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Question

Problem when exporting a file from in InDesign to pdf with changing colour

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
January 14, 2020
3 replies
1062 views

I am struggling when I export a document that I have been working on in Indesign because the colour which is fine before I export it is changing on two of the images in the pdf document. Because they are logos it is essential that they are the right colour. I have never had this problem before. Any help would be appreciated.

I am getting this warning when I export it:

'1) The present specifies source profiles that don't match the current colour settings file. Profiles specificed by the colour settings file will be used.'

I don't know what this means but I am assuming this has something to do with the problem.

Import and export

This topic has been closed for replies.

Lukas Engqvist

Community Expert

The warning tells you that the settings for colour that you have on your file and the colour settings for the logo are different. If you don't find the colour unsatisfactory then this is not a problem, the warnig is a heads up to help you take an extra look to see that things are as you expect them.

A logo may be created for a number of media, it could be for the webb, for print with special colours (spot colours), for embroydery, for printed on stationary (uncoated papers) or for print in glossy magazines. Ideally the logo should be optimised for each of these, and labled so that the use is clear. However there is usually a compromise and sometimes due to knowledge, sometimes with knowledge there is a simplification of the brand.

Thre are three profiles (identifiers that tell indesign how to interpret colurs). Indesign colour settings specify the colours assumed by indesign or that are valid for new doccuments. Indesign in can also specify the colour intent of your InDesign document so that if it is opened on another computer it is possible to know if the colours are specified for a newspaper add or a glossy magasine. Lastly it is possible that the content, your logo has a different colour assumption (and in your case it has hence the warning). Just as if someone tells me an article costs me 100, it is meaningless, unless I know the currency , since € 100 is not the same as SEK100. So with no currency life is ambiguous. Computers don't like ambiguous. When specifying CMYK or RGB if you don't have a profile (currency) you will not get warnings, but your colour will vary depending on how your indesign is configured.

To be able to advise you what you should do I would need to know the colour space and profiles of your indesign document, of the logo, and your indesign colour settings. I would also need to know what the intent of the documet is. If the logo is a webb logo and you are printing it may be that the original intent allows colours that are not posssible to reproduce in your intended meda and a colour shift is inevitable. This is not a but but a limitation of the phisical world. Would be happy to help but need more information.

rob day

Community Expert

Hi Lukas, the mysterious The preset specifies source profiles that don’t match... warning has come up before, and at best it is a non sequitur, but seems more like a bug—in this case I think it is a red herring.

I get the warning when I set my Color Settings Working RGB space to something other than sRGB, make a new document, and Export to any of the CC export presets. Here I set my Color Settings to North American Prepress, which sets the document’s assigned RGB profile to Adobe RGB. When I export to PDF/X-4, I get the warning even though my Color Settings and the assigned document profiles all match, and the document has no content. If I make a change in the Export dialog, like adding marks the warning goes away even though adding marks would have no affect on the color output.

If I choose a Color Settings preset that sets sRGB as the Working RGB space like North America General Purpose 2, and make a new document, I don’t get the warning.

In a color managed workflow an RGB source profile other than sRGB wouldn’t be a problem, in fact there is a good argument never to use sRGB for print projects because it clips a large part of most CMYK spaces making the already small CMYK space considerably smaller.

Ashutosh_Mishra

Inspiring

Hi there,

Thanks for providing additional details. I'd recommend saving your file as IDML and then try to export as PDF.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Ashutosh

Rishabh_Tiwari

Legend

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. I would request if you can share a few more details like:

The exact version of InDesign and the Operating System.
While exporting your pdf make sure that Color Conversion is set for "No Color Conversion" in the Output section of the Export Adobe PDF dialog Window.
In which application you are viewing the PDF? Please view the pdf in either Acrobat Pro DC or Adobe PDF Reader.
You can also try exporting the PDF in [PDF/X-4:2008] Preset and see if that makes the difference.

Regards

Rishabh

C

crosslandst58003259Author

Participant

The version of InDesign is: 14.0.2 using macOS version 10.14.6

I have set the Color Conversion to 'No Color Conversion'.

I have tried viewing it is Acrobat Pro DC.

And I have tried exporting the pdf [PDF/X-4:2008].

It still doesn't work though.

rob day

Community Expert

If the logos are RGB and include out-of-gamut color, a PDF/X-4 export will preview the RGB color in the X4’s CMYK Output Intent profile—out-of-gamut RGB colors could display diffeently even when there is No Color Conversion. What is the color space of the placed logos?

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