Windows 7 Save Printer Profile
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Windows 7 Printer Profiles Color Management

There are two main types of print profiles in Windows 7. One of them is the ICC profile (International Color Consortium profile) for a specific printer. This color management profile ensures that the colors that print out from the printer match the colors displayed on a color calibrated monitor.

Most color management profiles are supplied by either the printer manufacturer or the paper manufacturer. However, custom printer profiles can be specially made to give the most exacting color management possible. To save a printer profile in Windows 7, you must add it to the color management settings for the device. The easiest way to do this is to open Devices and Printers by clicking the Windows start logo. If Devices and Printers has been removed from your Start Menu, it can be accessed via the Windows 7 Control Panel instead.

Find the printer you want to save a color profile for and right-click on its icon. From the pop-up menu that appears select Printer Properties. One of the tabs will say Color Management. Selecting the tab displays a color management button. Click the button and you will be taken to the color management screen.

Select the printer from the Device drop down menu that you want to add a color profile to in Windows 7. A list of profiles already saved for that printer will be displayed. To add a new profile, click the Add button and browse to the location of your printer profile. Select the profile and choose OK. The new color profile will be saved to the printer and may be selected for other devices as well.

The other type of printing profile stores a user printer settings preferences. This functionality is not part of Windows 7 by default. However, many printer companies provide a way to save and store printer profiles for future usage.

printer-profilesTo access the printer profiles available from supported drivers, enter the Devices and Printers screen from the Start Menu or via the Windows 7 Control Panel. Find the desired printer and right-click the icon. Select Printing Preferences.

The screen that appears is the printer driver settings available from that specific printer. The driver may have a tab which says Profiles or you may need to click the button that says Advanced.Once you have located the profiles settings, configuring them is relatively simple.

For most drivers, the easiest way to set a printer profile is to go through and configure all of the settings to how you want them to be. Once everything is setup, enter the Profiles section and choose to save the current configuration as a new profile. Name the profile something useful such as, “Color Photos,” or “Work Graphics,” so that you know which settings are which.

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