Question How to import without messing up the colours

[WerbeAlex]

Basically what the title says, sometimes almost always you get a pdf to print, but need to finetune stuff, add OPOS marks etc. So you import it into Corel, do what has to be done, export for printing and what you print looks awful, because the colours are completely off. I believe it is when I import RGB files (default setting in corel is CMYK), but not 100% sure.
What would be the correct order of operation (preset and export RGB? Change to CMYK?) to preserve the intended look? Or can anyone think of another possible problem?

 

[unclebun]

Go to Tools/Color Management/Defaults tab

Look at your color management profile and make sure it's not set up whacky. Then look at what it does with opening and importing/exporting files and whether it's converting the color profiles or keeping embedded color profiles.

 

[Ronny Axelsson]

First of all, make sure you have your color management settings in Draw in order, and that they work correctly with your RIP and printer(s).

When you open/import a PDF in Draw and the PDF has embedded color profiles, you can either choose to use them, ignore them (and use your defaults), or convert the colors to match your default color profiles.
I normally choose to ignore them, sometimes open twice (one ignore, one use/convert) to see how much it differs.
What you choose will affect what comes in but I can not say what is right for you.

RGB should import as RGB no matter what color mode your document is, since Draw can handle multiple models in the same document.
If the import part works as intended, the colors should be correct so far.

When it is time to Publish/Export to PDF again, it is absolutely crucial that you choose a preset that keeps as much of the original information as possible.
I suggest the "Editing" preset, it will export colors in their native color models, without converting from RGB or Pantone to CMYK for example.
It will also embed the color profiles but then it depends on your RIP settings whether they are used or ignored when printing.

The best thing to do, at least theoretically, should be to open/import the PDF and use the embedded profiles, do what needs to be done but without changing any colors, and then Publish to PDF again with the Editing preset with embedded profiles.
This should keep as much of the original information as possible.

Worth noting though, that importing/exporting files is always a bit risky, the filters are not perfect.