Patterns not saving properly

[Benjamin Davi38804734pp6u]

Hello community!

When trying to save a pattern in Illustrator and going to use it from the Swatches > User Defined section, they either show empty or they show plain colors.

Method I use to save: Open the .ai pattern in Illustrator > Swatches > Save Swatches .

I am not sure what I am doing wrong. I tried a couple of patterns and it worked, but after that no pattern that I save using the same method is saving properly.

Could you please help?

Thanks!

[Bill Silbert]

Without knowing exactly what steps you took to create your patterns it is hard to see what the error might have been. I would suggest trying again following the steps outlined here: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/create-edit-patterns.html. If you don't find the solution following the method provided then please provide full details of your process along with the exact version of Illustrator and operating system that you are using.

[Benjamin Davi38804734pp6u]

I downloaded it from Adobe Stock in .ai format. After the download, it opened directly in Illustrator and then I did this: Swatches > Save Swatches > selected the Swatches folder.

This is another example:

And when selecting the pattern the swatch window on the right does not show the pattern, it shows plain colors and a random pattern. If I proceed to save it as mentioned above, it either saves it blank or saves what you can see in the window here, that has nothing to do with the actual pattern. I am quite confused.

I am using Illustrator 2024 on a mac Sonoma 14.2.1 (23C71).

Thanks!

[Monika Gause]

If there are no swatches in the panel, then you cannot save them. So you should definitely read the link Bill posted about how to create a pattern swatch.

Did you create these patterns or did you download them?

[Benjamin Davi38804734pp6u]

I downloaded it from Adobe Stock in .ai format. After the download, it opened directly in Illustrator and then I did this: Swatches > Save Swatches > selected the Swatches folder.

This is another example:

And when selecting the pattern the swatch window on the right does not show the pattern, it shows plain colors and a random pattern. If I proceed to save it as mentioned above, it either saves it blank or saves what you can see in the window here, that has nothing to do with the actual pattern. I am quite confused.

I am using Illustrator 2024 on a mac Sonoma 14.2.1 (23C71).

Thanks!

[Ton Frederiks]

If it is a real pattern, you could try the following.

With the object that is filled with the pattern selected, click the + button in the Swatches panel.

Name the pattern and it should be added to the swatches.

[Benjamin Davi38804734pp6u]

Sorry, nothing seems to be working.

The "pattern" saved is the 4th box and it is just white.

It seems blank when I save it like this.

And the problem happens with all patterns, not just this one. I tried downloading a bunch and all have the same issue.

[Ton Frederiks]

Can you share an example Illustrator file?

Save as .pdf to be able to attach it to a post.

[Benjamin Davi38804734pp6u]

Here goes!

[Monika Gause]

That one is a JPEG.

But the other one maybe not. Can you please select it and then open Window > Layers (click on the spyglass at the bottom) and Window > Appearance and show what's there?

[Benjamin Davi38804734pp6u]

This is another one:

It is originally .svg.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

That one just contains the artwork. You first need to make a pattern from it. It has 4 repeats on the artboard, you only want to use one of them. Use Object > Pattern > Make.

But beware! It is very complex. 700000 points. That is pretty detailed for a pattern. Most of the detail will probably not be visible when used in small scale.

[Benjamin Davi38804734pp6u]

That was the issue, I was not making the pattern properly from the original file. Many, many thanks for sticking with me!

[Monika Gause]

You're welcome.

I'm glad you could solve it.

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear you solved it.