Pantone Connect and The Future of color specifying...

[dDembicki]

With the recent announcement that Adobe won't be distributing any Pantone palettes after March of this year, it is making me nervous. My company won't allow me to install non-approved software (i.e. the Pantone Connect extension) onto my computer, so I won't be able to try it out ahead of time. 

I read the detailed instructions on getting Pantone colors into your AI/PSD/INDD files posted in this thread: https://community.adobe.com/t5/color-management-discussions/pantone-colours-and-cc-libraries/m-p/113...

As a creative, this process is onerous at best. Is it the same with the paid version of the software? 

Does anyone know if existing palettes will be wiped when software is updated? Are there any best practices that might be implemented to ease the transition? Any advice, anyone? Thanks.

[Test Screen Name]

I'd recommend starting the approval process right now. Indicate that this is a function of approved software, and the facility you need will be split over two apps.

[Bob_Hallam]

I would save /export all your pallets and back them up as a good way to protect your business 

[rob day]

Does anyone know if existing palettes will be wiped when software is updated? Are there any best practices that might be implemented to ease the transition? Any advice, anyone? Thanks.

Hi @dDembicki , the installed Pantone libraries are .acb files, which haven’t been updated since CS6. They act like an extention, so when you upgrade to a future version where the Pantone .acb files are not automatically installed, it should be just a matter of moving the .acb files from the earlier version into the new version’s Presets>Swatch Libraries. If you are looking for new Pantone colors that are not included in the CS6 .acb files, you will need Pantone Connect or Pantone Color Manager.

[dDembicki]

@Test Screen Name : Done, thanks. 

@Bob_Hallam : Also done. 

@rob day Yep, did that, got the latest palettes via Color Manager.

The latest PMS palettes are v3 and v4 (for Pantone+). On my machine they are installed where they belong with the software and also copies stored elsewhere in case they are wiped with an update. Most users don't have admin access to their machines, so re-installation will require a call to the Help Desk if it gets wiped, which is why I asked.

I thought I read that Pantone is going to discontinue any access via the Color Manager software? And on the page where Adobe says it's dropping the palettes, the link for the Color Manager software goes to the Pantone connect software page. https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/pantone-plus.html

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone had any fancy ideas, since Adobe's direction seems pretty basic. But I guess that's really all that can be done. 

[cbphoto]

If you have a personal computer, purchase and install the Pantone Connect application on that machine, create the .acb files, then export/copy those .acb files to your workstation.

Or is that cheating?

[dDembicki]

There is no way to save out palettes as .acb files from Pantone Connect. You can do that from the Pantone Color Manager software, but they are phasing that out. 

[shellydell518]

You are correct, as a work around i created a client set by bringing my spot colors into Illustrator from PantoneConnect and then exporting to .are file that I can call up like a color book

[dDembicki]

Pinging this discussion to bring it back up to the top...

I am testing the Pantone Connect software (finally!!). Although they say it doesn't change the way you work, I wonder if that will be completely true in the future when the Adobe software can no longer access the existing palettes, requiring the Connect subscription. 

ANYway, I'm not seeing a huge difference between the free and the paid version, unless there's something I'm missing. And it seems overly complicated, but maybe I'm just being resistant to change. 

I was hoping I could just download/export or whatever to get all the colors in a book from Connect into a native Adobe palette, but I'm not seeing how to do that (in bulk, not one at a time). And I wonder if it even exists?

Does anyone know, do you have to be connected to the internet to have access to your Connect palettes? 

Anyone have any best practices they can share?  THANKS in advance!

[rob day]

I wonder if that will be completely true in the future when the Adobe software can no longer access the existing palettes

Assuming InDesign will continue to read .acb files, you should be able to transfer the existing PANTONE .acb libraries from an older version—you’ll need Connect for any new Pantone colors added after 2012.

ANYway, I'm not seeing a huge difference between the free and the paid version, unless there's something I'm missing. And it seems overly complicated, but maybe I'm just being resistant to change.

Their FAQ states that you can pick any of the 15000 colors with the Basic version, but my trial has run out and if I try to add a swatch to my InDesign Swatches panel, the Basic version won’t let me. When Add to Swatch did work the extension seemed better than installing .acb libraries—much easier to search and add swatches:

[dDembicki]

Okay, I see what you're saying but...  I will work some more with it.

When you share files with others, do the colors travel with the file as part of a normal palette? I'm thinking print production workflow here, where files might be worked on by a number of different people on different machines. All users in the workflow have their own Adobe CC subscription but may not have their own Pantone Connect subscription. 

[dDembicki]

Hi Rob. Spent a little more time with this... I guess the biggest change is that any color exploring is done in Connect rather than just in the native application. Still not loving it but I can adjust. 

The bad news is that if you have no internet you have no colors. And it seems there's no way to export palettes as .acb files so that you could work offline. That's definitely a deal breaker for me. 

[rob day · Accepted solution]

And it seems there's no way to export palettes as .acb files so that you could work offline. That's definitely a deal breaker for me.

Then make sure you backup copies of the current .acb files so you can install them in future ID upgrades.

You can add swatches from Connect to the InDesign Swatches panel and save them as .ase files.

[shellydell518]

i read that if you don't have internet you won't have palettes, I haven't tested this yet, still struggling to get colors into programs as ASE files

[Monika Gause]

If I read this correctly, then the real issue is with Photoshop:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/pantone-color-books-photoshop.html

You can somehow work around Illustrator and InDesign files that contain the swatches used in them. But that doesn't seem to be the case with Photoshop files.

[rob day]

I guess the question is whether new CC versions are going to stop supporting .acb files—the Photoshop Color Picker’s Color Libraries access the .acb files in the Photoshop Color Books folder. It contains other books e.g. TOYO, so stopping .acb support would affect other ink vendors as well.

Here I’m using the same .acb files I use in InDesign, which were exported from Pantone’s Color Manager:

I can‘t find anything on the Pantone site that indicates they are trying to copyright the individual ink names—they seem to be selling convenience rather than restricting usage. With Pantone Color Manager they explicitly stated that swatches can be shared—if this has changed I can’t find it on their current site:

https://web.archive.org/web/20201019160230/https://www.pantone.com/customer-service/help/?t=Sharing-...

[Triped]

Didn't Adobe just put up their Creative Cloud prices, yet somehow feel it necessary to subtract features. Think it's time to jump ship, what a farce!

[TheDigitalDog]

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@Triped wrote:

Didn't Adobe just put up their Creative Cloud prices, yet somehow feel it necessary to subtract features. Think it's time to jump ship, what a farce!

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If price to benefit ratio isn't working for you, jump. 

True for all products and services. 

The reasons these forums exist is for users to help other users so with that in mind, hopefully this helps you:

https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/cancel-subscription.html

[marta_CA]

I work for the State of California and Pantone won't work with us regarding our terms and conditions. Has anyone looked into an alternative for Pantone? I'm worried about our past and future projects.

[Bob_Hallam]

Everyone in the world uses Pantone colors successfully, without issue. What terms and conditions are a problem for Pantone?  They may also be a problem for any other company...

[marta_CA]

Our first step was to get Pantone to provide a proprietary letter. That was when they informed us that they had resellers so they would not provide a proprietary letter. We then did an SB solicitation and received no bids. One of the vendors informed us that Pantone would not allow them to be a reseller. We provided a list to Pantone of authorized SBs to see if they would make any of them resellers and they would not authorize any of them. We then got an SB waiver so we could solicit to the authorized resellers. We solicited but vendors submitted a bid. After no bids were received, we reached out to all the authorized resellers and did another solicitation to them and still none submitted a bid. During this time, we had reached out to Pantone’s contract department and when they got back to us, they informed us that they go into a contract if it is over $10k but since then they've changed it to $20k

[Bob_Hallam]

So the state of California needs Pantone why exactly?  Seriously, every printer mixes (or buys premixed) PMS colors but they don't ever come from Pantone.  Is this an state run in house printing company?  I still don't see any reason this is necessary.