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Known Participant
May 12, 2020 5:46 PM UTC
Answered

How to clear a color in a character style?

Is there a way to "clear" character color instead of reset all other character style settings?

 

I know it looks to be a silly question.

Thanks!

BozenkaCorrect answer
Participant
Oct 26, 2024 9:45 PM UTC

InDesign v15.0.1

  1. Open the character style from the Character Styles palette.
  2. Click Character Color from the list on the left.
  3. Control/click (PC) Command/click (Mac) on the little swatch square in the character colour list:

Afterwards, it will look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 replies

Philip Byrne
Known Participant
Oct 29, 2025 9:33 AM UTC

This didn't appear to be working in InDesign 20.5 – the edit wouldn't save – but I think it may have been a corrupt style. Restarting my Mac Pro and recreating the style eventually worked but command-clicking the swatch still had unreliable results so I had to keep editing until it eventually stuck.

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Willi Adelberger
Community Expert
Community Expert
Oct 29, 2025 1:06 PM UTC

If. the cmd-click-way does not work do that:

  1. Create a new character styles with the needed settings.
  2. Delete the old style and choose to replace it with the new style.
  3. Rename the new style with the final name.
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BozenkaCorrect answer
Participant
Oct 26, 2024 9:45 PM UTC

InDesign v15.0.1

  1. Open the character style from the Character Styles palette.
  2. Click Character Color from the list on the left.
  3. Control/click (PC) Command/click (Mac) on the little swatch square in the character colour list:

Afterwards, it will look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Participant
Oct 26, 2024 7:05 PM UTC

Everyone is giving the cmd + click solution, but its not working for me. I've tried every key combination I can think of, it only selects the color.

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Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Community Expert
Oct 26, 2024 7:39 PM UTC

You need to Cmd-click (Mac) or Cntl-click (Win) on the swatch, not the "big T" symbol.

 

 

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David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
Willi Adelberger
Community Expert
Community Expert
Jul 5, 2022 5:41 AM UTC

Click any color, hold down cmd/ctrl and click the same color again.

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Diane Burns
Inspiring
May 12, 2020 11:36 PM UTC

Adding to David's reply, hold down Command/Ctrl and click on the color that is assigned to the text. Does basically the same thing, but one click. 🙂

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Known Participant
May 14, 2020 11:50 AM UTC

Thanks, @diane_Burns but it's not the slution in this case. I have some paragraphs in different colors. These specific style can be applied in some of them. It shouldn't have a color. 🙂

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David Popham
Participating Frequently
May 12, 2020 6:19 PM UTC

In Character Style Options > Character Color, Cmd/Ctrl + click on the [None] swatch until the fill color icon shows question marks in the corners.

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Known Participant
May 14, 2020 11:51 AM UTC

Thanks, @David_Popham !

 

 

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