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granth54436419
Known Participant
April 29, 2021
Question

Color reference differences between Acrobat Reader 9 v Acrobat Reader DC

  • April 29, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 3068 views

I have a customer that has a document that when exported to PDF, renders color differently for different versions of Acrobat Reader. People using Acrobat Reader DC 2021.001.20150 see the document as it is intended, however those using Adobe Acrobat 9 see the colors in a different hue. The customer says that updating their Acrobat 9 to a more recent version is not feasible for them. Is there any way to fix or compensate for this? The color rendition is important, as it is a corporate logo color.

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2 replies

Brad @ Roaring Mouse
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 4, 2021

Your Bright Blue is a problematic color anyway so if you are using that as a Logo Color Standard, you are in for a world of hurt. That intense a blue can only happen in a screen-based color space. What seems to be happening is that your setting in the Reader DC is set to show the closest CMYK equivalent based on the Color Mangement setting on the computer it's being viewed on and consequently your colors will go duller. Readers don't have full Color Management control but they do have ONE applicable setting that might be in play here:

Check the Preferences in the both Readers under Page Display > Default Transparency Blending Color Space: these need to be set the same. To maintain your intense blue, it should be Working RGB. If it's Working CMYK, this might be causing the issue.

Legend
May 5, 2021

Also check out the setting "Default transparency blending space" in Acrobat DC (Preferences.... Page Display). You can choose RGB or CMYK, while older versions of Acrobat offer no choice and blend transparency in CMYK.

Brad @ Roaring Mouse
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 5, 2021

Ah, yes. I thought Reader v9 had that Preference as well, but you are right, it does not. (I just happened to have an old v9 install on an old W2000 Virtual machine!)

Karl Heinz  Kremer
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 29, 2021

The most likely reason for different colors is if by accident the "replace colors" feature in the accessibility options got enabled. To turn this off, go into Reader's preferences, then select "Accessibility" and turn off "Replace Document Colors". Hopefully this resolves the issue.

granth54436419
Known Participant
May 4, 2021

Hello Karl.  That option was not in effect, and the problem continues.
The desired color is the "brighter" blue.
The PDF version is 1.4.
I'm wondering if this could be how colors are handled in Acrobat 9 v. Acrobat DC?  
Acrobat Reader 9 

Acrobat Reader DC 

  

granth54436419
Known Participant
May 4, 2021

After posting my reply, it occured to me that it might not be the file or software causing the difference, but the monitor or monitor drivers being used.