Working in a color managed workflow, trying to get a monitor to match your printed material, there needs to be a way to connect these very different devices together. This is a process called Soft Proofing. While it is a very small step, it is critical in making your screen match your print and knowing that the edits you are making in the file will stay intact when sent to the printer.

 Per Adobe:

"Soft proofing color is viewing color on your monitor with a screen preview for the way color is printed to hard copy. Rather than print a test proof and consume paper and ink, soft proofing is a digital process whereby you use your computer monitor screen to preview things like proper color assignments, overprints, separations, transparency, and similar issues that might cause problems on printing devices.:

Whether you print to your own printer or go through a lab, you will need access to the output ICC Profiles. Most labs will work with you in providing these files and you will want to ask your lab for the output ICC profiles specific to the media type you are printing to. Once you receive these files you need to place them at the appropriate location on the operating system you are working with so they are accessible by your third party applications. They will need to be stored here:

For Windows:

C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color

For Mac:

/Users//Library/ColorSync/Profiles

If you are using X-Rite’s custom profiling software your profiles are automatically being stored in the correct location. If you have you a problem seeing the profiles when you try to soft proof you simply need to shut down Photoshop and re-launch but that shouldn’t be necessary.

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