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sarahm23500858
sarahm23500858
Participating Frequently
January 16, 2019
Answered

Can't change colors from the swatch panel

  • January 16, 2019
  • 6 replies
  • 20608 views

For some reason, I cannot change the color of text or objects in InDesign CC. The options are not grayed out but when you select a different color, it goes right back to the previous color without change. I am running Mojave 10.14.2 on my Mac with the other CC Adobe apps. I’ve tried changing colors in all kinds of files (both new and old) and still cannot make any kind of changes to the swatches. All I can do is to create a new color whenever I need to colorize something. I can't even make adjustments to these colors I create either. Once the color has been set, there's nothing you can do but create yet another color.

I found a post about this issue but the suggestion to dump the preferences doesn't seem to help--both manually and automatically. I also tried uninstalling the app and then re-installing it from the Cloud. But that doesn't seem to matter either. Please help. This is extremely frustrating!

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer leo.r

      Hi

      I'm having this same issue. Could you please share how you discovered which third party app it was? Much appreciated.


      quote

      Could you please share how you discovered which third party app it was?


      By @Kenia31989640ywd9

       

      Disable Magnet.

       

      P.S. Some recent threads regarding the problems caused by the last Magnet update:

      https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/paragraph-styles-not-applying-to-selection/m-p/14999691#M599049
      https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-with-warning-sounds/td-p/13327364
      https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/problem-with-swatch-pallette/td-p/14997619

      6 replies

      M
      Matthew32736743eo88
      Participant
      October 5, 2023

      same problem - October 2023 and the bug is STILL not fixed!!!

      Rishabh_Tiwari
      Community Manager
      Rishabh_TiwariCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      October 12, 2023

      Hi @Matthew32736743eo88,

       

      Sorry to hear about the trouble. Please share the version of InDesign & OS, we'll try our best to assist you.

       

      Thanks

      Rishabh

        G
        GeorgiaJLow
        Participant
        April 15, 2022

        I am having the same issue on all files I work on. I hope Adobe gets this fixed.

        Hugo Nadeau!
        Hugo Nadeau!
        Participating Frequently
        February 26, 2021

        Still have the same problem in the latest version of InDesign on Mojave too. Clearly they didn't adress that bug at all in the last years. Reinstalling Adobe or clearing cache is a joke of a solution in my opinion, it's obvious it's a simple programming bug.

        NOcreationsBE
        NOcreationsBE
        Inspiring
        February 26, 2021

        Yes, same problem here too! Seems to be a bug indeed. I posted this on the Uservoice bugreport page: https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/42787331-applying-a-different-swatch-not-always-working-bu.

        If you want, you can vote for this issue to be solved.

        jennifery53726323
        jennifery53726323
        Participant
        May 5, 2020

        Had the same issue here and it was resolved by highlighting whatever it is you want to chage, use the colour picker to change it anything on the current page (regardless if you intend to use that colour), it somehow unlocks the selected features and you can change colour from swatch as usual.

          NOcreationsBE
          NOcreationsBE
          Inspiring
          August 27, 2020

          Thanks Jennifer, this worked for me! But I must say, I had this problem with only one file, so it may not work if someone has this problem with all files.

            NOcreationsBE
            NOcreationsBE
            Inspiring
            February 26, 2021

            I have to add that this problem indeed continues, as @Hugo Nadeau! just mentioned (on and off, it does not seem to have anything to do with the file itself). Fortunately the solution to use the color picker to change the color still works for me too, but it is sad that Adobe did not fix this problem by now.

            Also, I noticed that changing text to white or black or vice versa with the swatches panel sometimes solves the problem too. So yes, that looks like a bug!

            Bill Silbert
            Community Expert
            Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            January 16, 2019

            If you've already tried trashing preferences and reinstalling you might also want to try trashing your InDesign cache files. This can be helpful for problems within panels such as the Swatch Panel which could be the source of this problem.

            To trash cache files on a Mac:

            The User Library folder in which InDesign’s cache files are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that InDesign is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N).With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the “Caches” folder. Within the Caches folder find and delete the entire folder “Adobe InDesign”. I find that deleting the InDesign cache folder completely leads to a lasting change.

              sarahm23500858
              sarahm23500858Author
              Participating Frequently
              January 16, 2019

              Thanks, Bill. I had seen that suggestion on cache files before. However, if you look at the screenshot below, I don't seem to have an "Adobe InDesign" folder in my Cache folder. Could this be different with Mojave?

              Bill Silbert
              Community Expert
              Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              January 16, 2019

              Did you follow the path Macintosh HD>User>Home>Library>Caches as directed in my first post?

              ADDITIONAL EDIT: It appears that you have gone to Macintosh HD>Library>Caches. The InDesign cache files are in the User library.

              BobLevine
              Community Expert
              BobLevineCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              January 16, 2019

              What exactly are you doing and does this happen on all files or just one?

              Screenshots might help, too.

              sarahm23500858
              sarahm23500858Author
              Participating Frequently
              January 16, 2019

              WITH TEXT: I have text selected using the "T" type tool. I then go into the swatch pallet and then select a color other than the default black. I am able to select a color but it does not change to the one I designated. I can, however, select the color without it being grayed out.

              WITH OBJECTS: As you can see from below, it won't change the color of the box I placed (using the open arrow) here either.

              BobLevine
              Community Expert
              BobLevineCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              January 16, 2019

              Interesting. Does it happen with all files or just this one?

              If it's just this one, you can try the IDML route.

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