Problem: CYMK Document saves to RGB PDF

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 8, 2022
1 reply
612 views

Hello, I have an Illustrator document that is very obviously set to CYMK. I also converted it to the standard working CYMK ICC Profile (web swop 2). I am saving the document out as a high-resolution print with an X3 PDF standard. (I have some other documents that I am working with that have similar settings.) I went to double-check this collection of PDF documents in Bridge, and was surprised to find that although I was doing practically the same thing with each file, I have an assortment from CYMK, RGB, and "untagged" PDFs... Does anyone know why this is the case and how I can get my PDFs to show the CYMK color profile? Additionally, the printer specified that the documents are "best without an ICC profile", so if the PDFs remain untagged in that regard, I think that is alright. I see that I can "convert" to a specific ICC color on save out... but I thought this would be inherited anyway from the parent file... I am rather confused about the situation, and I am hoping that you can help me clear it up. Thank you very much in advance!

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Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

It is not very clear what you are doing and how you check the PDFs in Bridge.

What do you do when you "I also converted it to the standard working CYMK ICC Profile (web swop 2)"?

A PDF can contain multiple RGB as wel as CMYK objects when they are linked in Illustrator.

A PDF/X-3:2002 does not do color conversion so all these linked RGB or CMYK files are saved in the pdf.

A PDF/X-3:2002 can have an Output Intent Profile, but does not convert to that profile.

A

aprilk31527202Author

Known Participant

Hi Ton,

Okay, that is partially helpful to know. In Bridge, you can sort your documents by color profile. In the metadata, which contains other values (such as shutter and aperture for photographs), it clearly shows if it is RGB, CYMK, or untagged, and it also shows the ICC profile if there is one assigned - so far mine all show untagged, since I did not use the option of converting to a profile on save.

Illustrator is different from Photoshop, for example, but similar in that the color space and the color profiles are not controlled by the same setting. I have my illustrator document set in CYMK - that is the color mode. I was under the impression that all save-outs would reflect this setting. In addition, I converted the document to the ICC profile mentioned; I thought this would also take care of the links in case I had missed something.

"A PDF/X-3:2002 can have an Output Intent Profile, but does not convert to that profile." - This is interesting, but I am not sure what it means. Honestly, the ICC profile is not that important to me. I had similar documents print fine, and those PDFs show "untagged" for the profile. What is more concerning is that I have a CYMK document saving out to RGB, and I have no idea why.

Obviously, I could choose to "convert" to the specific ICC profile on save out, but I kind of hoped to avoid this since I am good with leaving the profile untagged. I also read something weird about facing potential issues when converting CYMK to CYMK... not sure what the author was talking about. But I could assume it has to do with this setting on save out.

Anyways, if you are able to help me further, I would be really grateful. Thanks!

A

aprilk31527202Author

Known Participant

Okay, something appears to be wacky. I double-checked my links, now everything is definitely CYMK. My document is also definitely in CYMK. The preferred profile should be the Web Swop 2... everything CYMK. I save it out, still RGB... So I convert the file to the profile on save out (preserving numbers).... still RGB. What am I doing wrong here?

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