How do I simulate overprinting in Adobe Reader?

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On both Mac and Windows when I print a document there is an advanced screen that allows me to select an option called Simulate Overprinting, however such an option doesn’t appear on the Ubuntu version.

Wikipedia on overprinting:

Overprinting refers to the process of printing one colour on top of
another in reprographics. This is closely linked to the reprographic
technique of ‘trapping’. Another use of overprinting is to create a
rich black (often regarded as a colour that is “blacker than black”)
by printing black over another dark colour.

This is an issue for us, as we’re trying to print documents that need flattening (this is what overprinting does).

Am I missing something here, is there a way to enable overprinting on printed PDFs?

Note: Please don’t confuse simulate overprinting with overprint preview, of which doesn’t apply when printing.

Just to show you what I’m looking for, this is the Print > Advanced screen…
enter image description here

And this is what I see on the Ubuntu screen, not no option for overprinting
enter image description here

Answer

Is the following procedure an option for you?

  1. Use (a very recent version of) Ghostscript to apply the SimulateOverprint option to your original file.
  2. Use the output of Ghostscript to send to the printer.

The Ghostscript command would be:

gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite          \
   -o simulated-overprint.pdf \
   -dSimulateOverprint=true   \
    orig.pdf

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Ben Everard , Answer Author : Kurt Pfeifle

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