Missing Color Profile Message

[paul knight]

Hi,

Every time I open an Ai document at the moment I get the message below.  What is causing this on how do i fix it  / turn it off?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Bill Silbert]

Try going through the Edit Menu to Color Settings. You will get the dialog box shown below:

Assign RGB and CMYK settings in the Working Spaces area as highlighted in red above. Then make sure that Ask When Opening is unchecked in the Missing Profiles area (also highlighted in red). Then click OK and quit the program. Relaunch and then try and open a document and see if that fixes the problem.

If it doesn't work you might want to try resetting your Illustrator Preferences.

To do so:

For Macintosh Users: With Illustrator closed launch a Finder Window in column view and click on your home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the following two files and delete them: “Adobe Illustrator <Version #> Settings” (earlier versions of Illustrator might just say “Adobe Illustrator”) and “com.adobe.Illustrator.plist”. When Illustrator is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

After you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, it is a really good idea to create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

For Windows Users: Hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching Illustrator and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

The dialog box warns you that there are no color profiles embedded in your files.

For RGB it might be better to embed one.

For CMYK this is not such an issue, because device independent color workflows still don't exist for CMYK. You don't want to have your CMYK files converted through ICC profiles, because then black gets muddy and bright colors might get unwanted additions (e.g. a 3% cyan in an otherwise clean yellow).

Don't uncheck "Ask when opening"

In fact don't uncheck any of these "Ask" settings.

No professional modern graphic application will work without color management.

If you think you have turned it all off, you will only have buried it so deep inside that you don't have any control over it anymore.

As for the settings recommended by Bill:

They might be OK for the U.S. (in most situations)

They are certainly not OK for other regions of the world.

You will need to understand color management.

You will need to understand production.

You will need to discuss these issues with your service providers (print as well as web) in order to set up the best options there. Or at at least get their exact specifications. It's OK to ask them. It's professional behaviour.

[Bill Silbert]

Just to be clear the settings that I showed were installed by default on my home computer when I first installed Illustrator CC 2017 (including leaving the Ask settings unchecked). I was not advocating using those specific working spaces profiles.  I was advocating embedding profiles that were appropriate for the user. Suggesting that the Ask settings be unchecked was based on the possibility that what was happening for the OP was the result of them being checked.

[Monika Gause]

Illustrator selects the settings based on the language you install. So with a different language you get different settings. But the settings must not be based on the language, they must be based on the requirements of your service provider. And those are different based on your country or continent.

This "US Web setting" would be counter-productive if not plain out toxic to your colors in Germany and most of Europe.

And turning those "Ask" settings off will of course make the warnings go away.

But then you also lose control about what's happening in color management, because you're not alerted anymore.

[Bill Silbert]

Since the warning box does not come up routinely when Illustrator is usually opened would not having them turned off be the default for all? Or is that also dependent on country of origin?

[Monika Gause]

The warning comes up when you open a file that does not have a color profile embedded. Or it comes up when the document's color profile does not match your working profile.

And bot are warnings that you definitely want to see. You can then still dismiss the warning if you come to the conclussion that it does not harm, but you want to know what's happening, so you can intervene if necessary.

[Bill Silbert]

It does seem then that having the Ask turned off should not be a program default.

[Monika Gause]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Bill+Silbert  schrieb

It does seem then that having the Ask turned off should not be a program default.

Definitely.

[Theresa J]

Bill, Absolutely! The Color warnings should NOT be turned off by default, but they are. Color management takes a some effort to understand. I think most designers don't understand it because the default set up allows them to ignore it.