Reply To: How to convert Pantone color swatches to CMYK to make print-ready PDF?

You’re getting that greyed-out dialogue because there is a placed image such as an .eps or an .ai that is using that PMS colour. Some PMS colours are natively set to the Lab range rather than CMYK, pastels I think.

In order to release it you will have to find the colour and edit it in Illustrator to be a proper CMYK mix. To find it you can open the Separations Preview (SHIFT + F6) and turn all the colours off except the one you are after. The Separations preview also contains the Ink Manager gert mentioned, but to start converting with profiles in output through InDesign you need to be very confident in how ID converts things and what numbers you will end up with in your final PDF, so I would recommend the belt and braces approach.