I talked earlier about Color Profile management in my previous post. Now I am going to tell you how to associate Color Profile to a device after creating it. After creating a color profile, you can associate it with multiple devices as well. Windows 11/10 creates a color profile automatically for a device and associates it by default. And you can associate your own created profile with it as well.
Associate Color Profiles in Windows 11/10
Having multiple color profile associations is useful because a color profile represents the color characteristics of a specific device in a particular state. Any change that results in a change to the color behavior of a device might require a separate profile. Also, profiles can be optimized for different kinds of projects. For example, a printer might come with several profiles, each designed for a different kind of paper or ink.
If you have more than one profile for a device installed, you can specify which profile to use for a specific project.
Associate multiple color profiles to one device
Go to Control Panel and open Color Management.
Click the Devices tab.
From the Device list, select the device that you want to associate with one or more color profiles.
Select the Use my settings for this device check box, and then click Add.
In the Associate Color Profile dialog box, do one or both of the following:
- If you want to use a color profile that’s already installed on your computer, click the color profile in the list, and then click OK.
- If you want to use a custom color profile that isn’t installed on your computer, click Browse, locate the custom color profile that you want to use, and then click Add.
To use the newly associated color profile as the default color profile for the selected device, click Set as Default Profile.
Click Close.
Your picture or graphics editing program might also let you choose color profiles. When you make changes to the color settings in those programs, the settings are usually only used in that program.
Disassociate a color profile from a device
Go to Control Panel and open Color Management.
Click the Devices tab.
From the Device list, select the color device you want to disassociate from one or more color profiles.
Select the Use my settings for this device check box, click the color profile that you want to disassociate from the selected device, and then click Remove.
Click Close.
Save and use a device-color profile association
After associating a color profile with a device, you can save and use the new color profile-device association in a few different ways.
Go to Control Panel and open Color Management.
Click the Devices tab.
Do one or more of the following:
- To merge the current system default color settings that the device uses with the current set of profiles that you associated with the device, click Profiles, and then click Combine my settings with system defaults.
- If you decide that you don’t want to use the color profiles that you associated with the device and want to use the system default color settings instead, click Profiles, and then click Reset my settings to the system defaults, or clear the Use my settings for this device check box.
- To save the association between the selected device and the current set of profiles that it uses, click Profiles, and then click Save standard associations. In the File name box, type a name for the device association, and then click Save.
- To load a device association file so that the selected device uses the color settings specified in the association file, click Profiles, and then click Load standard associations. Locate and select the saved association file, and then click Open.
Click Close to exit Color Management settings.
That’s all about it. I hope you find this useful!
Read: How to open and use Color Management in Windows.
How do I apply a color profile in Windows?
To apply a color profile in Windows 11/10, you need to access the Color Management settings through the Control Panel or by searching in the Start menu. Then choose the device (e.g., a monitor) to which you want to apply the color profile, and add the desired color profile to the device by browsing for the profile file. Once the profile is added, you may set it as the default profile for the device. This process ensures that the selected color profile is used by the operating system to manage the colors displayed on the selected device.
Where does Windows keep color profiles?
Windows stores color profiles in the C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color directory. You can navigate to this folder in File Explorer and find all the color profiles that are installed on your system. This directory contains .icc and .icm files, the standard color profile formats. When you add a new color profile through the Color Management tool, it is saved in this directory on your Windows 11/10 PC.
Read Next: How to restore default Display Color settings in Windows.
