Automated PDF to Grayscale Conversion

Hi,
I need to find a way of converting PDF files to Grayscale using an automated process.
I have adobe distiller and adobe acrobat 8 professional - but I cannot find a way to access via API or command line so that I can automate the process of batch converting PDF files from colour to grayscale.
I have found a system called pit stop that does whats required but its quite expensive so i am trying to find a cheaper alternative.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

You can't pass anything to Batch nor can you "ick it off" programmatically. if you need something like that, then you should look at the "Droplets" functionality of Preflight directly.
You will need to create a new Profile in Preflight with a single fixup that is "Convert colors to grayscale".
Leonard

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Convert Color PDF to Grayscale using Preflight in Acrobat 9 Pro

Has anyone posted a step-by-step procedure to convert color PDFs to grayscale? I've unsuccessfully been trying to use the new Preflight dialog to do this. This is the procedure I tried:
1) In the Preflight dialog, Create New Preflight Fixup.
2) Fixup Category: Color Spaces, Spot Colors, Inks. For Type of Fixup: Convert Colors.
3) In the Conversion settings tab, chose All Objects, Using Any Color (except spot colors), plus All Objects, Using Spot colors(s).
4) For Destination, I chose a grayscale destination Dot Gain 25%.
5) After clicking OK, I selected the new profile and clicked on the Fix button, and saved the file.
Nothing happens, and the colors don't change.
If anyone can explain what I'm missing, I would greatly appreciate it.

Refer to Acrobat 9 Help PDF (installed with Acrobat 9 is installed).
Review the discussion for Exporting PDFs in Chapter 5 of this Help PDF.
The PDF is also available on Adobe's site.
http://help.adobe.com/archive/en_US/acrobat/9/professional/acrobat_pro_9.0_help.pdf
Good to know is that the Acrobat 9.x product family passed into End of Support mid-year 2013.
Be well...

Export to PDF as grayscale

I am using a trial version of InDesign CS3 on XP Pro and have a need to create a PDF in grayscale. Is there a way to do this using Export? I tried using print to Acrobat Distiller with Composite Gray set and that works fine. Is Distiller the only way to accomplish this?
Thanks in advance for the help.

No, but it is the only way to do it in one step if your content isn't already grayscale. You can use the export output options to specify a color profile, but only CMYK or RGB, no grayscales.
The advantage of exporting rather than distilling is you can keep live transparency and interactive elements, but as I said, no grayscale export. You can, however, convert to grayscale in Acrobat Pro once you've made the PDF.
The downside to this automatic conversion, either in Acrobat or in printing to PDF, is you have absolutely no control over the conversion and consequently no choice in the tonal values and contrast. You'll get better looking documents if you do things the hard way and convert your images separately in Photoshop using any one of a variety of techniques. Why does the PDF need to be grayscale?
Peter

Converting PDF to grayscale

I am using Adobe CS 3, Acrobat 8 Professional, on Mac OS 10.4.11
I am trying to convert a full color PDF document to grayscale. I tried to click Advanced > Print Production > Convert Colors and then Grayscale, but it is not working.
I tried clicking Print and then choosing a PDF option, but it is taking unreasonably long and not finishing.
So how can I convert it to grayscale?

Hi,
I had some trouble with this same issue of converting a color pdf to grayscale. I realized that in my particular pdf, just using the Tools/Print Production/Convert Colors function was not enough. Somehow there were extra spot colors inadvertently added to the file. Here are the steps to follow to make sure this works correctly if you are wanting to convert the entire pdf file to a grayscale image:
(I am using Acrobat 7.0.9 on a Mac OS X, 10.4.11 system)
1.) In your pdf file go to Tools/Print Production/Ink Manager click on the bottom left corner box that says (Convert all spots to process). Click okay.
then
2.) Go back to Tools/Print Production/Convert Colors. Click on (Device Gray: Convert) Action: Convert. Profile: Select your profile of choosing....for me it was 10% Dot Gain way at the bottom). Convert Pages: All. Conversion Options: Don't Embed Profile. Check box that says, Preserve Black Objects. Click okay.
This should resolve any problems with those extra colors that will not convert to grayscale since they are assigned as spot colors.
Hope this helps. Let me know if this works for anyone. just tried it once.
Good luck!
Janell

In PDF to Excel conversion dates like 03/12/15 convert to Dec 3rd 2015 not the correct date of Mar 12th 2015 whereas date 03/13/2015 converts correctly as March 13th 2015

In PDF to Excel conversion dates like 03/12/15 convert to Dec 3rd 2015 not the correct date of Mar 12th 2015 whereas date 03/13/2015 converts correctly as March 13th 2015

Hi DirTech,
Are both of these dates in the same Excel file? If they're in different files, are you choosing the same language for OCR (optical character recognition)?
If they are in the same PDF file, how was that PDF file created? Was it created from a third-party application (rather than an Adobe application)? If it was created by a third-party application, it could be that it wasn't written to spec, and that's why you're seeing some oddities in the PDF > Excel conversion. (See Will Adobe ExportPDF convert both text and form... | Adobe Community.)
Best,
Sara

How do you convert a PDF to grayscale?

Just switched from Pro 8 to 9. In 8 I would use the convert colors tool to do this but it didnt always work but I delt with it. Im on Pro 9 and the settings for that have all moved around. I never really fully understood how to convert a PDF to grayscale, would just wing it as it was. Now Im totally baffled. Is there any "proper" way to convert to grayscale where I dont have hundreds of options to go through with profiles and other things that are really over my head and needs?

Thanks guys(or gals?) to responding to this.
What I ended up doing is:
Covert entire file to grayscale.
Save As "file name + BW"
Close
Open original file
Replace individual pages from BW version for each page I want to change to BW.
BTW:
The reason I need to do this is to avoid getting color click charges on my printer/copier. The original pdf is created in Microsoft Publisher(Yuck!), then made into a Color PDF. Some pages only need to be printed as B/W, and others as Color. This can be also be done using an advanced controller such a Fiery on the printer/copier, but that would cost an additional $3000, and it would be used just for this functionality. With this route, it will only be just the cost of Acrobat Pro.
Also, I am doing this on Acrobat for the Mac, which seems to have the same issues as the Window version.

Cannot export to PDF with grayscale PDF in layout

IDCS5.5, MacPro, OSX 10.7.4
I am working on a grayscale teacher’s guide that accompanies a CMYK schoolbook. The introduction pages contain miniature pages of the workbook (formatted as grayscale PDF), but InDesign refuses to output those pages as PDF ("Impossible d’exporter le fichier PDF"), or when it does produce a PDF (when exporting page by page), Acrobat warns of a possible problem and stuff is missing on the resulting page, not necessarily from the grayscale minipages.
I have tried grayscale PDFs created from the original CMYK PDFs in Acrobat Pro X, grayscale PDFs exported from the original CMYK file in InDesign CS6, PDFs reduced to 20% in InDesign, PDFs reduced to 20% with a third-party application and imported in ID at 100%, and all sort of variations on the export values. The problem is also present in InDesign CS4 (after exporting the file as IDML) and in CS6.
The thing is, there is no problem at all if I use the CMYK PDF version of the minipages (I then turned the resulting PDF into grayscale with Acrobat Pro X). But the printer expects to see only grayscale images in a grayscale job, not color... and a Photoshop version of those minipages is not acceptable.
Has anybody encountered that problem? Can you reproduce it, i.e. can you export to PDF if you use any type of grayscale PDFs in your layout?

FOUND IT! Inspired by Rob solution, I was able to export my InDesign CS5.5 document containing some grayscale PDFs to PDF/X-3:2002 (and PDF/X-1a:2001), with or without the standard, but without converting to destination. For some reason, it does not work with PDF/X-4:2008, nor with any of the other presets.
-3

Why is my PDF to Word conversion unreadable ?

Why is my PDF to Word conversion just code?

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Automating PDF which is embedded within SAP Application

Hi all,
I am facing the below mentioned problem.
Automating PDF which is embedded within SAP Application
In this case, we need to do some navigations within the PDF like selecting values in the drop-down, checking checkbox etc.
We tried installing Aptt plug-in in our system and recorded using the AcroQTP add-in but still the object gets recognized as one window object.
I tried with different combinations of selecting addins like SAP-Web-VB-AcroQTP, AcroQTP-Web and Acro-QTP.
In all the three cases, the PDF was recognized as one window object.
The details of the application and QTP is,
QTP - 9.5 version
IE - 6.0 version
Application Technology - SAP
Pls let me know if there are any work arounds for this problem.
Thanks,
Jayakrishna.S

Hi JaiKrishna,
I have encountered same problem while working SAP application. We have installed the following on our systems:
1. Acrobat 9.4
2. QTP 10
3. AcroQTP plugin
The addin manager displays the plugin but while recording/spying the objects are identified as WinObject on the PDF which is invoked through SAP application.
Could you or anyone from forum can help us out to solve this problem?
Many Thanks,
Deepthi

I receive an error message when submitting a pdf file for conversion to a Word document "... an unex

I receive an error message when submitting a pdf file for conversion to a Word document "... an unexpected error has occurred..." - is there a way to overcome this error?

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Jyh-Jiun Liou

Why are curves "inverted" after ACR grayscale conversion?

I have Photoshop CS5 version 12.0.1. If I make a grayscale conversion in Adobe Camera Raw and then open the image into Photoshop and add a curves adjustment layer, the curve is the "wrong" way round with the white point being on the left of the curves graph while the black point is on the right. However if I add a levels adjustment layer, the levels graph is as it usually is with the black point to the left and the white point to he right.
If I open the image from ACR in color without making a grayscale conversion, the curves layer is also as expected - black point to left and white point to right. Can anyone explain why it is inverted after a grayscale conversion in ACR?
Thanks

It's a good question; the default for grayscale images appears to be Pigment/Ink% instead of Light, leading to the "reversal" you describe.
The good news is that the default is separate for black and white and color images, and sticky, so you can change it around by doing this:
1. Click the little menu button at the upper right of the Adjustments panel and choose Curves Display Options.
2. Change the Show Amount of: setting from Pigment/Ink % to Light (0-255).
Hope this helps.
-Noel

I am trying to export the PDF file and conversion fails every time.

I am trying to export the PDF file and conversion fails every time. File is too large of too complex. What do I do? One file is about 55 mb and the other is 58 mb.

Try extracting part of the file and see if the extracted part can be Exported. If so, repeat with the next set of pages. When done, try to load all into the first file.

I bought 2 hrs ago pdf to Office conversion access. It is so horrible, I need to cancel subscription right now

I bought 2 hrs ago pdf to Office conversion access. It is so horrible, I need to cancel subscription right now
the website is so bad that it goes around in a circle- & you cannot access a place where you click & it is done. Nope.. If I cannot cancel it tonight, I will have to call the c/c to force the issue. I wasted my evening on this silly thing....
Pl call 818 523 8735 now.

Dear Sir:
I think you do not seem to understand: this link you provide is TOTALLY
BOGUS & FRAUDULENT!
This is precisely the point of my email.
If I go there, & YOU CLICK SOME indeterminate options..& it opens another
tab & it is exactly the same as the one you came from. & on it goes.
Adobe shoul know better!
Unless, you are pulling off another AOL thing of the '90s.
I am going to call the credit company & report it as fraudulently charged.
See if that works.
robin

I am trying to upload a pdf file for conversion to Word but keep getting an error on your part?

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I received your Scan.pdf sent to [email protected] and had no problem to convert it via Export PDF service. Could you try again?
Jyh-Jiun Liou

Grayscale Conversion

I am using camera raw 5.5 in windows 11.0.1
When performing a grayscale conversion, is there a way to adjust the conversion by clicking on a point in the image? Moving the cursor back and forth should adjust the color(s) of that point, as it does in the B W conversion within CS4. I thought this could be done, but it hasn't been working for me; the cursor remains the hand, zoom, or whatever it was. No grayscale adjustment is made. I realize that the colors can be individually adjusted within the grayscale conversion box, but the click and drag in the image method would be so much easier.

You should use the Target Adjustment Tool (TAT). It is in the toolbar, 5th icon from the left. Keyboard shortcut: press the T key.
Eric

Automated PDF to Grayscale Conversion

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