Q: I have a CMYK swatch in InDesign. But now we want to use a spot color instead. Can InDesign tell me the closest Pantone color?
A: InDesign can’t do it alone, but with a little help from Photoshop, it’s possible:
1: Either note the CMYK (or RGB or Lab) values in InDesign, or take the easy route — apply the color to a frame, and then copy & paste the frame into a Photoshop file. (After pasting the frame, press the Enter key to rasterize the pasted content so you can read its value.)
2. If you’ve written down the color values, create a Foreground color with those values. If you just copied & pasted, use Photoshop’s Eyedropper to click on the area (creates Foreground color for you).
3. Click once on the Foreground color icon; this launches the Color Picker.
Click the “Color Libraries” button, and select correct library from the “Book” drop-down. Photoshop automatically highlights the closest swatch–woohoo!
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on April 5, 2007
Commenting is easier and faster when you're logged in!
Leave a Reply
sir i asked u that how to recognize the colour from pantone number
Hassan: There is no way to know what a color is only by its pantone number, unless you memorize all the color/number combinations. If you have a number, you can only know what color it is by looking up the color in software or online or (best) in a printed Pantone swatch book.
A great way to do this if you have an iPhone is to get the “X-Ref” App made by PANTONE (free). You can dial in your CMYK or RGB values and it will match the closest PANTONE swatch from any number of PANTONE spot color books.
I was shocked at how poor AI CS3’s ‘Convert Color’ (using the 1-color setting) was in converting a dark brown. It replaced it with a Pantone Black, no hint of brown at all. Photoshop came much closer, recommending 405 C.
Great Discussion. I’m a product developer for various computer products. Mostly plastics. The photoshop color guide is really very useful, but it is important to check whatever color that has been selected in color book. the color can look waay off.
Hi,
I found the following weblink helpful in converting RGB to the closest Pantone color:
https://www.netfront.fr/Services/rgb2pantone/
And the following weblink demostrates how to do this visually using both Illustrator and Photoshop:
https://www.dezignmusings.com/2008/09/it-often-happens-that-after-you-create.html
I love that you can use the eyedropper to bring a color from ID to PS, but I agree that we should use the Pantone color books to match color. For one you’re looking at a CMYK swatch in RGB and then converting it to PMS. Yikes! It is misleading to judge any color by matching it on screen. Customers and supervisors rarely get what they’re asking for when they start picking colors this way. If I had a dime for every what-you-see-is-not-what-you-get argument about the difference between colors on monitor and press, I could afford to lose or quit my job if, God forbid, some important person in charge reads this article and tells me that the press CAN print what they see on their monitor. LOL! However, I can see a benefit in using the eye-dropper to find a close proximity to the color then fine-tuning the color match with the Pantone swatches.
Hi,
I received a cd from customer. They have lots of stationries to print. In illustrator file the designer used two spot color. Its called “New color swatch and New color swatch 1”. Printer need pantone number. I apply the same way. They printed all stationaries. Unfortunately the customer rejected all stationaries. 7,482.63 USD loss.
I would use the Pantone swatch book anyday, how do you know your screen is perfectly calibrated?
Thanks to all of you. I just had this problem and checked out all solutions. The Photoshop trick is good as well as the javascript from wundes.com. Of course I used the swatch book to verify. By far the worst match is done by “Art Directors Toolkit”, it is allmost unusable.
Guess what? The new Color Guide feature in Illustrator CS3 can do this quite easily…
Yu could also take note of the CMYK break-up and then run John Wundes ‘CMYKtoPMS script in Illustrator (https://www.wundes.com/js4ai/displayFilesWTemplate.pl#CMYKtoPMS.js). I have found this to be more acurate than using Art Director’s Toolkit and with a visual swatch comparison as back-up an almost foolproof method.
That is correct (some apps use Lab, other Pantone’s libraries. These libraries become more and more optimised with each version). Of course it also depends on what CMYK you use (coated, uncoated).
Matt is very right. I also seem to remember having slightly different conversions from PMS to CMYK in different programs for the same PMS number. If I recall even Illustrator and PhotoShops used give slightly different values in the conversion, and yet another when doing the eye dropper trick that was suggested. It may be OK if all you need to do is get close, but if you need to match the colors then pull out the swatch book.
Matt, I agree with using a swatch book but by using the eyedropped to get close at least you have an idea of where to start in the swatch book. BTW, choosing to display spots using Lab values will usually result in a better on screen “match.”
Pantone colors only exist in the swatch book and on the press. A human being must mix them. Not in your computer. Never ever ever pick a PMS color on the screen! That is downright STUPID! I’m sorry if that was a little harsh but come on! Just the other day a client of mine picked PMS 484 for her logo. Kind of a dull ruddy red. When you see on screen its like bright orange-red. Not even close. Obviously some people here need to get thier hands dirty in the press room. Go buy yourselves a swatch book, and leave the eyedropper alone!!!
This isn’t “old-school” this is HOW IT IS DONE. Remember: InDesign is a Pre-Press app first and a Design app 2nd. Learn the Pre-press stuff first (separations, overprinting, trapping, etc.) then go play with your drop shadows!
Excellent tip, David. I never knew that could be done. Works like a charm.
I have to agree, Tim: Using a swatch book is always a good idea. Also, just because Photoshop thinks it’s a good match doesn’t mean it’s the best match. In my experience, the Pantone it picks is far from the original color and I can better replicate it by eye — if I’m willing to accept a more desaturated color, or a darker color, or any of the other variables that come into play.
That said, Claudia’s tip gets me much closer, especially when working fast!
Wa: I had forgotten about Art Director’s Toolkit. I haven’t played with it for a long time, and it’s no longer bundled on my Mac. Too bad. Looks like a great program and has a much better color matching system.
Art Director Toolkit!
Sorry if I’m too Old School, but;
Get yourself in daylight, take out a Pantone Process to Spot book and find your match…
Or do the above PS to ID work around and check it with the Pantone Process to Spot book.
I just find that this will give you a far more accurate colour representation than anything done solely on screen. Always good for avoiding that horrible question “Why is the printed colour different than the pdf you sent me?”
There is no need to do the procedure of “copy and paste” actrually.
Just press the eyedropper tool in PhotoShop and “SLIDE” into InDesign and you will get what you want…
Of course, adjust the windows of these two applications is necessary.
Al,
I see I misspoke. My bad.
Ed,
Why would eyedropper sample size play any roll if we are sampling from flat color areas in which all pixels are the same color? Have you actually tested this on solid color areas with different sample settings?
New to InDesign myself… the PS eyedropper tool stock out of the box is set to point sample. Try switching it to 3×3 or 5×5. I have mine set to 3×3. Try changing the setting to get the best results. So many variables to consider, but with some tweaking you might find a vary suitable setting.
That *is* wacky! The Eyedropper does that same trick when you’re picking a color for text in Photoshop, too. And it’s not obvious that it’s willing to do this!
Catch is, it comes very close (in truth, close enough, I think). But the sneaky drag does produce slightly different values than the copy/paste, even if color settings are identical. Guess some of it dribbles out of the eyedropper on the way back in to Photoshop :-)
Excellent idea, Claudia! Random Photoshop trick: Instead of doing any of the copy and pasting, just launch Photoshop, open any file, make sure the InDesign color is visible in the background, click on the color picker, then start dragging inside your Photoshop document (to get the eyedropper) and then keep draggin (mouse button down) and let go while you’re on top of the InDesign document. The eyedropper works on anything visible on screen, as long as you start dragging in the Pshop file. Wacky!