Automatically switching to Display Color Profile

[kevinf78831444]

I want my Color Profile to remain sRGB IEC61966-2.1 but Illustrator keeps switching to Display making the colors way too bright. Usually it's when I go to a different program then back to illustrator it switches to Display and I have to go Edit/Assign Profile and choose sRGB IEC61966-2.1 again. Thanks for the help!

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

If I understand correctly, your Color Settings have as RGB Working Space: sRGB IEC61966-2.1

Do you Open images (like screendumps) in Illustrator? This will make Illustrator use the image color profile as the Document Color Profile.

[kevinf78831444]

I drag and drop photos and screenshots into illustrator a lot, yes. Would using Place avoid changing the color profile?

[Ton Frederiks]

It is worth trying, certainly if drag and drop creates new documents.

[kevinf78831444]

Thanks, Ton!

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear that helped.

[Ton Frederiks]

And it can be useful to turn on the warnings for Profile mismatches in your color settings.

[russg22417893]

Hi Ton! So, to add to this: from my experience, the strange discarding of the color profile only occurs when dragging a screenshot thumbnail into an open Illustrator document (Mas OS — Command+shift+4, or Command+shift+3, or Command+shift+5). The thumbnail appears in the corner of the screen prior to the screenshot being saved to the Desktop.

Using File>Place, or copying/pasting from any other program, or even dragging and dropping a screenshot from the desktop or other folder all cue a warning if there is a profile mismatch. And to my experience, placing in any of those ways does not change the document profile, regardless of what I choose when the warning comes up.

However: dragging and dropping a screenshot thumbnail preview cues no warning at all, and Illustrator silently discards the color profile. (I have every one of my color profile warnings turned on for this reason, but it still doesn't address it). There is also no way to undo this discarding of the color profile. Any color changes are lost for good. I have shown this to an Adobe employee on a screen share session, because this seems like something that ought to be addressed, since probably thousands of us throughout the world drag and drop screenshot previews; but unfortunately no action has been taken on subsequent updates. This has been happening to me and co-workers for years, and we never realized why we were having so many color problems. Wish we could get Adobe's attention on this one! I tried and failed. Yes there are workarounds, but I can't help but wonder how many of us don't even realize it's happening.

[russg22417893]

Interesting note: in Big Sur, if you hold Command+Control+Shift+4 ... the screenshot is saved to your clipboard and doesn't pop up a preview. When pasting, this DOES cue a warning in Illustrator. Regardless of what you choose in the warning box, it does NOT change the color profile of the document, despite the screenshot being "Display" rather than "sRGB".

[Ton Frederiks]

Hi Russ, you may want to decribe your experience here:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/

 But don't count on any quick solution, a request for including a profile during PNG export was don 5 years ago...

[russg22417893]

Good to know that. Well, as long as somebody sees it and it gets considered, that's all I can ask for. I have submitted a report relatively recently, but who knows if it's been seen. Like so many other bugs and day-to-day issues, I wouldn't sweat this, other than it seems rather fundamental to work-flow and production.
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/45727408-screen...
Thanks for the response!

[CarlaTracy]

Just seen this thead, I have this problem and it drives CRAZY, in my instance it only occurs if I drag an image directly from a web brower (google chrome) into illustrator - I have all my profile mismatches set to alert, but no alert appears and the workspace is silently changed to 'display.' I can't find any settings that stop this occuring, so I just don't drag and drop directly from a browser anymore. Needs fixing as it is easy to forget, drag stuff in and then end up in a mess with your colours. If you've reported it and nothing has been done for years, I assume it will remain an unsolved problem, just like the dreaded 'flickering cursor' situation that has haunted me for over a decade.

[Ton Frederiks]

Carla, you may want to add your experience to the bug report mentioned above. I did not see it reported that dragging from a browser changes the document color profile.