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Known Participant
October 15, 2014
Question

Action to remove all unused swatches nearly works...

  • October 15, 2014
  • 2 replies
  • 2686 views

I've been using the default Action to remove fluff (unused swatches, symbols, brushes, etc.) but it has a funny quirk. I have a spot black color (named black) that always escapes the purge, even if it not used in the document. It is not set as the default stroke/fill, and there are no styles that use this swatch. Even if I run the Action twice the swatch remains. Even if I rename the swatch to something other than black it remains. Even if I rename the swatch and give it a different CMYK mix it remains. As a kludge, I've been using a combo of the default action and John Wundes' Delete Fluff script to get everything, but it is not an ideal solution. Wundes' script, which is unable to delete used brushes, roots out the offending swatch. It is unable to delete unused brushes, so following up with the default action clears those out. Also, Wundes' script is very slow and will often beach-ball the application, requiring a force-quit occasionally.

Two questions:

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Can anyone think of other places that might harbor this rogue spot color and make the default action not find/delete it?

Is there a simple script that could check specifically for the use of this color in the document and delete it?


Cheers and thanks!!


-G-



This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Egor Chistyakov
Inspiring
December 26, 2024
Known Participant
October 15, 2014

Looks like I found the answer to my first question as to why the default Action won't delete the 'unused' swatch. Even though the unused Brushes are selected and deleted prior to the unused Swatches there's still a 'ghost' of the swatch resident because of the Brush. If I save the document, close it, re-open it, and then run the Action again the offending swatch is excised. I'm still hoping there might be a simple script to check for the Swatch's use and delete it if not in use.

-g-

Larry G. Schneider
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 15, 2014

You would be best served by renaming the swatch to Spot Black to avoid confusion with the native Black swatch.

Known Participant
October 15, 2014

Larry, thanks for the response. In regards to this problem, the name of the swatch is not relevant. I can change it to anything and the Delete Fluff action will not get rid of it. In regards to the greater good, why do you recommend the swatch be renamed? I have specific production reasons to have a spot color named 'black' (which is a different animal from 'Black' or 'BLACK' or 'blACk'). I've been running with scissors like this for a while and would like to know the unintended consequences. Cheers!

-g-