How to delete unwanted ICC profiles - Win 11

Question

I would like to eliminate the laundry list of ICC profiles I have no use for.

Claire H. · Accepted Answer

Hi @SteveStLPhoto, Welcome to the Photoshop forums! Here are some ways that you can delete ICC Profiles in Photoshop:

For Windows:

- All profiles: C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\

- Adobe-specific: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Color\Profiles\

You can delete unused profiles from these folders. Just be careful not to remove system-critical ones. You can manually browse the folders or use a third-party tool. Even after deleting profiles, Photoshop may list some due to embedded printer drivers and profiles bundled with other Adobe apps.

To reduce clutter, Restart Photoshop after deleting profiles. Then, go to Edit > Color Settings and adjust how profiles are handled. When saving files, uncheck “Embed Color Profile” if it's not needed. I hope this helps! ^CH

Conrad_C · Answer

Also keep in mind that ICC profiles are often part of standard installer scripts for various applications and device drivers (like printer drivers), so be aware that if you delete some, a future update installer might put them back anyway if it notices they’re missing. This is probably more true for profiles stored at the system level vs the user level.

I don’t bother to manage profiles because they take up very little space compared to other types of files.

If the problem is that the large number of profiles makes profile menus so long that it’s a chore to scroll the menu to the right profile, I get around that using type-ahead. I pop open a menu and type the first few letters of the profile I want so that the menu scrolls itself to and selects that item, or one close enough, so that I don’t have to scroll the whole menu myself.

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