Overprinting page items



You can overprint strokes or fills, paragraph rules, and rules above footnotes. You can also simulate overprinting of spot colors.

Overprint a stroke or fill

You can overprint strokes or fills of any selected paths using the Attributes panel. An overprinted stroke or fill doesn’t need to be trapped, because overprinting covers any potential gaps between adjacent colors. You can also overprint a stroke to simulate a trap (by overprinting a color you’ve manually calculated as the proper combination of two adjacent colors).

Keep the following guidelines in mind as you apply manual overprinting:

  • If you use the Overprint Fill option on a 100% black stroke or fill, the black ink may not be opaque enough to prevent the underlying ink colors from showing through. To eliminate the show-through problem, use a four-color (rich) black instead of a 100% black. Consult with your service provider about the exact percentages of color to add to the black.

  • When using a stroke to trap objects (but not text characters), adjust the stroke alignment so the stroke falls outside the path or object, rather than inside or centered on the path.

  • When using a stroke to trap two spot colors or a spot and a process color, you usually apply the lighter color to the stroke, and overprint the stroke.

    Use the Separations Preview panel to preview how colors will overprint.

  1. Select one or more paths with the Selection tool  or the Direct Selection tool , or select text characters with the Type tool. To overprint the stroke of a path that is pasted inside a frame, you must first select the nested (inner) path using the Direct Selection tool.
    Overprinting fills and strokes

    A.
    Cyan (bottom layer)

    B.
    Magenta (middle layer)

    C.
    Yellow (top layer)

  2. Choose Window > Attributes.
  3. In the Attributes panel, do any of the following:

    • To overprint the fill of selected objects, or to overprint unstroked type, select Overprint Fill.

    • To overprint the stroke of selected objects, select Overprint Stroke.

    • To overprint a color applied to the spaces in a dashed, dotted, or patterned line, select Overprint Gap.

Overprint a paragraph rule

  1. Make sure a swatch exists for your overprint color.
  2. Using the Type tool, click an insertion point in a paragraph.
  3. In the Paragraph panel, choose Paragraph Rules in the Paragraph panel menu.
  4. In the pop‑up menu at the top of the dialog box, choose the paragraph rule you want to overprint.
  5. Select one of the following, then click OK.

    • To overprint the stroke of the rule, select Overprint Stroke.

    • To overprint a color applied to the spaces in a dashed, dotted, or patterned line, select Overprint Gap.

Note: The Overprint Stroke and Overprint Gap options in the Paragraph Rules dialog box can be saved as part of a paragraph style.

Overprint rules above footnotes

InDesign can automatically insert a rule to separate footnotes from the body of the document. You can choose to overprint the rule.

  1. Make sure a swatch exists for your overprint color.
  2. Choose Type > Document Footnote Options.
  3. In the Footnote Options dialog box, click the Layout tab.
  4. Select Overprint Stroke, and click OK.

Simulate overprinting of spot inks

Overprint simulation is useful for simulating the effects of overprinting spot inks with different neutral density values (for example, red and blue). When you print to a composite output device using overprint simulation, you can see if the resulting color is one that you want to overprint or knock out.

  1. In the Output area of the Print dialog box, choose a composite option in the Color menu.
    Note: You cannot simulate overprinting when Composite Leave Unchanged is selected.
  2. Select Simulate Overprint.