Pantone Libraries update to V5

Pantone Libraries update to V5

Pantone v5 Color Libraries – What’s New in 6.8 and 6.9

Pantone v5 color libraries are now fully available in PrintFactory. Below is a clear overview of what has changed and how the behavior differs between version 6.8 and version 6.9.


1. Color updates

  • PANTONE 548 C has an updated formulation.
    The visual change is extremely small — under 0.1 dE.

  • A few additional minor adjustments exist in the M3 libraries, also < 0.1 dE, and not relevant for typical spot-color reproduction.


2. Updated Pantone library names

Pantone+ libraries now include the measurement condition (M1 / M2 / M3). You’ll see them listed as:

  • PANTONE+ Pastels & Neons Coated (M2)

  • PANTONE+ Pastels & Neons Uncoated (M2)

  • PANTONE+ Solid Coated (M1)

  • PANTONE+ Solid Uncoated (M1)

  • PANTONE+ Extended Gamut Coated (M1)

  • PANTONE+ Metallics Coated (M2)

Older library names (without “M1/M2/M3”) may still appear, but the updated versions above are the current sets.


3. Behaviour in Version 6.8

New Pantone colors (4000 series & 6000 series)

  • These colors are included in 6.8.

  • They are not found automatically.
    The Pantone Color Finder does not detect the new ranges in 6.8.

  • Pantone colors previously imported to the PMM and tuned, are not affected.

How to access them in 6.8

  • You must manually import the updated library (e.g. PANTONE+ Solid Coated (M1)) into your PMM.

  • Once imported manually, the new colors are fully usable.

Older libraries

  • The older Pantone library names (without “M1/M2/M3”) still appear in the Libraries folder for compatibility.


4. Behaviour in Version 6.9

Automatic detection

  • In 6.9, the Pantone Color Finder fully supports the new Pantone v5 colors, including the 4000 and 6000 series.

Library cleanup

  • 6.9 automatically removes the older Pantone library files without “M1/M2/M3.”

  • Only the updated Pantone v5 libraries appear going forward.

Manual import still possible

  • Users can still manually import a specific Pantone to tune

  • Pantone colors previously imported to the PMM and tuned, are not affected.


Summary

Feature / Behaviour6.86.9
New Pantone v5 colors included   ✔️ Yes     ✔️ Yes
Automatic Pantone Color Finder detects new colors   ❌ No    ✔️ Yes
Need to manually import Pantone+ library      ✔️ Yes    Optional
Old Pantone library names still present   ✔️ Yes   ❌ Removed
Library names include (M1/M2/M3)   ✔️ Yes   ✔️ Yes

    • Related Articles

    • Spot Color Handling

      Understanding Spot Color Handling in PrintFactory PrintFactory offers advanced spot color handling to ensure vibrant, accurate results that adapt to specific ink and media combinations. This article explains how PrintFactory manages spot colors, ...
    • Spot Colors

      A key feature in PrintFactory is the precise spot color processing. In digital production, spot colors such as Pantone™, DIC or HKS can rarely be printed directly and nearly always need to be reproduced by the process colors of the respective ...
    • Auto-disable not found spot colors

      What For packaging proofs the technical channels like die-lines, varnish etc must be disabled (not-show, not-print) automatically. Only leaving process and recognised spot colors enabled. Available from V6.7.0 onwards Where to find 1. Editor: ...
    • Combining Spot Tuning charts

      Several spot tuning charts can be combined and printed as 1 job. This is found in Calibrator > Spot Colors > tune This is available from V6.7.0 onwards How to combine the charts Calibrator: 1. Select Spot colors in the mode setting of the pmm 2. ...
    • Importing and Exporting Spot Color libraries

      There are reasons why you may want to export a spot color library from a PMM. If you want to use the same spot colors colors across other pmm or export to be used as a global spot library. To export a spot color library: 1. In Calibrator under the ...