn't let it stop the workflow of the job. I ripped it and the mystery PMS colors didn't rip. I was just wondering if anyone has had this same situation and found that mystery color in a weird spot, like in a "type style" or something like that.

I get alot of PMS work where the client builds a PMS 200, then a PMS 200C, then a PMS 200 PC and so forth. Trying to get all of those colors to be one PMS can be a pain in the *ss.

Originally Posted by JoePixel

I get alot of PMS work where the client builds a PMS 200, then a PMS 200C, then a PMS 200 PC and so forth. Trying to get all of those colors to be one PMS can be a pain in the *ss.

I get a lot of that here too. Heidelberg's Supertrap makes short work of mapping spot colors throughout the whole PDF, or the Ink Manager in INDD. Works like a charm.
Vee

[seetomtype]

I've found some of the extra colors applied to a text or image box stroke
on the pasteboard. If I remember correctly, the last one I saw had an
extra PMS color applied to the stoke with a weight of 0 pts. Had to do
a Select All to find it. Not that it really mattered, but I was curious.

[Bugs]

Do the colors show up in the swatch palette of your links? Even if there not used in the link.

Our ApogeeX system automatically renames the spot color extensions all to C, so we don't really get that problem anymore.

We do get these annoying CVC spot colors that show up in our job ticket, even if there is no CVC there. I made a blank page with 1 spot in it and it still showed up.

But they have the little lightning symbol which means they are auto mapped to the C color. Its just really annoying that it happens with every job that has spots.

Sometimes the C maps to CVC and its a pain in the ass to unmap it and map it to C again. Its probably fine as is, but i always change it.