Pantone Connect, has anyone had any success?

[camelbreath]

I subscribed to Pantone Connect since I have become accustomed to using those color from Adobe furnished palletes.  So far I have found Pantone Connect to be about as useful and functional as a concete back door or teats on a boar hog. 

Has anyone had any succcess using the app?

Thanks to those who know more than me,

Joe

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I know Pantone has become more and more difficult to use in Adobe products since the corporate divorce. There are workarouds to put the older swatch libraries in new versions, etc., but I've heard little but complaints like yours (albeit usually less colorfully phrased — this writer says kudos!).

I understand Pantone is a very convenient tool for those who do a lot of higher-end print work. But my viewpoint is that since the color definitions are all but irrelevant (with the actual color applied on the press, not via composite color), it's not that much work to look up an equivalent CMYK mix and create a "Pantone 384" or whatever swatch that is more than good enough for composition and proofing, and should export to a plate of that name for press time.

If Pantone wants to make it a costly, problematic option to use their color standards in Adobe products, for pay or not... just apply your technical design skills instead. My US$0.02, subject to inflation.

[camelbreath]

James, thanks for your reply. I looked at other comments and found a mention of grabbing .acb files from previous versions and I lit up like a Christmas tree. My joy was short lived when I discovered Adobe had truncated previous versions and the presets were gone. Any idea on where one might grab a set of those files?

Thanks again,

Joe

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Being a practioner as well as advocate of "mix yer own," I don't have the info on tap. I believe there are some shared resources out there, if you don't have an old installation from which to copy them. Cue the actually knowledgeable here...

[camelbreath]

Will do. My habit is to make the best colors for a particular design and then if some wierd process requiring PMS spot for packages and/or containers crops up I match the best I can. Our ideas are mostly parallel.

Thanks again,

Joe

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Hi @camelbreath , If you don’t have a backup of an earlier InDesign version, you can download the .acb libraries here:

https://github.com/Autocrit/Pantone-color-libraries

Starting with CS6 Adobe stopped updating the .acb files, the files in the above link are more up-to-date.

Also, the PANTONE+ Solid libraries are defined as Lab Spot colors. The Lab values are device readings directly from the printed swatches, so they are quite accurate, so the conversion to any CMYK space can be color managed. This might also be useful—there is a link to InDesign color charts:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/branding-color-guide/td-p/10818696