Pantone Library Updating

Question

Since Pantone has started changing color values and adding new swatch books to expand their products (and add additional revenue streams), I’m finding that it’s rather difficult to update our libraries in Adobe Creative Suite applications.
This all started with the dramatic and unexpected color value conversion (RGB to LAB) from earlier versions of CS to CS5 (or CS5.5). Adobe and Pantone kept these changes under wraps and didn’t formally announce anything, not even after the changes caused havoc throughout the community.
Now it seems as though Adobe give you an older base set of Pantone colors and relies on you to invest in Pantone products to get the Pantone Color Manager software to update your libraries. I work within an advertising agency and we use many of the Pantone swatch books. Constant changes by Pantone makes it difficult for us (hundreds of users) to update our libraries. I’m currently working on these updated changes and have some questions regarding the process.
I’ve downloaded Pantone Color Manager, registered and “activated” the software. I see how to select various Pantone libraries by the “Fan Deck” option and how to “save as” that particular library. I am however, presented with many options when exporting each library and I’m not sure which to pick.
If I look into each of the Adobe Application folders and drill down to the swatch library location, each Adobe application has a different file type or additional libraries that resides in its folder. Illustrator uses ACB (Adobe Color Book) files while Photoshop has both ACB and ACO (Adobe Color). And to complicate matters more, Pantone Color Manager has selectable options for different color spaces when exporting each library. Do I select the “Lab (D50/2)”, “Lab (D65/2)” or “sRGB (D65/2)”?
The agency does digital, print and video work, so to define a particular color (D) value based on one might seem wrong since we handle 3 different mediums in which those values should be different. But then at the same time, do I download all available options and have the user select which libraries they should be using? I honestly don’t believe all our users know the differences in color temperature variances, it would only confuse them.
This is a discussion for another time, but why can’t Adobe and Pantone work more closely together to update these libraries (and include all the optional libraries) with periodic Adobe updates. It seems like there are a lot of hoops I have to go through to get updated libraries. I actually know the answer to this as a Pantone representative responded to me on this topic, but I’ll keep this posting nice.
So, back to questions I have:
How do I export these libraries for maximum compatibility between all mediums (print, digital, video)? ACO, ACB, ASE, CXF, CLR, ICC, LAB, sRGB, CMYK (Color Bridge), D50, D65?
Do I replace the libraries that already exist in the adobe application swatch folder? Or, Do I piece only newer ones?
Do I create a “Legacy” folder and keep the old libraries due to Pantone retiring colors that are still in use or used in legacy work?
How do I export the various libraries that Pantone has retired and will not allow me to export out of it’s software? They should create an “Archive” of retired libraries but still allow users to download them. To assume all print shops no longer have those inks and that professionals don’t have files/work that use them is wrong.
We are using CS6 currently, so any updates I do now I would probably have to be repeated for CC?
So many issues and questions. Sorry for the lengthy posting and thank you if you stuck in there to read all this.

Answer 1

While not all my questions were addressed, Pantone did responded to my initial web inquiry. I still have questions regarding Light settings (D50/D65), mass deployment, installation location (file path distribution vs user file loading), retention of older/previous libraries and CS6 vs CC library updating.
For those of you reading this that are not familiar with the "Pantone Color Manager" software that is referenced below, it is a Pantone application that contains all their current color swatches/books. This software is free for those who buy their printed books (via serial number in book). Others must pay $49 to download their software and update Adobe Pantone libraries. In my opinion, this software should be free since Adobe software users already use the Pantone swatches that are installed by default. This is probably why these updates are NOT being pushed via Adobe software updates; not because Pantone and Adobe's deployment schedules conflict (as Pantone mentioned to me). Note that once Pantone discontinues a book or color, it is no longer exportable via this software. You may want to keep a backup of all your default swatches prior to any updating if you may be using older inks/swatches/values.
This is Pantone's response:
How can I share PANTONE Color Manager libraries with others?
While PANTONE Color Manager is single-user, the PANTONE libraries may be shared with other users without license restriction. To do this, do the following:
Launch PANTONE Color Manager software
Open the desired library you wish to share
Go to File/Save As to open the Save As dialog
Choose ‘Desktop’ as your location
Choose the appropriate ‘file type’ for your application:
.ase – Adobe Swatch Exchange – for Illustrator and InDesign
.aco – Adobe Color Order – for Photoshop swatch list
.acb – Adobe Color Book – for use with Adobe Color Picker within Photoshop
Click ‘save’ or ‘export’ depending on your version of PANTONE Color Manager
The file is saved to your desktop. From here, you can e-mail it to individual users or post it to a shared network folder for all to access.
To import the colors, do the following:
Adobe Illustrator
1. Go to Window/Swatch Libraries/Other Library
2. Navigate to the desired .ase file and open it.
Adobe InDesign
1. Go to Swatches/New Color Swatch
2. Go to Color Mode/Other Library
3. Navigate to the desired .ase library and open it.
Adobe Photoshop – Swatches Palette
1. Go to Window/Swatches
2. Click the arrow on the Swatches palette and select Load Swatches
3. Navigate to the desired .aco file and open it.