CMYK color differences from Ai to PDF

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
August 13, 2021
2 replies
8698 views

Hello community!

I've looked at other posts here about color conversion issues when going from Ai to PDF, but I'm not quite seeing situations that match mine.

In my case, I have an Ai file that was created in CMYK space, a business card for print. When I save the file from Ai to PDF and view the PDF in Acrobat, the color is more muted (see image on the right in Acrobat versus image on the left which is in Illustrator). The PDF is actually the color I want and it shows up like that when sent to print. But I don't understand why what I see in Illustrator is a different color altogether.

I have my file settings to save the PDF with"No color conversion." Am I doing something wrong?

I would imagine that having the Ai file in CMYK (as opposed to RGB color space) would show me a more accurate representation on screen of how the colors would print, right?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Ton Frederiks

There is nothing wrong with your file as long as you use color management.

Your color management settings are emulating Illustrator 6 which is the same as turning it off.

Your file has a CoatedGRACoL2006.icc profile. As long as you select that profile in Acrobat in your separations preview, the numbers match.

Please learn more about color management and start by turning it on.

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/color.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/keeping-colors-consistent.html

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Do the color valiues also change?

How is color management set up in Illustrator?

C

colorthisworldAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi Monika. If I open the PDF within Illustrator and compare it to the original AI file, the color values don't change. But if I open the PDF in Acrobat and check the colors with the colorpicker utility on Mac, they do show a color value change.

I've attached a screenshot of how color management is set up in Illustrator. To be quite frank, I am not versed in color management across Adobe applications. Perhaps that's where my issues are coming from?

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

You can't tell anything about the colour in a PDF using the system colour picker.... That tells you the colour values on screen, which are not the same in any colour managed app except in rare accidental cases.