About Missing And Mismatched Color Profiles; Color Management Policy Options - Adobe Photoshop CS6 User Manual

Note: In Acrobat, you can use the color space in an embedded output intent instead of a document color space for viewing and printing. For more
information on output intents, see Acrobat Help.
Adobe applications ship with a standard set of working space profiles that have been recommended and tested by Adobe Systems for most color
management workflows. By default, only these profiles appear in the working space menus. To display additional color profiles that you have
installed on your system, select Advanced Mode (Illustrator and InDesign) or More Options (Photoshop). A color profile must be bi-directional (that
is, contain specifications for translating both into and out of color spaces) in order to appear in the working space menus.
Note: In Photoshop, you can create custom working space profiles. However, Adobe recommends that you use a standard working space profile
rather than create a custom profile. For more information, see the Photoshop support knowledgebase at
www.adobe.com/support/products/photoshop.html.

About missing and mismatched color profiles

For a newly created document, the color workflow usually operates seamlessly: Unless specified otherwise, the document uses the working space
profile associated with its color mode for creating and editing colors.
However, some existing documents may not use the working space profile that you have specified, and some existing documents may not be
color-managed. It is common to encounter the following exceptions to your color-managed workflow:
You might open a document or import color data (for example, by copying and pasting or dragging and dropping) from a document that is not
tagged with a profile. This is often the case when you open a document created in an application that either does not support color
management or has color management turned off.
You might open a document or import color data from a document that is tagged with a profile different from the current working space. This
may be the case when you open a document that was created using different color management settings, or scanned and tagged with a
scanner profile.
In either case, the application uses a color management policy to decide how to handle the color data in the document.
If the profile is missing or does not match the working space, the application may display a warning message, depending on options you set in the
Color Settings dialog box. Profile warnings are turned off by default, but you can turn them on to ensure the appropriate color management of
documents on a case-by-case basis. The warning messages vary between applications, but in general you have the following options:
(Recommended) Leave the document or imported color data as it is. For example, you can choose to use the embedded profile (if one
exists), leave the document without a color profile (if one doesn't exist), or preserve the numbers in pasted color data.
Adjust the document or imported color data. For example, when opening a document with a missing color profile, you can choose to assign
the current working space profile or a different profile. When opening a document with a mismatched color profile, you can choose to discard
the profile or convert the colors to the current working space. When importing color data, you can choose to convert the colors to the current
working space in order to preserve their appearance.

Color management policy options

A color management policy determines how the application handles color data when you open a document or import an image. You can choose
different policies for RGB and CMYK images, and you can specify when you want warning messages to appear. To display color management
policy options, choose Edit > Color Settings.
To view a description of a policy, select the policy and then position the pointer over the policy name. The description appears at the bottom of
the dialog box.
RGB, CMYK, And Gray (Gray option is available for Photoshop only.) Specifies a policy to follow when bringing colors into the current working
space (either by opening files or importing images into the current document). Choose from the following options:
Preserve Embedded Profiles Always preserves embedded color profiles when opening files. This is the recommended option for most
workflows because it provides consistent color management. One exception is if you're concerned about preserving CMYK numbers, in
which case you should select Preserve Numbers (Ignore Linked Profiles) instead.
Convert To Working Space Converts colors to the current working space profile when opening files and importing images. Select this
option if you want to force all colors to use a single profile (the current working space profile).
Preserve Numbers (Ignore Linked Profiles) This option is available in InDesign and Illustrator for CMYK. Preserves color numbers
when opening files and importing images, but still allows you to use color management to view colors accurately in Adobe applications.
Select this option if you want to use a safe CMYK workflow. In InDesign, you can override this policy on a per-object basis by choosing
Object > Image Color Settings.
Off Ignores embedded color profiles when opening files and importing images, and does not assign the working space profile to new
documents. Select this option if you want to discard any color metadata provided by the original document creator.
Profile Mismatches: Ask When Opening Displays a message whenever you open a document tagged with a profile other than the current
working space. You will be given the option to override the policy's default behavior. Select this option if you want to ensure the appropriate color
management of documents on a case-by-case basis.
Profile Mismatches: Ask When Pasting Displays a message whenever color profile mismatches occur as colors are imported into a document
through pasting or dragging-and-dropping. You will be given the option to override the policy's default behavior. Select this option if you want to
ensure the appropriate color management of pasted colors on a case-by-case basis.
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