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SebastiaoV
SebastiaoV
Known Participant
August 17, 2010
Question

why CMYK Color Profiles Warning?

  • August 17, 2010
  • 2 replies
  • 37232 views

Hi guys,

I just made a couple of CMYK shades of grey. Here is a sample:

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1fo01uualiQLkc4uuLbXfnAoWsiVw

When i export the PDF to High Quality Printing, i get Warning Icon with the message "The preset specifies source profiles that don’t match the current color settings file. Profiles specified by the current color setting will be used" Why do i get that message? i am not using or importing any Photoshop Image with a different color profile...i just created my CMYK color inside my document.

I am sending this PDF to a Laser Color CMYK Printer (not my own home laser printer) something like a Kinkos Store.  Could that be a problem for color settings to a this kind of printers? By the way, these are my color profiles.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1EEuCxcbSjWaY2cNQj8dBAFedNlly0

is in Spanish but i think i quite clear.

Thanks for any info on that!

Cheers,
S

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    G
    GrizzlyAK
    Known Participant
    October 30, 2011

    I'm here because I was researching the same error. I've gotten it for years, and usually worked around it but finally got around to trying to get to the bottom of it. One thing I just noticed is that I had a file where I received this warning, and then went to Edit > Convert to profile in ID. I noticed that the Source of the file was NOT the working space set in my color settings (different computer from where I created it). I converted the file to the working space profile, and went back to Export to PDF again, and DID NOT get the warning.

    My concern would be what ID does if you ignore the warning. If my profile was different from teh working profile and I go ahead and covert anyway, will ID ASSIGN the working profile to my file, or CONVERT my images to the working profile specified in the color settings file. Which it chooses will likely have an inpact on my color. I might try to test this by creating an image in a wierd source profile that will look quite different if the numbers are just ASSIGNED a new profile and Export to PDF and see what happens. I think that might tell me what ID is doing.

    I really would like to understand this for certain.

    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    Peter SpierCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 31, 2011

    Unless you tell InDesign to makle a change, it will export the colors according to what the current status of the file is at the time of export. No changes will be made to the color numbers. If you convert to a profile at export, you will be converting to the destination from the document's working space, not the working space that might have been in use when the preset was created.

    If you choose to ASSIGN a new profile before export, all native objects and objects without embedded profiles will be treated as being in the newly assigned working spaces, but the numbers will not change, which means the appearance of those numbers may shift. This is equivalent to exporting and converting to a different profile while preserving numbers.

    If you choose to CONVERT to a new profile, InDesign will change the numbers to preserve the appearance in the new color space. This will almost always result in the creation of rich black type and other problems and is the equivalent of choosing to convert to profile (without preserving numbers) when you export.

    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    Peter SpierCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 18, 2010

    I see this all the time. I think it means that the preset was created with a presumed working space that is different from the one you have set, but there is nothing to worry about. The conversion will use your current waorking spaces and any destination spaces you specify, if they are different.

    Perhaps someone else can provide better details?

    SebastiaoV
    SebastiaoVAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 18, 2010

    Hi Peter, thanks for your reply.

    So if i understand right the problem is not a real color management issue but rather a kind of "bug" related to a previous Work Space which has nothing to do with color. Is that right?

    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    Peter SpierCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 19, 2010

    Not a bug. The preset was created with some working space specified. You have a different working space. ID will ignore the one specified and use yours. Seems like what you'd want, no?

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