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Colors suddenly display incorrectly in Illustrator

Community Beginner ,
Jan 27, 2019 Jan 27, 2019

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HI! I hope someone can help!! I was working in Illustrator on my PC, no problems, when all of the sudden colors have shifted.  As in red is hot pink, my 100% cyan is a really pale blue and so on.  The files preview the correct color and even the color is correct in the swatch panel but the artwork is incorrect.  What can I do to fix this!!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
Jennifer

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Beginner , Jan 30, 2019 Jan 30, 2019

Just an update in case anyone else runs into this issue...

It had nothing to do with Illustrator!  Someone told me to try and calibrate my screen earlier but I was sure that wasn't the issue bc other files were displaying perfectly, just the ai. files were not.  Well guess what?! I could have saved myself lots of heartache had I done that first.  As I was looking for the calibrate button I noticed that somehow(no idea how bc I have never been in the color management tab on this computer before to

...

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Community Expert ,
Jan 27, 2019 Jan 27, 2019

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Try View > Preview on CPU

Also: when was your last computer restart?

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 27, 2019 Jan 27, 2019

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HI Monika - Thank you for responding! I have clicked the view-Preview on CPU and no change.  I have restarted about 150 million times since yesterday trying to fix this!  lol  Ok not that much but it feels like it.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 27, 2019 Jan 27, 2019

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Is this happening with just one file or all files? What operating system and what version of Illustrator? If it has been working correctly and has all of a sudden changed then you might want to try trashing your Illustrator preferences.

To do so:

For Macintosh Users: The User Library folder in which Illustrator’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that Illustrator is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N).With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe Illustrator <Version #> Settings” (earlier versions of Illustrator might just say “Adobe Illustrator”) and the file called “com.adobe.Illustrator.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When Illustrator is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

For Windows Users: You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching Illustrator and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

To do so:

On Windows 7 and above the preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [version number]\ Settings\<Language>. Make sure that Illustrator is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create  new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

The advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can 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.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 27, 2019 Jan 27, 2019

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Hi Bill! I thought I was really getting somewhere until I got to the last step of the path, I do not see settings after Adobe Illustrator.  Am I overlooking it?

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Community Expert ,
Jan 27, 2019 Jan 27, 2019

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Delete or rename the folder that I've highlighted in your screen shot. Don't worry, when you relaunch Illustrator a new folder will be created and the program will be back to its default state.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jan 29, 2019 Jan 29, 2019

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Hi Jennifer,

Sorry to hear about this issue. I am hopeful that the issue was fixed by the steps suggested by Bill. If not, please check what is the Color Profile selected in Color Settings(Edit > Color settings).

Also, you can check out this help article for details on How to adjust colors in Illustrator.

Regards,

Srishti

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 29, 2019 Jan 29, 2019

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k

Hi - thank you for checking.  I did find the folder he referred to but still no change. I have uninstalled everything I can think of and it has not made a difference.  I found another post that had the exact same issue but can’t tell if it was ever resolved. Illustrator CC Screen displaying wrong color

thank you,

jennifer

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 30, 2019 Jan 30, 2019

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Just an update in case anyone else runs into this issue...

It had nothing to do with Illustrator!  Someone told me to try and calibrate my screen earlier but I was sure that wasn't the issue bc other files were displaying perfectly, just the ai. files were not.  Well guess what?! I could have saved myself lots of heartache had I done that first.  As I was looking for the calibrate button I noticed that somehow(no idea how bc I have never been in the color management tab on this computer before tonight) the display profile had been changed to a print profile for one our our printers inside the control panel. I can't believe I missed such a simple fix but thought I would share anyway..

Thank you to those that tried to help!

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