Adding or Merging Swatches when pasting artwork into file

[janessab710]

In older versions of AI when I copy and paste art into a file that has a swatch of the same name it would ask me if I wanted to "add or merge swatches".  But now it is just automatically merging them without asking.  I can not find how to turn that dialogue box back on.  Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[Monika Gause]

Should be a global swatch - is it?

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Give this a try.

Go to Preference (Command + K on Mac [Control +K on Windows]).

In the General section, press "Reset All Warning Dialogs" and OK to apply.

[Bill Silbert]

I tested this with Illustrator CC 2017.1 and it works the way that it always did with the dialog window shown below:

I am sure that it is not something that I turned on when I customized my preferences so I'm reasonably certain it is still the default. I even looked through all of the preference files and could not see anything about this feature. I even thought that the Ask Options in Edit Colors might somehow be involved but that didn't prove to be the case. The only other thing that occurs to me is that if you upgraded to CC 2017 from an earlier version and you did not reset your preferences that could be a factor. It has been my experience with all of the CC 2017 programs I use that they did not work properly until I had gotten rid of all earlier preference files.

To reset preferences:

For Macintosh Users: With Illustrator closed launch a Finder Window in column view and click on your home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the following two files and delete them: “Adobe Illustrator <Version #> Settings” (earlier versions of Illustrator might just say “Adobe Illustrator”) and “com.adobe.Illustrator.plist”. When Illustrator is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

After you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, it is a really good idea to create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

For Windows Users: Hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching Illustrator and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset.

[Bill Silbert]

Or maybe Jeff found what I couldn't see!

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Hey Bill,

This is weird!

I'm not getting that warning in CC 2017. I Trashed Preferences and I'm still not getting the warning.

Jeff

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

What version of Illustrator are you using?

I'm not getting that error in CC 2017.

[janessab710]

I tried resetting the dialogue boxes in preferences, and that didn't work.  I am using CC 2017, the only thing I can think of is the files I am having an issue with were made in an earlier version of Illustrator. 

[janessab710]

I just tried a test with files created in CC 2017 and I am still not getting the dialogue box

[Bill Silbert]

As I said above I had no problem getting that dialog window. The test I did was that I defined a PANTONE color in my swatch panel in two test files. Drew a square filled with that color in both, then copied and tried to paste a square from one into the other and got the warning. Is it possible that you didn't make sure that the PANTONE color had been defined in the swatch panel?

[Monika Gause]

Are the colors Global colors? Or spot colors?

Do the colors have different definitions?

Can you please be precise as to what exactly you are pasting into what exactly?

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Hi Monika & Bill,

Here's the steps I followed:

1. I created a new document in CC 2017
2. Added Pantone 300 C
3. Added it to the Fill of a square
4. I copied that object
5. Created a second new document
6. Added Pantone 300 C to the Swatches panel
7. Added it to the Fill of a square
8. Pasted the square from the other document

RESULT: No warning as seen in Bill's screenshot above.

I tried the same thing using a Swatch from the Color Bridge Library with the same results.

I'm working on an iMac 27" (late 2012), OS Yosemite 10.10.5. No added Plugins in AI other than Suitcase Fusion 18.2.4

Any thoughts? I'm stymied on this one.

[Bill Silbert]

I'm on El Capitan 10.11.6 on an iMac late 2015 with FontExplorer Pro and no added plug-ins and the color I used was from the Color Bridge Library. I got that warning box as seen in my earlier screen shot. I did, i really did!

[Ton Frederiks]

I get that warning when the swatch names are the same, but one is Process and the other Spot (or Book).

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

That works for me as well Ton. I have the same color in two documents with the same name, but one is Spot and one is CMYK. If I paste an object with the Swatch in question applied from one document to the other, then I DO get the error message. (Please see screenshot below.)

Now that I think about it, this makes sense. Because one is Spot and the other CMYK, this really IS a conflict. When you have two Swatches that are EXACTLY the same, how is that a conflict? It should automatically Merge them. Right?

If you paste an RGB Swatch with the same name as a CMYK Swatch however, it doesn't give you the warning. It instead automatically converts the Swatch to CMYK and adds the Swatch with a "2" at the end of the name.

Ton, on your computer, are you getting the same result as both janessab710 and me (no error) when pasting objects filled with exactly the same Swatch from one document to another?

So now the question is why is it working differently on Bill's Mac than on mine and janessab710? Which of the two results is the correct behavior? Is one of the two behaviors a bug?

[Bill Silbert]

Jeff,

I just tried it on my work machine a Mac Pro (Late 2013) Yosemite 10.10.5 and FontExplorer X Pro and here my results were like yours. I only got the message when one was spot and one was CMYK. I'm reasonably sure though that my test at home last night were with both of the files set to spot but it was getting late and I can't be 100% sure about that. I'll retest tonight.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Thanks Bill!

[Bill Silbert]

In the spirit of full disclosure I can now say that I must have been very sleepy last night when I made my initial post and did not notice that I had indeed created one of my test files as CMYK PANTONE 300 and the other file used the Spot Color version. That is why I did, in fact get the Swatch Conflict dialog that was shown in my original post so easily. So I think that we can be definitive that the colors must be mismatched in order for that dialog to appear no matter the version of Illustrator.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Hey Bill,

You're working too hard buddy.

Get some sleep!

Jeff

[Mike_Gondek · Accepted solution]

Hi Bill,

Additional conditions are needed for the error to show than  the numbers mismatching. Below for example the error would not occur.

The numbers mismatch, but  they are both spot. This is what I suspect the original post is inquiring about.

For the error to come up you minimally need

• one swatch to be CMYK or RGB
• the numbers to mismatch
• the names to be exactly the same

[Mike_Gondek]

The swatch conflict error comes up you in these conditions

• the swatches are not in the same Color Type (e.g.: one  is CMYK and  other is LAB)
• the numerical color values are different on CMYK swatches

If you have 2 LAB swatches and the values are different this will not come up. If you have a LAB swath and a CMYK swatch the error

Can you provide an example with  screenshots showing your swatch definition for both documents. The colors would show the swatch conflict error.

In summary if both colors are spot then this separates in the same channel anyway so Illustrator does not care what the screen representation looks like, and attic son the detention document color. This is difficult enough to follow so did not include RGB in the scenario.

For this reason I ALWAYS chan add "MYK" to the end of the name when making a process color from a Pantone spot. e.g. "PANTONE 4975 CMYK", saves a lot of confusion when combing files and unnecessary swatch conflicts. Congrats to the ADOBE team for getting this one correct, as done differently this could be catastrophic to print consistency.

[janessab710]

The issue is in older files I have swatches with the same name but different values (colors are different), a bad habit I used to have.  I needed to access older art and when I would cut and paste, colors would change in the new file.  I used to get around this by adding swatches instead or merging.

I am trying the different tests you are describing but haven't gotten the dialogue box to pop up yet.

[Ton Frederiks]

Maybe we can replicate your problem if you share and old and a new file that gives the problem.

You can share with CC, Google, Dropbox or another sharing system.

[janessab710]

Thanks for all your help

[gfdsgfdg fgfdsgfd]

anyone find a fix for this?