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DS WildOutWest
DS WildOutWest
Known Participant
November 15, 2023
Answered

Swatch Libraries -limit to five ?

  • November 15, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 915 views

I wonder if anyone else would prefer the limit on swatch libaries to be increased from five?  

 

I regularly assign three key colors and several secondary/background / link and active state color to a brand project and it requires seven or more.  Has someone placed a limit to force us to fit into some other system I'm not aware of?  It sure would be helpful.  The alternative is to have two swatch sets. ABCbrand Primary /ABC Brand Secondary. 

 

Also, I can not seem to drag and drop swatch folders into Libraries... or save them in any way - can we simplify this and remove the arbitrary restrictions? 

 

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Ton Frederiks

You can use CC libraries to get around the limitation.

You can drag multiple items using different colors together into a CC library to simulate a library. 

The easiest way to add them to a new document is to hold down the Alt key when you drag them from the CC library and place them in a new document. The patterns/gradients/global colors automatically get added to your swatches panel.

You can hit escape before you click to place the object(s) or delete the dragged library items because the swatches are now part of the document.

3 replies

the_wise_bunny
the_wise_bunny
Participating Frequently
May 1, 2024

Yep - this is super annoying! What's the point of building a branding swatch group to share between docs and collegaues, if it's limited to only five colors.  Its not as if it's likely to take up a huge amount of storage space when compared to other things you can save in the library.

 

Maybe some topology major at Adobe read that you only need five colors to draw any map, and assumed that would be enough for any design 🙂  

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    November 15, 2023

    You can use CC libraries to get around the limitation.

    You can drag multiple items using different colors together into a CC library to simulate a library. 

    The easiest way to add them to a new document is to hold down the Alt key when you drag them from the CC library and place them in a new document. The patterns/gradients/global colors automatically get added to your swatches panel.

    You can hit escape before you click to place the object(s) or delete the dragged library items because the swatches are now part of the document.

    Doug A Roberts
    Community Expert
    Doug A RobertsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 15, 2023

    I don't know why there's a limit of five swatches per group when adding them to Libraries from the Swatches panel, but if you select the swatches individually, you can add as many as you like and then create a group in Libraries after the fact.

     

    Edit: The limit is because adding <5 swatches as a group creates a colour theme, rather than a group, i.e. these:

    https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel

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