Saving and loading color tables

Darcel from CA USA, using Photoshop 7.0 with Mac OS 10.3.2, writes in with:
[Quote:] How do I create a small library of color swatches that I can draw from often, without having to sort through them all?

Darcel, building custom colors is a snap, and all the colors you build, you get to keep!
If you're planning on creating a "small" library you should decide if the library should be a separate Swatches palette, or simply added to your Default palette.
Here's how...

One thing few people do is create custom color palettes. However it's a cool function of Photoshop and can help you with specific clients or projects where you must use specific colors in a limited palette. Many fine artists have created special colors for use again and again.

Most importantly, with Photoshop you can generate and save a custom color table (CLUT, or
"Color Lookup Table") and then load and save that color table into a new color palette -- but that's another tutorial.

Note: If you do create custom palettes, be careful. When you load a new color table into an image you'll remap that image's colors to that table. Be careful.

Now, about your custom palette
Choose Window > Swatches, or click the Swatches palette tab.

Add Colors to the Swatches palette:

1. Make the color you want to add, and make sure it's selected as the foreground color.
2. Hover your pointer over an empty space at the bottom of the Swatches palette (Observe: the pointer turns into the paint bucket tool.) When you click the color will be added.
3. Enter a name for the new color and click OK.

Caveat: Any new colors you create are saved to the Preferences file. If you lose or overwrite this file the colors will go away. To permanently save a color, save it as a new Swatch Library.

To delete a color from the Swatches palette drag it to the Trash button. So you can get rid of colors you don't want.

Save your swatches as a library:

1. Choose Save Swatches from the Swatches palette menu.
2. Choose a location for the swatch library, (We recommend saving into the default swatches directory.)
3. Enter a filename
4. Click Save.

* Default directory for Windows:
Program Files > Adobe > Photoshop > Presets > Color Swatches
* Default directory for Macintosh:
Applications > Adobe Photoshop > Presets > Color Swatches (You may also have a "Photoshop Only" folder which contains the "Color Swatches" folder.)

Any time you want to load your custom Swatches library,

1. Choose Load Swatches form the Swatches Palette Menu
2. Locate the custom library and highlight it (Select it)
3. Click Load.

That's all there is to it. Have fun and let us know how it turns out.

Comments

[cristian]

i recall there was a setting, a check box even, when creating certain colour types (which is what i forget) that allows the user to use a blue lets say, but when needed can change the source swatch and the entire file would update wherever that swatch was used. any idea what that setting is called or located?

it is of the upmost usefulness.

thanks.