I have tried every combination of Luigis solution and get "Black text do not overprint" (german: schwarzer Text wird nicht überdruckt) for every page of the example for the following code in the Preflight of Acrobat: Here is an online version of the Preflight: http://www.gronenberg.de/werkzeuge/pdf-online-check/upload.html Here my code: %%% overprint.tex \nopdfcompression \setupcolors[state=start,rgb=no,cmyk=yes,overprint=yes] %% to be sure \definecolor[CYAN][c=1.0,m=0,y=0,k=0] \definecolor[MAGENTA][c=0,m=1,y=0,k=0] \definecolor[YELLOW][c=0,m=0,y=1,k=0] \starttext \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=CYAN, frame=off,offset=.25cm,strut=no]{%BEGIN \startcolorintent[overprint] \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW, align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm] {overprint \\ \startcolorintent[knockout]{knockout}\stopcolorintent}% \stopcolorintent \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW,align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm]{knockout\\ \startcolorintent[overprint]{overprint}\stopcolorintent}% }%END \page \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW, align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm] {overprint \\ \startcolorintent[knockout]{knockout}\stopcolorintent}% \page \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW, align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm] {overprint}% \page \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW, align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm] {\startcolorintent[knockout]{knockout}\stopcolorintent}% \page \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW,align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm]{knockout\\ \startcolorintent[overprint]{overprint}\stopcolorintent}% \page \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW,align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm]{knockout}% \page \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW,align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm]{\startcolorintent[overprint]{overprint}\stopcolorintent}% \page \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=CYAN, frame=off,offset=.25cm,strut=no]{%BEGIN \startcolorintent[overprint] \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW, align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm] {overprint \\ \startcolorintent[knockout]{knockout}\stopcolorintent}% \stopcolorintent } \page \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=CYAN, frame=off,offset=.25cm,strut=no]{%BEGIN \startcolorintent[overprint] \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW, align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm] {overprint}% \stopcolorintent } \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=CYAN, frame=off,offset=.25cm,strut=no]{%BEGIN \startcolorintent[overprint] \framed[background=color,backgroundcolor=MAGENTA, foregroundcolor=YELLOW, align={lohi,middle}, frame=off,width=2.5cm,height=2cm] {\startcolorintent[knockout]{knockout}\stopcolorintent}% \stopcolorintent } \stoptext Regards Jannis