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Michael22172634qdes
Participant
September 28, 2026
Question

Bug / Limitation: Swatch Panel Group/Folder Hierarchy Inverts and Flips Order on .ase / .indd Import

  • September 28, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 17 views

Description of Issue:
When managing large-scale brand guidelines containing dozens of colors nested inside multiple Color Groups (folders), importing swatches via standard methods (Import .ase or Load Swatches from .indd) completely breaks the user's intended layout order and folder hierarchy.

Steps We Tried That Failed / Had Major Limitations:

  1. Direct .ase or Layout File Import: Importing the master palette causes the internal sequence of the Swatches panel to reverse entirely. The top color folder stacks at the bottom, and the bottom color folder pushes to the top. Individual swatches inside the groups are also flipped upside-down due to sequential bottom-up reading during import.
  2. Batch Moving Color Groups to Correct Order (Option 1 Failure): Highlighting multiple inverted Color Groups simultaneously and dragging them to snap the order back causes InDesign to completely collapse the folders. It dumps all individual swatches into a massive, disorganized vertical list, losing all structural category grouping.
  3. Manual Re-ordering: Attempting to drag swatches one by one to fix the list manually triggers aggressive panel auto-scrolling. The viewport randomly jumps and shifts violently when the cursor nears the top/bottom boundary, causing swatches to be dropped into the wrong categories.

Requested Fix:
Please update the Swatch panel import behavior so that it honors the true visual top-to-bottom order of Color Groups and nested swatches exactly as they exist in the source file. Furthermore, allow multiple Color Groups to be moved simultaneously without breaking or dissolving their internal folders.

PS: Please look into fixing that random jumping behavior when shifting color chip positioning. I know it happens because InDesign tries to "auto-scroll" when your cursor gets close to the top or bottom edges of the panel, causing the whole list to violently shift and make you drop the swatch in the wrong place. Maybe give the option to turn on or off this “auto-scroll” feature?  Thank you

    3 replies

    graphics_4075
    graphics_4075
    Inspiring
    September 29, 2026

    I can confirm I have and still do experience the first one when uploading my Pantone .ase file from previous versions. Every single time it has uploaded every individual swatch, and then at the very bottom is the folder completely empty rather than having all colors nested inside of it. 

     

    I have never experienced the other 2 issues related to ordering the swatches and am able to reorder my swatches, individually or as a group, perfectly fine on 21.8. The automated scrolling is a bit aggressive but I believe is as intended. It jumps large amounts if, like in my case, you have thousands of swatches, and then fine tune scrolling can be done with the mouse wheel. Or you can hold shift + mouse wheel for a longer scroll to avoid using the “autoscroll”

     

    Also, you must move swatches under the folder, not the folder above the swatches or the folder will not nest the swatches and stay where it is on the list. 

    Cheers
    Anubhav M
    Community Manager
    Anubhav MCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    September 28, 2026

    Hello ​@Michael22172634qdes 

     

    I’m sorry to hear about your experience. I tried to replicate this behavior on my end, but could not. Would you mind sharing more details, like the versions of the OS/InDesign installed, along with a brief screen recording of your workflow and the problem, so we can investigate further?

     

    Looking forward to hearing from you.
    Anubhav

    Michael22172634qdesAuthor
    Participant
    September 29, 2026

    Hi Anubhav,

    Thank you for looking into this. The issue becomes prominent when dealing with an extensive brand system containing multiple distinct 'Color Groups' (folders) and dozens of swatches (Process CMYK, Spot Pantone, and RGB variations) exported/imported simultaneously.

    To help your team replicate the exact behavior, here are my system specifications:

    • InDesign Version: [Insert your InDesign version, e.g., 2024 v19.4 or 2025 v20.0]
    • Operating System: [Insert your OS, e.g., macOS Sonoma 14.5 or Windows 11]

    The Exact Replication Steps:

    1. Create a master document with 6+ separate Color Groups (folders), each containing 4 to 8 unique swatches ordered logically from top-to-bottom.
    2. Select all swatches/folders inside the panel simultaneously and export them as an .ase file (or attempt to use 'Load Swatches' to pull the .indd file directly into a legacy document).
    3. Open a separate, existing document and load that color palette.
    4. Upon import, the entire layer stack of Color Groups is completely inverted (the first folder lands at the bottom, and the last folder lands at the top). Furthermore, if you attempt to select all the inverted folders at once to drag them back into place, InDesign dissolves the Color Groups entirely and dumps the individual swatches into a single, scrambled list.
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