Issues with Color Picker in InDesign: HSB and RGB Confusion Leading to Unexpected Colors

[Zebra Jamie]

When I open the color picker to adjust a shade, I usually automatically do so in HSB, since I usually want a lighter or darker shade of what I'm working on. But if I don't actually click on the radial buttons for the HSB value I'm working on, InDesign will give me some wild colors! It seems to be confusing HSB and RGB somehow--but I don't know why or how, since I'm editing in the HSB boxes.

As an example, let's say I want a darker version of this blue:

So I'm going to go to brightness and reduce it to 50%. This is what I get:

Like I said, if I toggle the button to "B" instead of where it starts out in"R," it's snapps back and starts behaving again:

It's not a huge problem, but it's still kind of annoying. Does anyone else experience this?

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[Nico Kobel]

Hi @Abhishek Rao 

Yes, it happens in every document, no matter the current color settings. 

I was able to narrow down the issue and discovered that it only happens once you open the color picker (in the lower left corner of InDesign) in the HSB mode. If the initial mode is set to RGB or CMYK, the colors are correct. I attached a screen recording of the issue with the following steps: 

1. Open colorpicker --> correct color visible
2. Set mode to HSB
3. Close and reopen colorpicker --> wrong color visible
4. Set mode to RGB or CMYK
5. Close and reopen color picker --> correct color visible

Best regards, 

Nico

[Abhishek Rao]

Hello @niCo Kobel,

Thank you for the update. Based on the details you've provided, this behavior is indeed unexpected. A couple of things I recommend to check:

1. Sync Color Profile via Adobe Bridge: Try syncing the color profiles across your Adobe apps using Adobe Bridge. This can help ensure that all the apps are using the same color settings, which might resolve any discrepancies in how colors are displayed in InDesign.

2. Disconnect External Displays: If you're using multiple displays, try disconnecting any external monitors and only use the primary display to see if the issue persists. Sometimes, color display issues can arise due to different color profiles being applied to multiple monitors.

Let me know how it goes, and we’ll be happy to assist further if needed!

Best,
Abhishek Rao

[Nico Kobel]

Hi @Abhishek Rao 

I tried those steps already in the troubleshooting process but did the following again: sync color profile via bridge, disconnected all external devices, turned off the color profile loader (DisplayCAL) and restarted the PC. Without any change, the colors are still totally wrong wrong in HSB.

This is only happening in InDesign. Illustrator and Photoshop are working just fine. 

Best regards

Nico

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Nico Kobel,

Thank you for your patience, and a shoutout to Eugene for sharing the helpful link. I've checked on the color picker bug, and the team is still actively working on a fix. As soon as there's an update, I’ll make sure to reach out to you.

Best,
Abhishek Rao

[Eugene Tyson]

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/issues-with-color-picker-in-indesign-hsb-and-rgb...