Webby77 wrote in the forums:
Is there a way to display several different swatch sets. For example, if I have a publication that is published twelve times a year and each month’s a different set of colours, can I list these in the Swatches Panel as say January, February, March, etc.?
As Theun replied on the forum: There is no way to group color swatches into folders, like you can with styles (or — with a plug-in — with layers), though that has been suggested many times over the years. However, you can fake groups with a little artifice.
[[Editor’s update: InDesign CC now has a color folder/group feature.]]
Make all the swatches for one month, then select them all in the Swatches panel and choose Duplicate Swatches from the panel menu. You’ll now need to rename each swatch and perhaps (optionally) change its color definition. Then, to give yourself a visual clue as to where the break is, create a new color swatch (any color will do) and give it a name like 15 equal symbols or dashes or something visually distinctive:
Your new divider swatch shows up at the bottom of the Swatches panel. However, you can reorder swatches by dragging them up and down! The result is a Swatches panel with different “groups” laid out:
Of course, you may want to do all of this with no documents open, so that it becomes your default settings and applies to all future documents. Or, when you’re done, export the colors out of a document as an ASE file by choosing Save Swatches from the panel menu.
There’s one more way to achieve a similar goal: Just use one set of colors and a bunch of different ASE files, then swap them out. The trick to that is a script, which you can read about it this old post by Russell Viers.
This article was last modified on December 20, 2021
This article was first published on June 4, 2010
Commenting is easier and faster when you're logged in!
