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• • April 6, 2017 at 6:25 am #93504
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hello Everyone,

    this is driving me nuts. I have InDesign CS6 and a B/W laser printer, model HP P4015. Check out this image:

    https://www.emyamstein.ch/media/forums/hp4015_poor_blacks.jpg

    I CANNOT get InDesign to print this text actual black. I’ve been messing with the Appearance of black setting, I’ve tried to change the color model of the paragraph style (from 100% K to RGB 0, 0, 0), I’ve also tried to change this very piece of text’s color explicitly with the color palette. I’ve also tried different settings of color management in ID’s print dialog and the printer driver’s dialogs… to no avail.

    Printing from basic text editors like OS X’s TextEdit or TextWrangler does print full black characters.

    So it must be a problem with ID’s “color management”, or “color messing around”, I should say.

    I am presently pulling my hair off my skull, I’d be happy if someone came up with a solution before they’re all gone. :)

  • April 6, 2017 at 6:30 am #93511
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Yes, clearly something is “color managing” the color along the way, so that 100% black is being converted. It could be in the Print dialog box or it could be in the printer driver.

    Some questions:
    * Is it a PostScript printer, or a non-ps printer? If it is a PS printer, it would probably have a PPD showing at the top of the Print dialog box (though it may be grayed out)
    * Have you tried turning on the “Text as Black” checkbox in the Output pane of the Print dialog box?
    * What happens if you export to PDF and print from Acrobat or Reader?
    * What are you choosing in the Color popup menu in the Output pane of the Print dialog box? Even if it’s a B&W printer, I would leave that set that to RGB

  • April 13, 2017 at 1:13 am #93686
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    David,

    thanks for your reply.

    • It does seem to be a PS printer (grayed out PPD name visible)
    • I did turn on the Text as black option
    • Printing from a PDF gave the same results
    • Selecting RGB Composite in the Output pane gave the same results

    ??????

  • April 13, 2017 at 5:20 am #93691
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Try clicking the Printer button at the bottom of the Print dialog box. That opens the Printer driver dialog box. Look in there for some setting that might be causing problems. For example, I wonder if it is set to “Draft” print mode, which tries to save toner/ink by printing everything gray. Or perhaps there is a color management setting which is trying to be helpful (and failing).

  • May 8, 2017 at 6:16 am #94304
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Thanks for your time. Yes I know about the printer-specific toner-saving options, which I steadily disable.

    I’m just giving up. I cannot believe I can’t achieve this! I’ve twiddled every possible knob, tunred on and off every conceivable option between InDesign, the printer driver and the printer’s physical keyboard. This is mind boggling.

    I really need to stop or I promise this 80-pound HP LaserJet P4015 will be sent flying out the window.

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