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Participant
January 9, 2020
Question

Color management on multiple monitors

  • January 9, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 5550 views

I'm using all adobe programs on two different monitors, my MacBook Air and Philips 328P6AUBREB. The latter uses its own calibrated icc color profile. The problem is that, when I start the program on my laptop and move the window to my external monitor, everything gets a yellowish tint to it. If I launch that on my external monitor and move it to my laptop, then a blueish tint appears. Is it possible to achieve a consistent look even if I switch between monitors? In Photoshop, when I create a new file I have an option to not color manage the file, so I can see exactly the same on both monitors (though I'm not sure if it's a good practice at all), but I cannot see such an option in Illustrator. So my question is what is the most ideal setting, where I can see almost exactly the same on both monitors, while also my files won't suffer from any disadvantage.

Thank you very much for the answers in advance!
Adrienn

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

Participant
April 28, 2022

Found the solution below on another webste and it worked for me.

"Go to "Edit"->"Color Settings" and change the Settings to "Monitor Color". For me it was set to "North America General Purpose 2". After changing it to "Monitor Color", I then had the same colors on both my monitors finally."

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 29, 2022
quote

Found the solution below on another webste and it worked for me.

"Go to "Edit"->"Color Settings" and change the Settings to "Monitor Color". For me it was set to "North America General Purpose 2". After changing it to "Monitor Color", I then had the same colors on both my monitors finally."


By @Laser Bones

 

 

Please don't post this into every available thread. Changing the working RGB color space to "Monitor Color" is just very bad advice.

Participant
January 10, 2020

My current setting in Illustrator are the following:

  • Changing the settings to Monitor
  • or changing the RGB to the displays profile (I can only see my laptops profile here, no matter on which monitor I launch the program, the profile of the calibrated Philips monitor doesn't show up)
  • or changing color management options to off
    didn't solve the problem.


Setting this to do not manage didn't solve the issue either.
Now I'm totally lost.

Participant
September 2, 2020

Adrienn, 

I fully empathize, as I spent hours on this a few months ago and decided to revisit the issue, but still can't figure it out. Did you ever find a solution?
I agree that it is most definitely something within Adobe, particularly within Illustrator. Here's a screen shot of my external monitor with 2 different windows shown. My Chrome windows show as white, but my Illustrator window has a hazy, yellow cast to the artwork area only. However, if you look at the Illustrator toolbar, you can see that white shows as white. I would love to figure this out! I'm tired of having to move art back and forth to check colors! Even more interesting, is that I just discovered that the issue seems to only be on photographs. Look what happens when I change one of the shapes to white. The image (which is on a pale white/light gray marble background seen below) is tinted yellow but the shape is white.

 

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 2, 2020

Did you calibrate your monitors?

Did you setup the color management according to your needs?

Is the soft proof maybe turned on?

 And what happens when you turn it off?

meganchi
Legend
January 10, 2020

It's hard to say if you are having actual monitor issues (screen burn out)? But I would think if both monitors were calibrated to the same profile then the colors should appear similar.

meganchi
Legend
January 9, 2020

This is a lengthy helper file, but helps explain how to calibrate your monitors.

https://www.howtogeek.com/342756/how-to-match-colors-on-your-multiple-monitors/

Participant
January 9, 2020

Thank you very much for your quick reply, however, this article doesn't help me. The issue isn't with the monitors themself, but with the settings somewhere in the adobe programs.


Let me give you an example, I've found a picture of a color palette on the internet, and downloaded. It looks the same on both monitors (in the browser/preview programs etc.) But when I put it inside a document with Illustrator on the laptop (still looks correct) and then move the window to the external monitor, colors shift to yellow (only the document colors, the window of Illustrator doesn't). On the other way around, when I start the program on my external monitor, insert the pic of the color palette(still looks as it should be) and then move the window to my laptop, the document's colors shift to a blueish tone.

I've created a comparison of some screenshot, to make it more clear.
(Please, also notice that I'm completely aware that even the "correct" colors don't match on my laptop and my external monitor because my external monitor is calibrated, while my laptop isn't. I mirrored the images to make that more visible. But the real issue here is the color shift that I experience when I place the window on the other monitor. )

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 9, 2020

Did you already check the graphic card (or have it checked)?