Color Sync Profiles

[Wolfgang Gerstenhauer]

I've bought the Affinity Publisher 1.8.6 and I'm running it on a Mac Book Pro 2014 and macOS Big Sur. I was trying to install two new Color Sync Profiles from printing houses in Germany. The way to install them on a mac is simple. You just have to copy the downloaded .icc-files into the ColorSync folder where Affinity installed the supplied .icc-files of the software. But – and this is in my opinion the mistake – they have been installed by Affinity into the folder System --> Library --> ColorSync --> Profiles. Even as an administrator you can not copy files to this folder on a Mac. Apple does not allow it. I've tried everything, believe me. I really need a solution for this problem. As a user who will f. e. design, produce and print books oder flyers you'll always install and use different new .icc-files. This is a basic need.

[Old Bruce]

Hi and welcome to the forums @Wolfgang Gerstenhauer

I am guessing this is an OS 11 (Big Sur) feature as I have no problems with it on OS10.14.6. What sort of warning or notification do you see when you try and drag the .icc file into the Profiles folder?

[thomaso]

7 hours ago, Wolfgang Gerstenhauer said:

You just have to copy the downloaded .icc-files into the ColorSync folder where Affinity installed the supplied .icc-files of the software. But (...) they have been installed by Affinity into the folder System --> Library --> ColorSync --> Profiles.

It sounds a bit ambiguous:
1. Did you either manually place your printer service .icc files into your desired folder?
2. Or did you install them via Affinity (APhoto > File > Import ICC profile...)?
3. Or did Affinity move them after 1. from your initially used folder?

To me all user added profiles are in Library > ColorSync > Profiles. They include placed manually by user + placed by some app installations.
Only a 1 profile is in the user folder (~ Library > ...), it's a custom profile generated via hardware calibration of an external monitor.
While System > Library > (...) contains profiles only which seem to be – according to their common creation date & time – placed by a different app (Topaz).

So, what problem do you get in detail? Aren't your profiles accessible from Affinity? – Or are you concerned rather as precaution by an app using  System > Library ?

By the way, there is a known & logged issue with Big Sur and color profiles...:

 

[Wolfgang Gerstenhauer]

On 1/4/2021 at 3:50 PM, Old Bruce said:

Hi and welcome to the forums @Wolfgang Gerstenhauer

I am guessing this is an OS 11 (Big Sur) feature as I have no problems with it on OS10.14.6. What sort of warning or notification do you see when you try and drag the .icc file into the Profiles folder?

There are two more ColorSync folders on my Mac (User --> User Name --> Library --> ColorSync --> Profiles and Library --> ColorSync --> Profiles). I've also copied the .icc-files into these folders. But they are NOT accessible from Affinity Publisher. Maybe you are right, that Big Sur and the Publisher do not yet fit together perfectly.

[Wolfgang Gerstenhauer]

On 1/4/2021 at 6:36 PM, thomaso said:

It sounds a bit ambiguous:
1. Did you either manually place your printer service .icc files into your desired folder?
2. Or did you install them via Affinity (APhoto > File > Import ICC profile...)?
3. Or did Affinity move them after 1. from your initially used folder?

To me all user added profiles are in Library > ColorSync > Profiles. They include placed manually by user + placed by some app installations.
Only a 1 profile is in the user folder (~ Library > ...), it's a custom profile generated via hardware calibration of an external monitor.
While System > Library > (...) contains profiles only which seem to be – according to their common creation date & time – placed by a different app (Topaz).

So, what problem do you get in detail? Aren't your profiles accessible from Affinity? – Or are you concerned rather as precaution by an app using  System > Library ?

By the way, there is a known & logged issue with Big Sur and color profiles...:

 

Yes, this is exactly my problem. And there's no solution. The Color Profiles are copied by the Publisher into a folder, where you can not add files even as admin.

[lepr]

On 1/4/2021 at 9:28 AM, Wolfgang Gerstenhauer said:

I've bought the Affinity Publisher 1.8.6 and I'm running it on a Mac Book Pro 2014 and macOS Big Sur. I was trying to install two new Color Sync Profiles from printing houses in Germany. The way to install them on a mac is simple. You just have to copy the downloaded .icc-files into the ColorSync folder where Affinity installed the supplied .icc-files of the software. But – and this is in my opinion the mistake – they have been installed by Affinity into the folder System --> Library --> ColorSync --> Profiles. Even as an administrator you can not copy files to this folder on a Mac. Apple does not allow it. I've tried everything, believe me. I really need a solution for this problem. As a user who will f. e. design, produce and print books oder flyers you'll always install and use different new .icc-files. This is a basic need.

Affinity apps do not put files in /System/Library/ColorSync/Profiles. The macOS installer puts files in there.

The profiles which come with an Affinity app remain inside the app package.

Profiles which you import to an Affinity app get put in one of the following directories, and you should be able to manually place files in there (note that ~ is shorthand for the current user's home directory):

Mac App Store apps on macOS Big Sur
~/Library/Containers/Affinity Designer/Data/Library/Application Support/profiles
~/Library/Containers/Affinity Photo/Data/Data/Library/Application Support/profiles
~/Library/Containers/Affinity Publisher/Data/Library/Application Support/profiles

Mac App Store apps on macOS older than Big Sur
~/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner/Data/Library/Application Support/profiles
~/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto/Data/Library/Application Support/profiles
~/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinitypublisher/Data/Library/Application Support/profiles

Serif Store apps on all macOS
~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Designer/profiles
~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Photo/profiles
~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Publisher/profiles

 

[thomaso]

6 hours ago, Wolfgang Gerstenhauer said:

I've also copied the .icc-files into these folders. But they are NOT accessible from Affinity Publisher. Maybe you are right, that Big Sur and the Publisher do not yet fit together perfectly.

Note that .icc profiles listed in Affinity get limited by your currently chosen color space. So, an RGB profile is listed only if you have chosen an RGB workflow, e.g. for export or as softproof adjustment. Same with CMYK profiles. – What color spaces are this "two new Color Sync Profiles from printing houses in Germany" meant to be used for? Do they appear if you switch the color space for export or softproof in Affinity?

5 hours ago, Wolfgang Gerstenhauer said:

Yes, this is exactly my problem. And there's no solution. The Color Profiles are copied by the Publisher into a folder,

1. Which of the various mentioned/quoted cases of my post is "exactly" your problem?
2. In which situation, caused by which user action, became your profile "copied by the Publisher" ?

Thanks to @anon2's hint I notice that some .icc profiles I had added via APhoto (menu File > Import ICC profile...) got placed by Affinity in their according Users > Library > Application Support folder > ... . These profiles are available in APhoto and in APub, too, although APub's according profiles folder is empty in my case.

Additionally I have manually placed .icc profiles in Library > ColorSync, and a few of them exist in both folders.
I choosed to not place those via Affinity to have them available in non-Affinity apps, too.
I choosed Library (not Users > Library) to have them available to all users on this mac.

All these profiles appear in APub, e.g. in the export and softproof menus, but limited according to my currently selected color space (RGB/CMYK).

p.s.: Though you don't get an error message yet (but rather don't see expected profiles in Affinity): There seems to be an Apple mailing list for ColorSync issues. I found it mentioned in the first reply of this Adobe forums thread "icc Profiles error on Macbook Pro running Big Sur".