: What do (CMYK/8*), (CMYK/8)* and (CMYK/8#) mean in Illustrator and Photoshop? In Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, what are the differences between (CMYK/8*), (CMYK/8)* and (CMYK/8#)? If anyone can

@Berryessa866

An asterisk outside of the color information simply means that the file has unsaved changes. Save the file and the asterisk goes away.

The symbols inside the color information only apply to Photoshop as far as I’m aware...


An asterisk (*) means the color profile associated with the file is not the same as your current working color profile. E.g. your working profile is set to sRGB and you open an image with, or assign to an image, an Adobe RGB profile.
A number sign (#) or pound sign or whatever you want to call it (please don’t call it a “hashtag”), means the file has no color profile associated with it (i.e. the image is not color managed).


You can test this in Photoshop by going to Edit → Assign Profile... and switching between the options; the symbols will change on the fly with the dialog still open.

I can’t actually find this documented anywhere officially – which is absurd. You can read about it here: www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/photoshop-pound-sign-asterik-title-bar.html
There are a number of posts about it on the Adobe forums. Noel’s comment from this thread seems apt... forums.adobe.com/thread/1065367

It was designed in the days when computers were supposed to be geeky and cryptic, and Adobe is pretty much allergic to going back and changing old things.

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