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• • April 20, 2016 at 11:06 am #84152
    Kasper Molteni

    Member

    I’m trying to fully understand how to work with ICC profiles in InDesign and especially when exporting for PDF.

    I work with different printing firms around Europe (usually offset) all requires CMYK images. So i usually use FOGRA39 for coated paper and FOGRA29 for uncoated paper. This is cleared with the firms. I leave the images in RGB and convert them using the appropriate profile when exporting the PDF (just as i learned on this site). The firms requires different PDF export presets but a common thing is that they never requires the ICC profile to be included in the PDF.

    So is it correctly understood that when creating PDFs for prepress I don’t need to include the ICC profile that has been used for soft proofing and conversion?

    Is there situations where it is appropriate to include the ICC profile when exporting PDFs for print?

  • April 20, 2016 at 12:10 pm #84156
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    I believe that most printing companies ignore the embedded profiles when you send them a PDF that contains CMYK images. I believe the only reason to embed CMYK profiles is when the profile that you used is something they do not expect, and if you explain that they must honor your profile.

    But in your case, where you are using Fogra29 and Fogra39, you probably do not need to include the profiles. (And, if you are making PDF/X files, then I believe you cannot embed the profile anyway.) But what you can do is set the “Output Intent Profile Name”. That does not embed the profile, but it makes an annotation inside the PDF that says “my intention is that you use this profile.” The printer may or may not see that, but at least you tried. :-)

    I explained more about making PDFs in my Lynda.com courses on:

    • Making PDFs
    • Color Management
  • April 26, 2016 at 6:34 am #84298
    Kasper Molteni

    Member

    Hi David

    Thanks for the answers. That makes sense.

    I have now been watching your courses on making PDFs and color management. They are really helpful! They covers a lot of those small questions that have always bugged me.

    Only two things is still a bit unclear for me:

    1) What is the difference between having “proof colors” turned on and off when the document is in the same profile as “proof color”. For me it still makes a notable difference when the document is eg. FOGRA39 and then turning the proof color on (also FOGRA39).

    2) Why is the PDF preset “Press Quality” not recommendable to use? Several printing firms I work with recommends using it. If you don’t want flattening but want RGB to CMYK conversion it seems like a good option?

    Thanks for the great videos btw…

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