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Roger Breton
Roger Breton
Legend
August 16, 2021
Question

Search the Swatch palette by "Name"

  • August 16, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 1815 views

Please excuse the newbie question but I'm unable to search for a particular swatch entry in the Swatches panel? There is no handy search field as in Illustrator. Nothing in the panel menu either. I inherited a document with over 1700 swatch entries...

3 replies

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 25, 2021

ajabon grinsmith said:

"Installing the ToolKit is basic and great, but unfortunately it has already been announced to be discontinued."

 

Haha! The understatement of the year…

The latest version of ExtendScript Toolkit CC (Version 4) is eight years old.

But it's still working on Windows 10.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

ajabon grinsmith
Community Expert
ajabon grinsmithCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 26, 2021

Laubender, 

My cat will soon be celebrating her 18th birthday.

She's fine enough to jump lightly into my chest level so far.
But farewell will surely come in the not too distant future.
I have to be prepared. 

even ExtendScriptToolKit. (´･ω･`)

Diane Burns
Diane Burns
Inspiring
August 16, 2021

There is no search field in ID swatches. 

You may start by using the Swatches panel menu to "Delete all unused" and also use sort by name.

But unfortunately, only workarounds would be available. 

Alternatively, I believe this would be scriptable, you might look for a script that would do it. Maybe some script-y types could weigh in here. 🙂

Steve Werner
Community Expert
Steve WernerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 16, 2021

I've been working with InDesign since 1999, the year that it came out. I have been teaching InDesign for about 20 years. I've never heard of a document with 1700 swatch entries. I'd consider that a very poor production practice. I teach people how to selected unused swatches and remove them. If you were to pass that file onto someone else it would be a nightmare.

 

I think of using a search function in many area of InDesign but the Swatches panel in production should never have so many swatches.

 

You can use Select All Unused Swathces from the panel menu. Why would you use one document to store so many? You can always import more swatches from another document by Load Swatches. You can store swatches outside of a single document by learning to use Creative Cloud Libraries. You could store them into categories in Libraries.

 

Roger Breton
Roger BretonAuthor
Legend
August 17, 2021

Steve and Diane,

The document with the 1700 swatches in question comes from me. I created in to hold my Munsell Book of Color, Glossy Edition swatches. Each chip was measured with a spectrophotometer.
In a way, it's no worse than the 1700 PANTONE + Solid Coated library but that's besides the point.

I exported to the .ASE format so that the "library" can be used with both Illustrator and Photoshop. Works like a charm. Actually, in Illustrator, once the ASE is loaded, it can be searched using the friendly search field. If you know a bit of the Munsell system, you know that each colors is named like this "5R 5/12", which means "Red" with a Value of 5 and a Chroma of 12. The "nice" thing about this system is that, in Illustrator's Library search field OR in Illustrator Swatches palette optional seach field, the user can merely starts typing "5R" and up comes all the colors in the library containing 5R -- it's so efficient! Further, the user can type a "space" bollowed by the number 5 and up comes all the 5R Munsell colors with a Value of 5 such as 5/2, 5/4, 5/6 and so on. It really makes swatch selection "child play".

In comparison, from InDesign, fetching these colors from the current Swatches palette is a riot. 

I was sure there was a search field or some way to search the swatches? But no.

It's always possiblie to export the Swatches in the ASE format and resort to hunting colors through the New Color Swatch dialog box, where the Munsell ASE can be loaded as a library and searched through the integrated "Search" field:

But I have to be honest and declare Illustrator's Swatch palette the "Champion", in terms of offering greatest flexibility to the user :

I think I actually have less than 1700 swatches in all, in the physical Munsell Book of Colors but this is just a subset of the entire system. 

Thank you, once again, for your kind help, Steve and Diane. 

BTW, I was at Seyboald Boaston in 1999 when the first InDesign Beta (pre 1.0) was shown inside Adobe's booth... I remember feeling like a kid at Christmas...

    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    Steve WernerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 17, 2021

    As Diane says, maybe there's a script which would help.

     

    Remember, that InDesign was designed for print publications, and print workflows going to other people are going to have a much smaller number of unique colors.

     

    Illustrator is more of a designer's vectorprograms for all workspaces—web, film, print, etc. and designers like to play with lots of colors.

     

    Consequently, their Swatch panels are designed differently. Your use is pretty unique but maybe someone has designed a script or plug-in.

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