Illustrator :: Why Swatches Not Used Merge Into Document
Aug 2, 2012
Do color swatches 'stick' to an Illustrator file even after you delete them? I have to use the same spec box on all my documents to relay info to my printer which is in it's own Illustrator doc. BUT when I copy it and paste it into any file I am working on Illustrator always asks me about merging the swatches even tho there is only ONE color being used in my spec box file. My printer is losing patience b/c they think my files are a mess when I send them but my swatch pallet is clean and tidy on my end!
I had recorded an action to merge selected colors in Illustrator CS5 but after switching to CS6 and loading the action it did not work. I also tried recording it a new but that did not work either. I can merge the colors if I manually select the Merge Swatches option from the flyout panel nested in the Swatches panel.
My coworkers and myself have recently updated to Illustrator CS6, but one glaring issue we are currently dealing with is the loss of this feature. Manually invoking the 'merge swatches' command from the swatch panel options does still work, but when trying to assign this function into an action, the action simply does not work. This was possible in CS4 (not sure about CS5), so I am left to conclude that this may be a bug in the software?
I have also tried to utilize the javascript and applescript API, but short of re-writing the entire function from scratch, this functionality does not seem to be implemented natively through either.. One thought I did have was to replace one swatch's color information with another selected swatch's information, but this seemed only to update the swatch it'self and not the artboard as well.
I created a document in AICS6. I duplicated the document in AICS6 resulting in two identical documents, "A" and "B." I created six color swatches in document "A" and named them. I saved this file and drew six little squares and filled them with each of the six swatches. I saved the file. I copied the little squares from document "A" and pasted them into document "B," its clone. The names of the swatches did not transfer to document "B" nor did they appear in the swatch palette under any name.
They are nothing more than CMYK combinations in document "B." This is absurd, but not unexpected from such an horrible piece of software as AI. Is there some preference I need to invoke?
Downloaded an image from iStockPhoto. Opened up in Illustrator and removed the black background because I want to set my own values for the black background in InDesign.
Noticed that there are several "bubbles" of black background behind the main image that contain radial gradients.
These "bubbles" fade from a dark blue in the center out to black on the edge. Again, I want to be able to set this "black" to the value of black that I want to use for the background of the card. When I click on one of the bubbles, I see in my Gradient palette that it's a radial gradient and the value on the left of the slider is 100, 75, 0, 50 which I can see in the Color palette. But I can't change anything there. On the right of the slider in the Gradient palette is the "black" which is 80, 50, 0, 100.
So, how do I modify the value of that black? If I choose "new swatch" in the swatches palette, it just creates a new swatch called "New Gradient Swatch 1" It shows Process Color for the color type below which is greyed out as well as everything below that. how do I go about changing the black on that gradient?
I work as a production artist and go through tons of art sent in from clients each day. Is there any way to stop swatches from copying from one document to the other? They build up and cause the program to lag or crash.
Is it possible to find out how bright is an color? I need to find the darkest color in document's swatches. My solution would be to convert (script internally, without actually making any changes in document) swatches to grayscale, compare them and pick the darkest. But how to convert swatch defined in undefined mode (they might be in lab or cmyk) to grayscale?
I found in 'js scriping reference' a method "convertSampleColor", but I have no idea how to use it. Any examples?
I am proficient in Illustrator, but this has been one of a few enigmas. Every once and a while in a file, I have noticed that after deleting a color that is definitely not in use(ie there are no strokes, fills, stray paths etc) using these colors. I have made sure of it. I will delete the color from the swatches and as a final pass I like to add used colors and sure enough that color will come back. I tried making sure it's not checked global, didn't work, some I don't even think are global colors, and in fact they are generally CMYK. I often notice that Black and C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:100 don't like to delete from the swatches among some other colors when you delete unused swatches. I thought perhaps they were in guides or something but it's truly unexplainable, and generally with a fresh file if all colors are deleted it'll still leave black white and gray.
Or ways to troubleshoot better other than creating a debug file and deleting lines of code as recommended in the older forums?
Im in the process of converting a logo to spot colors. When I open the swatches panel and choose any one of the pantone books, the panel opens to what you see below. This same thing happens with all color books except for the basic illustrator books.
I need to make a bunch of barcode tags for a client. I know CorelDraw isn't the best tool for this, but it's what I have and this is a one-time job.
To partially automate the process, I'm trying to use print merge to make the parts of the tags that aren't barcode, but I include the text that belongs in the barcode on the page. The print merge works correctly, I get what I expect. The next step would be to cut the barcode text, choose Insert Barcode, and then paste the barcode text into the barcode dialog.
Except, when trying to paste the text intended for the barcode I discovered that I was actually copying the <var1> field--not the text. I verified this by copying the "text" from the print merge document and then pasting back into the same document--what I got from the paste was not the expected text, but <var1>.
Since the barcode type I was using does not support the "<" character, it gave me an "invalid character" error.
My attempted solution was to publish to a PDF file and then import into a new document. This worked except for some reason CorelDraw makes a new layer named, inexplicably, "Layer 1" (there's a "Layer 1" by default, why make a second layer with the same name?) BUT when the import is done the new layer is NOT chosen in Object Manager, the original "Layer 1" is. Which means, when I go to copy the text and insert the barcode it ends up UNDER the other parts of the barcode tag which are on the NEW "Layer 1".
I have a document, where I need to have 4 different print merge fields from 4 different data sources (.txt).I can only make it work with 1 print merge field.
1) I am going to consistently need to merge into a document that I will also set up with mulitple records with the same margins, spacing, etc. Is there a way to 'save' templates so I don't have to start over each time I create a multiple record layout??
2) If I want to merge in a single document, but have the same column 'name' laid out various time, do I keep inserting 'name' from the data source? How will it know to proceed to the next one on the list and not repeat the same one over and over?
I can only load some of the swatches for the color books into the swatches pallet. Most importantly I cannot load the pantone swatches. I just get a blank pallet.
I am trying to clear up my ASE library. I am having problems locating it on Finder on Mac despite trying to find it on the same path that AI shows when saving a new ASE.
"This library cannot be used because it does not have enough solid color swatches. Gradients and patterns cannot be used." What does this error message mean when I am trying to use gradient swatches and how to do I stop it?
I have a set of process color swatches which I defined as LAB colors. I use them mostly in InDesign. This morning I opened them as a swatch library in Illustrator for the first time. The CMYK numbers are significantly different from what they are in InDesign. Both documents have the same color management policies/rendering intent. I know that there is no "LAB mode" in Illustrator but I'm surprised that it translates the LAB>CMYK in a different fashion than does InDesign. I guess the solution would be to remake my swatches defining them as CMYK colors. However, that somewhat defeats my original plan: define the swatches in LAB so they will get translated as accurately as possible in different programs.I'm using CS4 on a Mac.
Okay so I've just realised that my documents are CMYK and have changed the settings to RGB (File > Document color mode > RGB and from the colour fly out menu) although I notice that when I hover my mouse over the colors in the swatches panel that it shows me the CMYK values.
I work with Adobe Design Std CS5 Illustrator (German version), newly installed - not migrated from an older model! - on iMac27, i7, SSD and OS X 10.8:
I have created my own "Swatches" (Farbfelder) and saved (too) many of them.
Now I want to delete the majority, but I cannot find the directory "Benutzerdefiniert" or "User created?" on the path as hinted by the Illustrator Help (German version: Adobe Illustrator/Vorgaben/de_DE/Farbfelder). I only find the various Color Collections stored during Illustrator installation.
Are Illustrator procedures to blame - or again Apple OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) intricacies?
Apple started to confuse even long term users with Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). Every new version offered many surprises or caveats and endless calls to Apple...
Shall I reinstall Illustrator and create the user defined "Swatches" again from the relevant Illustrator files? A sledge hammer method...
Problem in AICS6 trying to find a certain Pantone color. Why Adobe, Pantone or both have never learned to count? Here is a sample of the Pantone list in the "Swatches" palette: PANTONE 133, PANTONE 1205, PANTONE 1215, etc. and it gets worse. Is there a way to tell them to go into numerical order? Why aren't they already in numerical order? That is the whole point of giving anything a number: order.
In the totally unrelated and incompatible application InDesign you at least have the option of typing in the number you want. In AI you have to scroll through the random swatches until you stumble on it. Now, they are in order. There are rules to this sort of thing just that there are rules for grammer and spelling. If Adobe claims they are in order that is the same as saying they have invented their own language and grammer. Worse, they have invented their own number system. Is there any way to make them go in numerical order using
I just moved from CS4 to CS6 illustator. I'm trying to remove the unused swatches in my swatch pallet but do not see this as an option when I click on the menu in the upper right corner of the window.
I think I am having trouble with how a certain system font displays in Illustrator. I am not sure which font it is. Why I am getting a swatch list that looks like this:
All these "mystery" swatches are associated with a piece of artwork that was obtained from a stock image website.
how can you make swatches with different opacity? For example, I want to have 6 swatches of one blue, but the difference between each swatch is the opacity (i.e. 10%, 20%....)
If the "Output to Swatches" feature is still available in Illustrator CS6 (image trace options)? The online help states that it should be but it's not there anymore.. URL....
I have multiple documents that need to share the same swatches. I can't find a nice workflow for keeping them all in sync. At the moment I have a separate document that I use as a swatch library. Every time I change or add a swatch I have to resave the document as a swatch library, then re-import the library into every document that uses it, then reassign each swatch as changes are not picked up. This is really time consuming.
I am looking for a way to have a single swatch library that is shared between multiple documents, all of which dynamically update when I make changes to the library in the same way that an AI file can be shared amongst multiple documents and will reflect any changes made. At the very least I want to be able to reimport a swatch library and have any object using one of the library swatches update. I have tried placing the library document in the files, but it seems swatches are not carried over.
This is driving me crazy. It seems like once you share a swatch library there is no support whatsoever for edits to that swatch library being picked up by documents that use it even if you re-open the edited swatch library.
