InDesign: Unable to delete unused color swatches

[pixeltech]

This happens a lot. I attempt to remove unused swatches, and some can't be deleted, the trash icon grayed out in the Swatches panel. This has happened from CS6 through the current CC 2018 build of InDesign and includes jobs with no linked assets. I know I'm not alone because this issue is shared by many in my workplace. Help?

[Anne Marie38619211umw7]

I am having the same problem, but the only graphics in the document are grayscale images. The color is a Pantone spot color, and I no longer have access to Pantone colors, which I suspect is what is causing the problem. I have changed all the color in the document to CMYK but cannot delete the Pantone swatch, even though I search the swatch and it says it is not used.

[rob day]

Hi @Anne Marie38619211umw7 , You can get the Pantone .acb libraries here:

https://github.com/Autocrit/Pantone-color-libraries

They get installed here: Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 20XX⁩ ▸ ⁨Presets⁩ ▸ ⁨Swatch Libraries⁩

If that doesn’t work can you share your file saved as an .IDML?

[Anne Marie38619211umw7]

I couldn't figure out how to download the Pantone swatches from the website you provided. I am attaching the .idml file that I'm having a problem with. I either need to remove the Pantone swatch or change the swatch to PMS652, the color equilivent approved by our design team for the color in this document (the Ocean Blue color). I've already changed all the color to the acceptable CMYK color, assuming I could delete the swatch once that was done. Our printer can swap in the PMS color for us, since this is a 2-color job, but I want to be sure they don't use the wrong one, hence the need to delete the one in the file. Thanks for your help!

[rob day]

I couldn't figure out how to download the Pantone swatches

Click the Code button to download a zip archive of the .acb files

You have a Paragraph and Character Style that are using PANTONE 285. If I edit the color for Subhead 1 and color, I can delete the spot color