Spot colors now missing in PDF!

Issue: spot color channel not showing up in Photoshop generated PDFs. Worked previously, this just started last week.
Workflow: receive PDF ads from client via email. Open file, usually Jpg, Tiff or PDF, in photoshop CS4. save as PSD, with new name, grayscale, 300 dpi for newspaper printing.
some ads get spot/PMS color added. add spot channel. move art from grayscale layer to spot color layer. save file as PSD with spot colors. (for import to InDesign.) Photoshop file looks fine on screen.
for Client proof, Save As "ad proof", turn OFF photoshop editing, so client does not change ad. Turn ON "as a copy", "spot color" and "view PDF".
It worked fine for the past year, now, NOT. The PMS spot channel is not showing on the photoshop generated PDF, If I import the psd file into Indesign, and generate the PDF 1x version, same thing.
Spent 7 hours on phone with tech support, they did not have a clue as to why or what was going on. I have uninstalled, deleted everything Adobe, and spent 7 hours reinstalling CS4.
Newly installed Photoshop not working, same issue. Print to PDF using PDF 9.0 "printer" not working.
HELP!

I just had a very similar problem using CS5 Master Suite.
I had a CMYK job (a business card) that needed converting into a spot colour job.
There was a logo in CMYK that was red, blue and black, so I created 3 new channels in Photoshop and separated the colours into each specific channel. I saved the logo as a Tiff file and imported the logo file into Indesign. On-screen it looked fine (black, red, blue) and I could see the new spot colours had imported into the swatches correctly. However, when I exported the Indesign file as a PDF, one of the spot colours was missing (the red one).
So I changed the logo file (Tiff) into a Photoshop file hoping it would fix the bug, but no such luck.
Out of interest, I duplicated the Red channel and repeated my procedure, this time when I made the PDF the blue channel that was there previously disappeared!!!
When I checked the forum and heard that the poor person spent 7 hours with tech support, I thought bugger that, I just saved each channel as a separate Tiff file, dropped the black file onto the logo so that it was in place, then did a Step&Repeat (ie copied a duplicate of the logo ontop of itself), then dropped the new Tiff file on top of that and changed its colour to Red in the Swatches, and did the same with the blue file.
Now I have a PDF file that shows all the different spot colours and I can go home on time tonight.
I could do all this stuff on CS1. The only 'improvements' I have found in CS5 so far is that my beloved 'Variations' option in Photoshop has now disappeared because they couldn't be bothered to create this feature in 64 bit.

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I am still working on the process to automate the conversion of PDF file with RGB color profile to Spot.
I am nearly there, here is the method...
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catch(Exception e) {}please change this to
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Thanks. Yes, I realize i need RGB. When I try any of the PDF print options (either export or print PDF or Compressed PDF or Email PDF) they ALL change the color layout of the entire newsletter!! The colored blocks behind the text are all altered, but all of the inserted JPGS are just fine.
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http://go.adobe.com/kb/ts_tn_13496_en-us
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I downloaded program and now it says i;m missing a PDF plug in

I downladed the program already but now when I try to open it says i'm missing a PDF plug in. Where do I find this and how do I fix it.?
UGH!

ashleigh,
You may try to uninstall, run the Cleaner Tool and reinstall.
Use the CC Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems | CC, CS3-CS6
I doubt it is worth trying to (guess which you are missing and) struggle with the missing plugin, and there may be more things wrong even if you succeed.

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Are you referring to opening the entire PDF file in Photoshop or do you mean that you have the PDF file open in Acrobat and want to open one of the images into Photoshop for editing?
Opening PDF files (created in other programs) in Photoshop is often a recipe for disaster... or rather a recipe to raster.

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I work in a small print shop with aging pressroom equipment. I was able to send directly from my old Mac to the press from InDesign or photoshop and use the color separations dialog. In order to upgrade Adobe I need to upgrade the Mac and if we do that I loose compatablity with the pressroom. I will be able to print via pdf to the press room. How do I send files that are not CMYK? My only thought so far is create ID files with layers for each plate and change everything to black, creating separate pdfs with layers turned off. Is there a better way? That would mean have two color logos aligned on two layers, etc. which is not ideal. it would also mean creating a true color file for client proofs and then changing it all to black for press, Again, no ideal.

PDF/X-4 is an ISO printing standard. It is Adobe's recommendation for all printing.
Press Quality produces PDF with live transparency, but all colors are (prematurely) converted to a particular CMYK color space with no ICC profiles (spot colors can be preserved depending upon your Ink Manager settings). You are effectively locked into a particular CMYK printing condition. We do not recommend this!
High Quality Print maintains transparency and some color management. By default it does no color conversions - that's great - but it also doesn't provide all the source profiles by default, only those of placed content that have such profiles associated with them. You could change this to include all color profiles, in which case you are only a small step away from PDF/X-4.
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Spot colors now missing in PDF!

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