Using pop-up palettes

Pop-up palettes provide easy access to available options for brushes, swatches, gradients, styles, patterns, contours, and shapes. You can customize pop-up palettes by renaming and deleting items and by loading, saving, and replacing libraries. You can also change the display of a pop-up palette to view items by their names, as thumbnail icons, or with both names and icons.


Viewing the Brush pop-up palette in the options bar A. Click to open the pop-up palette. B. Click to view the pop-up palette menu.

To select an item in a pop-up palette:

1. Click the thumbnail image in the options bar.
2. Click an item in the pop-up palette.

To rename an item in a pop-up palette:

Select an item, click the triangle in the upper right corner of the pop-up palette, and choose the Rename command from the palette menu. Enter a new name.

To delete an item in a pop-up palette:

Do one of the following:

• Select an item, click the triangle in the upper right corner of the pop-up palette, and choose the Delete command from the palette menu.
• Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and click an item.

To customize the list of items in a pop-up palette:

1. Click the triangle in the upper right corner of the pop-up palette to view the palette menu.
2. To return to the default library, choose the Reset command. You can either replace the current list or append the default library to the current list.
3. To load a different library, do one of the following:
• Choose the Load command to add a library to the current list. Then select the library file you want to use, and click Load.
• Choose the Replace command to replace the current list with a different library. Then select the library file you want to use, and click Load.
• Choose a library file (displayed at the bottom of the palette menu). Then click OK to replace the current list, or click Append to append the current list.
4. To save the current list as a library for later use, choose the Save command. Then enter a name for the library file, and click Save.

(Mac OS) You can specify that a file extension is always appended to a library file by setting Append File Extension to Always in the File Handling Preferences. You should put the extension on a library filename so that you can easily share the libraries across operating systems.

To change the display of items in a pop-up palette:

1. Click the triangle in the upper right corner of the pop-up palette to view the palette menu.
2. Select a view option: Text Only, Small Thumbnail, Large Thumbnail, Small List, or Large List.