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TwoSteppers
TwoSteppers
Known Participant
April 25, 2019
Question

Adobe Colors Libraries error

  • April 25, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 4558 views

I've created a library containing the color palette for a particular client, so as to readily have available all the colors I might use for them. The first time I set artwork to one of the library colors, I find that swatch in the Libraries window. Thereafter, when selecting that color, the error shows:

"A different color with the same name already exists in this document.

Please rename this color to use it in this document."

So if I want to cycle through and try various colors, I must remember which I've already chosen, and for those, select them from the Swatches window instead, otherwise I receive the error.

It's frustrating to not have a single access point for my color palette. I think it's obvious I don't fully understand how Adobe libraries work, but my searches on this topic have been fruitless. Is there a more elegant solution of which I'm unaware?

Any help deeply appreciated, thanks.

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    2 replies

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 25, 2019

    It looks like a useless warning, if you click OK the color gets applied and nothing changes in the Swatches panel.

    It is not very clear to me when this happens, i can reproduce it with a Pantone color, a spot color, but not every spot color.

    It may be useful to mention it here (and add it to the many problems with colors in CC libraries).

    Adobe Illustrator Feedback

      TwoSteppers
      TwoSteppersAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 26, 2019

      Agreed, it does go ahead and set the color, despite the warning and tedious requirement to click to remove it. Not certain, but problem may have been exacerbated by setting colors in the client palette to "global"?

      Ton Frederiks
      Community Expert
      Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 26, 2019

      I think I got the reason why this warning appears.

      If you create a global color in an RGB document add it to a CC Library and use it in a CMYK document, you will get the warning when you add it for the second time in that document.

      The same when you create a global CMYK color in an RGB document.

      Altough nothing seems changed when you double click the color in the Swatches panel (the definition is still CMYK or RGB) it changes to the document color mode.

      I think the warning could better have mentioned the difference in color mode between the color and the document.

        Monika Gause
        Community Expert
        Monika GauseCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 25, 2019

        When you click the swatch in the library and assign it, the swatch gets added to your document swatches.

        So what you might want to do:

        1. Select all the swatches in the library and add them to your document.

        2. Use the swatches from the document's swtches panel.

        TwoSteppers
        TwoSteppersAuthor
        Known Participant
        April 25, 2019

        Got it, thanks Monika, will do.

        Do you happen to know whether, if I modify the library, swatches will update in files I then re-open, or each document's swatches take precedence? I have made the library swatches global.

        Monika Gause
        Community Expert
        Monika GauseCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 25, 2019

        The library has no connection to the files you use the swatches in. So if you change anything in the library file, the other files won't notice.

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