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gerhard5CC2
Participant
June 13, 2024
Answered

pantone colors in Illustrator 2024

  • June 13, 2024
  • 6 replies
  • 27221 views

Hi I need step by step help for an Idiot (me) how to get Pantone colors back into Illustrator 2024

    Correct answer Ton Frederiks

    You can have multiple versions of Illustrator installed.

    There is still one version that you can download that has the libraries.

    Install an older version of Illustrator: 2023 (27.0), this is the last version that has the old Pantone Color books.

    In the Creative Cloud app select Apps > All Apps > Illustrator > click the 3 dots …  next to the Open button >  click Other Versions and select 27.0

    Go the Illustrator 2023 Application folder > Presets > (your language folder) > Swatches > Color Books > and make a copy of PANTONE+ Solid Coated.acb and PANTONE+ Solid Uncoated.acb

    Keep them in a safe place and copy them to the same location in the Illustrator 2024 application folder.

    Edit: this Illustrator version is no longer avalaible, but:

    If you have a Photoshop license, you can install Photoshop 22.2.

    In the Creative Cloud app select Apps > All Apps > Photoshop > click the 3 dots …  next to the Open button >  click Other Versions and select Photoshop (22.2) and Install

    Then, open Photoshop 2023 Application folder > Presets > Color Books and you will find the PANTONE color books, so copy it to Illustrator's Color Books folder.

    Make a copy in a safe place

    6 replies

    H
    hosley_9143
    Participant
    June 18, 2025

    need to add pantone book in illustrator

     

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 18, 2025

    If you have Photoshop, see my answer above.

    A
    AnastasiyaS
    Participant
    November 14, 2024

    Does somebody know a new way to bring it back? 27.0 version is not avalible anymore

    B
    Community Expert
    Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 14, 2024

    None of the Adobe Illustrator builds available in Creative Cloud have the Pantone color book files anymore. There may be one or more places online where you can download copies of those old ACB files. Otherwise you could be stuck having to get a Pantone Connect subscription.

    A
    apple option
    Participant
    September 19, 2024

    copy pantone .acb files from an older version and pop them into your colour books folder in the version of illustrator you are using

    A
    AJJ22656695e0lw
    Inspiring
    July 10, 2024

    old acb files are missing over a thousand swatches. even the v4 version is missing swatches. v5 is not public but an unofficial version was made here: https://github.com/aj90909/unofficial-pantone-solid-coated-2024-v5/tree/main

    B
    Community Expert
    Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 11, 2024

    Having the old ACB files in place will still allow any Pantone spot colors to work properly in Illustrator, even if newer spot colors are imported in artwork made by rival applications. Pantone V5 spot color swatches are included in the current versions of CorelDRAW and Affinity Designer. It's odd how Pantone isn't going after various other software developers, forcing them to remove Pantone spot color swatch books. I guess that's because they're having enough difficulty as it is making their "connect" subscription address Adobe applications.

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 13, 2024

    You can have multiple versions of Illustrator installed.

    There is still one version that you can download that has the libraries.

    Install an older version of Illustrator: 2023 (27.0), this is the last version that has the old Pantone Color books.

    In the Creative Cloud app select Apps > All Apps > Illustrator > click the 3 dots …  next to the Open button >  click Other Versions and select 27.0

    Go the Illustrator 2023 Application folder > Presets > (your language folder) > Swatches > Color Books > and make a copy of PANTONE+ Solid Coated.acb and PANTONE+ Solid Uncoated.acb

    Keep them in a safe place and copy them to the same location in the Illustrator 2024 application folder.

    Edit: this Illustrator version is no longer avalaible, but:

    If you have a Photoshop license, you can install Photoshop 22.2.

    In the Creative Cloud app select Apps > All Apps > Photoshop > click the 3 dots …  next to the Open button >  click Other Versions and select Photoshop (22.2) and Install

    Then, open Photoshop 2023 Application folder > Presets > Color Books and you will find the PANTONE color books, so copy it to Illustrator's Color Books folder.

    Make a copy in a safe place

      S
      SundayGladiator
      Legend
      January 10, 2025

      I salute you good sir. Thank you! 🙏

      B
      Community Expert
      Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 13, 2024

      If you have back-up copies of the Pantone+ ACB files you simply copy them to the clipboard and then paste them into the proper Illustrator program files folder.

       

      On the Windows platform the location is:
      C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 2024\Presets\en_US\Swatches\Color Books

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