Using the Swatches palette

You can choose a foreground or background color from the Swatches palette, or you can add or delete colors to create a custom swatch library. Creating libraries of swatches can help you group related or special swatches and manage palette size.

Note: You can also use the Preset Manager to manage libraries. For more information, see Managing libraries with the Preset Manager (Photoshop).

To display the Swatches palette:

Choose Window > Swatches, or click the Swatches palette tab.

To change how swatches are displayed (Photoshop):

Choose a display option from the Swatches palette menu:

• Small Thumbnail to display a thumbnail of each swatch. This is the default view.
• Small List to display the name and thumbnail of each swatch.

To select a foreground or background color:

Do one of the following:

• To choose a foreground color, click a color in the Swatches palette.
• To choose a background color, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) a color in the Swatches palette.

To load a library of swatches:

Choose one of the following from the Swatches palette menu:

• Load Swatches to add a library to the current list. Select the library file you want to use, and click Load.
• Replace Swatches to replace the current list with a different library. Select the library file you want to use, and click Load.
• A library file (displayed at the bottom of the palette menu). Click OK to replace the current list, or click Append to append the current list.

To add a color to the Swatches palette:

Do one of the following:

• Make the color you want to add the foreground color, and click the New Swatch button in the Swatches palette. Alternately, choose New Swatch from the Swatches palette menu.
• (Photoshop) Make the color you want to add the foreground color. Position the pointer over an empty space in the bottom row of the Swatches palette (the pointer turns into the Paint Bucket tool), and click to add the color. Enter a name for the new color and click OK.

Color selected from image (left), and added to Swatches palette (right)
• (ImageReady) Drag the foreground color selection box or the background color selection box from the toolbox to the Swatches palette.
• (ImageReady) Drag a swatch from the Color Table palette to the Swatches palette.

Note: New colors are saved in the Preferences file so that they persist between editing sessions. To permanently save a color, save it in a library.

To duplicate a color in the Swatches palette (ImageReady):

Select the color you want to duplicate, and choose New Swatch from the Swatches palette menu.

To delete a color from the Swatches palette:

Do one of the following:

• Drag a swatch to the Trash button .
• (Photoshop) Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), position the pointer over a swatch (the pointer turns into scissors), and click.
• (ImageReady) Select a swatch, and choose Delete Swatch from the Swatches palette menu.

To save a set of swatches as a library:

1. Choose Save Swatches from the Swatches palette menu.
2. Choose a location for the swatch library, enter a filename, and click Save.

You can save the library anywhere. However, if you place the library file in the Presets/Swatches folder inside the Photoshop program folder, the library name will appear at the bottom of the Swatches palette menu after you restart the application.

To return to the default library of swatches:

Choose Reset Swatches from the Swatches palette menu. You can either replace the current list or append the default library to the current list.