Datalogics Adobe PDF Library Pantone Color Update
Adobe began phasing out support of Pantone colors in their Creative Cloud Software in August 2022 and Datalogics has been fielding questions from customers regarding how this could affect Adobe PDF Library (APDFL) and other Adobe-licensed products.
We have good news!
Pantone-specific technology is not directly infused into any of Datalogics’ Adobe-licensed products. But let’s dig in deeper to understand how color is handled in APDFL.
How Adobe PDF Library Handles Color
Color management is key when working with PDF whether you are printing or viewing them. APDFL supports a color-managed workflow and uses profiles determined by the International Color Consortium (ICC) to support color accuracy in both PDFs and the images embedded in them. An ICC profile is a set of data that characterizes a color input or output device, or a color space. Software that supports ICC profiles will give you the best color output and ensure your document is printed or viewed with the best color fidelity possible. APDFL ensures consistency in color across the board, so if you are looking for the most consistent color across devices, it will achieve that for you.
Read Are Your PDFs Print Ready? for more information on color management
About Pantone Colors in PDFs
Pantone colors are color-calibrated inks, and PDFs support such inks via separation and Device N color spaces. The name of the spot color identifies the ink used by the printer and the alternate color space, and the “tintTransform” function tells it how to simulate that ink when not printing with it.
PDFs pass through the name of the ink and do not affect rendering except when printing to high-end printers that can accept inks outside of CMYK process colors. Therefore, the names do not really matter to us except as identifiers of Separation or DeviceN colors.
To learn more about how APDFL handles color, Contact Us to talk to one of our PDF technology experts about your project, or test APDFL’s color management with a free trial of APDFL today!
Whether you need to create, edit, convert, or optimize PDFs, Datalogics provides scalable, secure, and high-quality solutions backed by industry-leading expert support. Give our software a try today!