Illustrator

Overprint black

To overprint all black in your artwork, select the Overprint Black option in the Print dialog box when you create color separations. This option works on all objects that have black applied through the K color channel. However, it does not work for objects that appear black because of their transparency settings or graphic styles.

You can also use the Overprint Black command to set up overprinting for objects that contain a specific percentage of black. To use the Overprint Black command:

  1. Select all the objects you might want to overprint.
  2. Choose Edit > Edit Colors > Overprint Black.
  3. Enter the percentage of black you want to overprint. All objects with the specified percentage will overprint.
  4. Select Fill, Stroke, or both to specify how to apply the overprinting.
  5. To overprint process colors that include cyan, magenta, or yellow as well as the specified percentage of black, select Include Blacks with CMY.
  6. To overprint spot colors whose process equivalents include the specified percentage of black, select Include Spot Blacks. If you are overprinting a spot color that contains process colors as well as the specified percentage of black, select both Include Blacks with CMY and Include Spot Blacks.
    To remove overprinting from objects that contain a specific percentage of black, select Remove Black instead of Add Black in the Overprint Black dialog box.