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Ap p l y i ng t rans pare nc y f l at te ne r p re se t s
Although you can apply and preview transparency flattener presets at any time, an InDesign
document isn’t flattened until it’s printed or exported. A good strategy for flattening is to
think from the document level to the spread level. In other words, first apply a flattener
preset to the entire document, and then apply other flattener presets as necessary to specific
spreads. In this way, you can easily handle special cases without compromising the entire
document.
While it might be easier to apply a maximum-quality flattener preset to the entire docu-
ment uniformly, your workflow may benefit from applying lower-quality flattener preset to
specific spreads where precise detail isn’t present. Lower-quality flattener presets will process
faster and result in smaller output or PDF files.
At the document level, you can apply a transparency flattener preset from the Advanced
panel of the Print or Export dialog boxes, or by using the Flattener Preview palette. At the
spread level, you use the Spread Flattening command on the Pages palette menu.
To apply a flattener preset to all spreads for print output using the Flattener Preview
palette:
1. Make sure the flattener preset you want is selected in the Preset pop-up menu.
2. If you want the preset to apply to all spreads, select Ignore Spread Overrides.
3. Click Apply Settings to Print.
To apply flattener settings as a spread override:
1. In the Pages palette, make sure all pages of the spread are selected.
2. Choose Spread Flattening from the Pages palette menu (click the triangle in the top right
corner of the palette to see the menu).
3. Choose any of the following, and then click OK:
• Default to use the document flattening preset for this spread.
• None (Ignore Transparency) to ignore transparency for the spread. This is useful for
troubleshooting.
• Custom to open the Custom Spread Flattening dialog box for specifying settings.
Note:
If you know that a customer has applied flattener settings throughout the document,
and you know or suspect that their flattener settings may not be appropriate for your
workflow, you can easily apply a flattener preset that overrides those set by the customer. In
the Advanced panel of the Print or Export dialog box, specify a transparency flattener preset
and also select Ignore Spread Overrides.
