What is swatches palette

You have a choice here of clicking "OK", which tells Photoshop to remove your current swatches and replace them with the defaults, or you can also click "Append", in which case you'll keep your existing swatches and Photoshop will simply add the default swatches to them.

I'm going to click OK to replace my "Autumn Leaves" swatches with the defaults:. The next time you want to use your custom color swatch set, all you need to do is click once again on the right-pointing arrow at the top of the Swatches palette to access the palette menu. If you look down at the bottom of the menu, you'll see a list of additional color swatch sets that are available. Most of these are additional sets that installed with Photoshop, but since Photoshop saves our custom swatch sets in the same directory as the other sets it comes with, you'll find your custom sets listed here as well.

All you need to do is click on the name of your custom set to select it. Photoshop lists the names of the sets in alphabetical order, so my "Autumn Leaves" set is listed second from the top:. Again, Photoshop will ask you if you want to replace your existing swatches with the new ones or if you simply want to append them to the list.

I'm going to click OK to replace the default swatches with my Autumn Leaves swatches:. And just like that, my custom "Autumn Leaves" swatches are loaded into my Swatches palette for me, ready to use:. The great thing about using color swatches is that they're essentially preset colors, meaning colors that we've already chosen or colors that Adobe has already chosen if we're working with swatch sets that installed with Photoshop , which means we don't have to keep choosing them with Photoshop's Color Picker every time we need them.

To select any of the colors in the Swatches palette, simply hover your mouse over the color swatch. You'll see your mouse cursor change into the Eyedropper icon. Then click on the color to select it. Here, I'm choosing the orange color, second from the left:. After clicking on it, I can see by looking at the Foreground color swatch in the Tools palette that the color I just clicked on has indeed been selected:.

Now if I look again in my Tools palette, I can see that the Background color swatch is filled with the dark red color I just clicked on:. I can now use the colors from my "Autumn Leaves" swatch set whenever I want, however I want! Here I've created a simple design for a poem using the colors from my swatch set, along with the "Scattered Maple Leaves" brush that ships with Photoshop:. Your mouse cursor changes to a scissors icon.

The swatches palette is now empty after deleting all the default color swatches. The sampled color appears in the Foreground color swatch in Photoshop's Tools palette.

Give your new color swatch a descriptive name, although you can choose not to name your colors as well. More sampled colors have been added to the Swatches palette as color swatches. Access the Swatches palette menu by clicking on the small right-pointing arrow. Select "Reset Swatches" from the palette menu to revert back to Photoshop's default color swatch set.

Double click the color swatch you wish to rename. Right click the color swatch you wish to rename » select Rename Swatch Deleting the unused swatches from the color palette makes finding your other swatches easier and faster. Click and drag the color swatch to Delete Swatch.

Release the mouse button. The color swatch is removed from the Swatches palette. Right click the color swatch you wish to delete » select Delete Swatch. The pointer appears as the Eyedropper Tool. The pointer appears as a scissors and the color swatch is removed from the Swatches palette. Was this article helpful?

Yes No. This article is based on legacy software. If the Swatches palette is not visible, do the following: From the Window menu, select Swatches. Selecting Swatches To select a color currently displayed on the Swatches palette: Position the mouse over the Swatches palette. Creating New Swatches In addition to using the pre-selected Swatches palette colors, you can customize new color swatches for a specific color or set of colors that you use frequently.

Using Templates. Saving Illustrator Documents. Changing Your Mind. Printing Illustrator Documents. Closing Documents and Quitting Illustrator. Chapter 2: Following the Righteous Path. Whether Paths or Pixels Are Better.

How Paths and Pixels Compare. Paths and Printing. Gray's Anatomy of a Path. Chapter 3: Doing Everyday Things with Illustrator. Entering the Wide World of the Web. Saving the World. Chapter 4: Shaping Up, Basically. Creating Basic Shapes. Putting Shapes Together. Creating Objects by Using the Pathfinder Palette. Legal Graffiti. Understanding Fill and Stroke.

The Color Palette. Filling with Patterns and Textures. Using the Gradient Fill. Chapter 6: Selecting and Editing Paths. Selecting with Different Methods. Selecting Magically with the Magic Wand. Selecting without Tools: The Select Menu. Editing and Adjusting Points. Chapter 7: Wielding the Mighty Pen Tool. Performing with the Pen, the Path, and the Anchor Points. Creating Straight Lines with the Pen Tool. Open and Closed Paths. Drawing Shapes with the Pen Tool.

Using the Pencil Tool as a Pencil. Cherishing the Multipurpose Pencil Tool. Using the Pen with the Pencil. Lines Made Quick and Easy. Curvy with the Arc Tool. Chapter 9: Creating Magnificent Brushstrokes. Creating a New Brush. Working with the Different Brush Types. Chapter Extreme Fills and Strokes. Messing Around with Meshes. Discovering How Strokes Work. Caps, Joins, and Dashes.

Clipping Masks. The Effect Menu. The Appearance Palette. Figuring Out Styles. Chapter Pushing, Pulling, Poking, and Prodding.

Understanding the Five Transformation Sisters. Additional Transformation Tidbits. Blending: The Magic Transformation. Chapter Organizing Efficiently. Stacking Illustrator Artwork.