Setting Color Space Default

[Rich54]

In Photoshop CC, if I copy an image and paste it into a new file from the clipboard, the File>New window defaults to a color profile of "Don't Color Manage" (see red arrow, below). I'm trying to find the setting to control this. I would prefer to have the default color profile be sRGB, but I don't see anything in Edit>Preferences that addresses this.

I found some controls in Edit>Color Settings (see second image, below). It's currently set to "Preserve Embedded Profiles". If I change that to "Convert to Working RGB", will that do what I want, or are there unintended consequences that I'm not aware of?

Thanks.
Rich

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi @Rich54
In the New Document window, when you select something other than Don't Color Manage, it should remember that last setting.
Not 100% sure that sticks yet give that a try
John Wheeler

 

[Rich54]

Hi John,
Once I realized this was happening, I've tried to remember each time to set the profile to sRGB while in the New Document window. But it doesn't stick—it keeps reverting back to Don't Color Manage.

Does this also happen with you? If you copy a random image from the internet and paste it into a new PS file, do you get the same default setting of Do Not Manage?

 

[thebestcpu]

HI @Rich54
I probably do not understand all the nuances of the "New Document" panel and its defaults. So before that, let me show you what I have in Color Settings that keeps me out of trouble (well Photoshop trouble ), Here are my settings:




In particular, note all the Color Management policy settings, including the checkboxes. With these settings, as long as the image has an embedded ICC profile, it will keep that as you open files. In the case of pasting files, you get flagged if it has any other ICC profile (or lack of profile) that does not match the working space (which, for mine, is set for sRGB).

So when I copy a screenshot on my Mac, it attaches the display profile along with the image in the clipboard, so when I try and paste it I get this warning and option box:



where it gives me choices on how I want to handle the mismatch. This way, I don't have to understand the nuances of the PS process; it will flag me if something does not match.

If you have an existing file available, the preferred method is to use "Open" instead of the "New" command.

So in your case (which I think I initially misread), it depends on how you got the file into the clipboard (and this may be OS dependent too).
Are you clipping a screenshot? Im my Mac it will assign the display profile (not sure about Windows systems)
If you are right clicking an image and copying on the internet, it may or may not have an assigned profile. Some have embedded profiles and others do not. e.g. some photo sharing sites strip the color profile so those would come in as not being color managed while others will come in either with however the file was saved and sometimes websites default to converting to sRGB for "better" compatibility with all viewing software. So its a mixed bag

The one time that I do use the New Document panel from the clipboard is because I do not know the exact pixel dimensions and the default size comes up with what is in my clipboard. so setting up a new document, it opens up with the background selected.

II will try some things out and see how it works with my version of OS and make another post.
John Wheeler

 

[thebestcpu]

Hii @Rich54

I did a few experiments about the "New Document" panel on my Mac and PS 2025.
All of the "recent items" settings not only store the pixel dimensions but also the color space that you chose or the color space in the clipboard. If you move through the "recent items" in that panel, the color space setting will change to the one used with that preset. Then I believe you can manually change it to a different color space with the settings on the side. So I would not call that setting a default.

When I copy an image from the Mac Finder with various color spaces, they all will reflect that color space in the New Document settings with one exception.
If this image has no embedded ICC profile and you copy it to the clipboard, the "New Document" setting changes to sRGB. I double-checked, and it was not using the working space for RGB in the Color Settings panel. I assume Adobe made the decision to default to sRGB when there was no embedded profile in the clipboard (Go Figure)

That's what I found through experimentation.

So bottom line, that setting is not a default setting that sticks

There may be a workaround if you specify exactly what you want to happen.

John Wheeler