how to Install and use
You may have noticed that Pantone swatches are missing from your Swatch Books menu. Pantone Matching System (PMS) recently changed its business model to subscription only. That means if you want to access all of the PMS colors that used to be included with Adobe Creative Cloud, you will now have to pay for them.
Click here to read a blog post with more information about Pantone Connect, including the cost.
Install pantone connect
Installing Connect through Creative Cloud is the easiest option.
- Go to https://connect.pantone.com/#/auth/welcome to register and pay for the subscription.
- Remember your username and password; you will need it again in Illustrator.
- Verify that Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop are closed
- Open Adobe Creative Cloud
- Top bar > Stock & Marketplace “1″ > Plugins “2″
- Search bar “3″ > Pantone Connect
- Hit Install “4″
- Open Illustrator (the preferred program for label design)*
- Window > Extensions > Pantone Connect
- Log in using your Pantone Connect login credentials, not your Adobe Creative Cloud login credentials.
- Once you are logged into Pantone Connect in one application, it remembers it for the other applications.
This is the “home” screen
after you are logged in.
Pantone Connect basics
Search for a specific PMS color
In this example, we searched for Pantone 201. The results
show all the swatches that contain 201.
Scroll down to get to the Pantone 201 C swatch color.
Add color to your swatches
Once you have selected Pantone 201 C, an eyedropper* icon appears anytime you hover over the color.
There are 2 choices to use the color and add it to your swatches – use the color in the CMYK conversion or use it as a spot color.
* This does not mean that you have changed tools within Illustrator; it only shows up when hovering on a color in Pantone Connect.
Spot color use
This option will give you the Spot color option.
- Hover over the color until 3 dots appear in the
upper right corner. Choose Add to swatch.- You can also right-click to get the same options.
- You can choose to add the color to a Palette. All palettes are accessible in InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
CMYK color use
This option will ONLY give you the CMYK conversion.
- If you have an object selected, click on the color using the eyedropper in Pantone Connect to color the object.
- This does NOT add the color to the Swatches Palette. You have to manually add it.
