*** From the Archives ***
This article is from October 9, 2006, and is no longer current.
Share Swatches Between CS2 Applications Without Recreating Them
In Creative Suite 2 Adobe introduced the Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ASE) file format. With it, you can create custom swatch colors in InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop, and import them into the rest without having to manually recreate them. Among several ramifications, that means for print output pros fewer instances of the common problem of the same spot color used under multiple names.
Swatch Exchange is a great innovation, but it has limitations. Here’s the low down.
Creating Swatches for Exchange
- Create your custom swatches in any one CS2 application.
- Delete any swatches you don’t want to export–for instance, the copious default swatches in Photoshop or Illustrator.
- Choose Save Swatches for Exchange from the flyout menu of any CS2 application’s Swatches palette. You’ll be presented with the Save As dialog, and you’ll create a .ASE file. Save the file.
Load Exchange Swatches
In the next CS2 application, select Load Swatches from the Swatches palette flyout menu. Set the Files of Type dropdown to “Swatch Exchange (*.ASE),” and navigate to the location of the file you just created. Click Load. Finis.
Limitations
Swatch Exchange was built to easily copy most, not all color swatches from one application to another. What doesn’t it do? Patterns and gradients are most obviously missing. So are HSB, XYZ, duotone, monitorRGB, opacity, total ink, and webRGB swatches (from Photoshop). Colors referenced from within InDesign book files, as well as the Registration color from InDesign and Illustrator, are also omitted. All of these swatches will be simply ignored upon export to Swatch Exchange format.
It would be nice to have support for gradients, HSB, duotone, book files, and a few others, but the Swatch Exchange format is still a very cool and useful, albeit quiet, feature. I’m certain that, by reducing just my reliance on sticky notes, the Swatch Exchange format has saved several trees. Here’s to you saving a few as well.
 |
This is a fantastic new feature that I’ve taught many people. But on other fast way to import color swatches from Illustrator to InDesign is:
1. Copy an object in Illustrator.
2. Paste it into InDesign.
3. You can then delete the Illustrator Object that you pasted into InDesign and the swatch remains!
That’s what I call Suite (oh, I mean sweet).
To piggy-back on Daniel’s comment: This works with gradients too!
Daniel, thank you very much for the tip, you are the best!
kind, regards, Hanneke
Question, I am searching for the ID version of the QUARK command append colors. Is this export, import function the only way & does it replace existing swatches. Ill keep searching
Deny, there’s no stand-alone Append command in ID as there is in QXP. But a lot of the palette menus — including the Swatches palette menu — have a “Load” command that lets you import things from another ID file, just like an Append. So choosing Load Swatches from the palette menu (and double-clicking on another ID doc in the resulting dialog box) will add/import that doc’s swatches to your existing doc’s Swatches palette.
Other palettes’ Load commands, like the Paragraph and Character Styles ones, put up an intermediary dialog box that looks very Append-like, allowing you to pick and choose which styles from another doc you want to import.
But one of my favorite ways to import colors from another ID doc is to choose New Color Swatch from the Swatches palette, and from the dropdown Color Mode menu, choose Other Library from the end of the list. Double-click another ID doc and its colors open like a Pantone library, allowing you to add just the ones you want.
AM, thanks for the response, I thought that might be the case. I have several documents that need to have up to 10 colors deleted & replaced with one color, was hoping not to have to delete them manually & replace with the one color, but maybe thats a function they can add someday. (PS I am an ID convert!) ANd thanks for your very helpful site.
AM -great function use it all day…
Deny,
try to delete the unwanted color ,and use the replace color with… dialog to select the new (replacement) color.I should mention this only works if you have already created the replacement color.
Most people don’t even know where Adobe Swatch Exchange is, but I do love this feature ;)
What about CS5?
I designed an element for a design and also custom swatches which I want to use in my design.
How can I get those swatches from Illustrator to Indesgn when I have only used 3 of the swatches from my swatches. I need to get them all into Indesign.
Is it possible?