RGB to CMYK with Actions

[Manuel Lizarraga]

I have 2,000 EPS files that open in RGB color mode. I need to convert them to CMYK. I tried to set up an action, but the command File->Document Color Mode->CMYK Color does not "stick". These files were batch converted from WMF files and they are needed for printing in CMYK. The filter Colors->Convert to CMYK is greyed out and if I click convert to grayscale, the Document Color Mode is still in RGB.
I am running AI9 in Win2000.

[Manuel Lizarraga]

Since I have gotten zero responses to my question, I'll take that to mean that there is no way to batch change files from RGB to CMYK.

[Guy Smiley]

Manuel:
It shouldn't be a problem to define an action to do what you want. Please list each of the steps of the action you have already defined?
-Mike Nitabach

[Manuel Lizarraga]

The files are chemical structures that are made up of text, lines, and fills. The 4 things I wanted to do were, change all text to outlines, delete any strokes that are zero points, change all other strokes to 1 point, and make it CMYK. They are all just black and white. I had no problems making actions to handle the first 3, but the Document Color Mode to CMYK would not stick as an action sequence.

[Guy Smiley]

(1) Do you have any images embedded in the EPS?
(2) What happens if you first save as an AI file, and then try to change the document color mode of the AI file?
-Mike Nitabach

[Manuel Lizarraga]

Converting an RGB EPS to CMYK is not the issue. Having Actions save the menu command "File->Document Color Mode->CMYK Color" as an item in the action sequence is the problem. There are no embedded images in my files. You can try it with a new document, start with any RGB drawing, start a new action, then convert the color mode to CMYK. You will see your graphic change, but Actions will not record that step. Is this some postscript issue or a bug in Illustrator?

[Guy Smiley]

"Converting an RGB EPS to CMYK is not the issue. Having Actions save the menu command "File->Document Color Mode->CMYK Color" as an item in the action sequence is the problem."

You didn't make this clear until now. Have you applied the 9.0.1 and 9.0.2 patches?
-Mike Nitabach

[Teri Pettit]

The Document Color Mode command is not actionable even in AI 10. Neither is Document Setup or Print Setup.

A fair number of commands are not recorded, actually. Offhand, besides the three mentioned above, I can think of Create Gradient Mesh, Define Pattern, and anything in the Symbols palette, and I'm sure there are many more.

These are not so much bugs as missing features. It takes a pretty lot of special code to make something be recordable and playable as an action, and sometimes just getting the basic function working takes long enough that there is no time to add the action recording and playing code to that feature.

Every feature that is not yet actionable is already on the list of "needed enhancements" for future versions.

Document Color Mode might be scriptable, but I'm not sure of that. The scripting feature is one I'm not very familiar with. Help>Illustrator Help..>Automating Tasks>Using Scripts will tell you how to run and install scripts. The detailed documentation about what the syntax is for Illustrator operations is on the Illustrator CD, but that documentation is not installed by the installer, so you have to have your CD handy. My CD is at work and I'm posting from home today.

[Guy Smiley]

Teri:
Thanks for setting us straight on this issue.
-Mike Nitabach

[Manuel Lizarraga]

Thanks guys for your answers. I have more experience using actions in Photoshop than in Illustrator. Color mode changing is not a problem in PS and it would seem to me a very useful thing to add to AI's capabilities. Also, PS's saving and naming conventions in batches are ahead of AI. In the meantime, I have created 4 actions to deal with the couple of issues I have with my project. I am fixing 150+ files a day. I will be done by the end of the week.

[rafi...@gmail.com]