Print color separations

Last updated on Oct 25, 2026

Configure separation settings and printer options to output individual color plates for commercial printing.

Printing color separations divides your artwork into individual plates for each process color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) and any spot colors, allowing commercial printers to reproduce your design accurately.

Use this procedure when preparing final artwork for commercial offset printing or when your print service provider requires separated plates. This process requires a PostScript printer or the ability to save to a PostScript file. Before printing separations, preview them using Window > Separations Preview to verify how colors will separate and check for potential issues like rich black or overprinting effects. Understand more about color separation on how separation modes work and technical details about emulsion and image exposure settings in Adobe Illustrator.

Complete these prepress tasks before printing separations to ensure optimal results and avoid costly printing errors.

Color management configured with calibrated monitor and appropriate color settings
Document converted to CMYK mode (select File > Document Color Mode > CMYK Color if currently in RGB)
Color blends optimized to prevent banding
Trapping and overprinting configured if required
Transparent artwork reviewed with flattening preview to verify output appearance
Consultation with your print service provider about their specific requirements for PPD files, halftone screens, and output settings

Configure and print separations

Select File > Print.

Select your printer from the Printer menu, or select Adobe PostScript File or Adobe PDF to save separations to a file.

Select Output on the left side of the Print dialog box.

For Mode, select either Separations (Host-Based) or In-RIP Separations depending on your print workflow.

Set the emulsion, image exposure, and printer resolution options according to your print service provider's specifications.

In the Document Ink Options list, configure color plates by clicking icons to disable printing for specific plates, convert spot colors to process colors using Convert All Spot Colors To Process, or convert individual spot colors by clicking their spot color icon. Select Overprint Black if needed.

Double-click an ink name in the Document Ink Options list to adjust halftone screen frequency, angle, and dot shape, or use your PPD file's default settings as recommended by your print service provider.

Configure positioning, scaling, crop marks, printer's marks, bleed settings, and transparency flattening options in the remaining sections of the Print dialog box, then select Print.

Tip

If your artwork contains multiple spot colors with overlapping areas, assign different screen angles to each spot color to prevent moiré patterns. Double-click the spot color name in the Document Ink Options list to modify its screen angle.

Apply registration color for all-plate printing

When you need an object to print on every separation plate, including all spot color plates, convert it to registration color. This technique is commonly used for custom registration marks or elements that must appear on every plate.

Convert objects to registration color

Select the object you want to print on all plates.

In the Swatches panel, select the Registration color swatch located in the first row of default swatches.

Note

Registration color objects appear black on screen but print as an equal tint of all inks on every separation plate. To change how registration color appears on screen, use the Color panel to adjust its display color without affecting output.

Additionally, you can refer to Preview color separations, Spot and process colors and Print with color management to know about available print options.

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