"Use Proof Setup" option greyed out in Color section of the Save File dialogue box

[HSM2022]

While configuring PhotoShop (PS) so that it reproduces the same colors on the computer screen for images that I import from another DCC app, I noticed that, while it was possible to get the correct colors by chaning the settings in View: Proof Setup: Monitor RGB, this only affected the PS workspace and did not save the color profile with the image when saving out of PS. So then I noticed that the Save File dialogue box has a Color section with the option to Use Proof Setup, but it is always greyed out no matter which file type the image is saved to or which options are checked/unchecked in the Save dialogue box. Why is the Use Proof Setup always greyed out in the Save File dialogue box? How can one get it to be a selectable option? Or, what is some other way that one can get the Proof Setup color profile to save with the image?

[Aleke]

Hi @HSM2022! 

Could you share a bit more detail? What version of Photoshop and operating system are you using? If possible, could you also provide a screenshot of the save dialog where you're seeing the "Use Proof Setup" option?

Thanks a bunch!

Alek

[HSM2022]

This is the case in CS 6. Maybe it's been addressed in an update since then. Here's a screen shot of the Save File dialogue box. The parameter in question is marked in red and greyed out. Is it ever not greyed out? [url=https://ibb.co/RkhYHJYT][img]https://i.ibb.co/RkhYHJYT/PS-Use-Proof-Setup.jpg[/img][/url]

[BrettN · Accepted solution]

  Whether or not the settings at the bottom of the Save dialog will be grayed out depends on the file format selected and the content of the file.

  Color: Use Proof Setup is a print specific command and is only compatible with print specific file formats. For Photoshop, there are only two for which this option is availible: EPS and PDF.

  It is not available for other formats regardless of what is in your file.

[HSM2022 · Accepted solution]

EPS and PDF, thanks. Those were overlooked somehow when I tried all the file types. As for assigning a Color Profile to image file formats in general for both working and saving, I've now found that, instead of setting a Color Profile in View: Proof Setup: Color Profile, the Color Profile can be set in Edit: Color Settings, Edit: Assign Profile and Edit: Convert to Profile. I have all of those set to Monitor RGB and it works quite well now. Thanks again for the help.

[BrettN]

Proofing is for when you want to see what a file might look like on another device, mainly a printer. It doesn't actually change the file, in the same way that zooming in with the maginifying glass tool doesn't change the file. It just gives you a different perspective, which is why most formats don't allow you to save this setting into the file. 

Color Settings lets you choose the default expected profile for images in Photoshop, what to do when you open a file which doesn't match the expected profile, and what default profile you apply to new images. 

Assign Profile arbitrarily (re)places profiles on images. This can cause the colors of a document to change if the profile is not compatible with how the file was created. You generally don't want to use this command unless you know the profile on the document is incorrect and you want to correct it, or if the document currently doesn't have an attached profile. 

Convert to Profile will change the color information in a file to try to look the same after changing the attached profile of an image. This is preferable over Assign Profile, as it should maintain accuracy better. 

[HSM2022]

Ok, good explanations; I see how View: Proof Setup: Color Profile would be used for working in the Color Space of another machine while on one's own machine, and why one wouldn't need to assign the Color Profile to the file when it is saved in that case. Very good to have that cleared up in my mind, though while this post touched on that part of PS, that itself was not the main use case I needed to have addressed.

The use case in this post was for viewing a file in PS in the same Color Space as the DCC it was originally created in, LightWave 3D, while on the same machine and then also being able to view that file outside of PS in the same Color Space as when working in PS when opening it in, say, Microsoft Photo Viewer or the newer Photos app or posts to social media on other people's machines. So, in other words, instead of having a file appear as it would on a separate machine while working on my machine by using View: Proof Setup, it was to have a file appear in a consistent Color Space from app to app on the same machine, my machine, and then have it appear that way for other people to view on their own machines on social media. So this case was a digital print case that at the end of the chain would would allow other viewers to see what I was seeing on my own machine. And, that's why the Color Space options in the Menu Bar's Edit drop-down list was so important for me to find.

Thank you for helping me problem solve this and explaining some other parts of PS along the way.