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56

P: Add custom colors for colour coding layers and groups

Contributor ,
Apr 13, 2017 Apr 13, 2017

Wouldn't it be great to be able to use more colours than the 7 defaults for colour coding layers and groups? They're a great way (along with proper naming) to organise complex documents, but having only seven default colours to choose from means they start to become duplicated which pretty much defeats the purpose.

Would be really useful to have the ability (much like with Indesign and Illustrator) to use a wider palette of colours to colour code layers and groups.

Idea No status
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macOS , Windows
6.7K
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85 Comments
Community Beginner ,
Jan 23, 2019 Jan 23, 2019
6 years is a long time, sorry for the link rot.
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LEGEND ,
Jan 23, 2019 Jan 23, 2019
No problem. I don't see that you posted that 6 years ago. Here it just says 2 hours. The problem with merging, I suppose.
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LEGEND ,
Feb 13, 2019 Feb 13, 2019
Rude is correct. For example, I have over thirty separate groups for a museum project and wouldn't it be expedient, as we're all visual folks, to have a color coded system with more choices. Karlita, being snarky as an adult isn't polite or shows patience. I hope that you're not that way with clients or friends. 
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LEGEND ,
Sep 24, 2019 Sep 24, 2019
I'm bumping this, because for some reason this is still an issue. We *need* extensive color coding options.
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LEGEND ,
Sep 24, 2019 Sep 24, 2019
Had to look to see if bumping it let me vote again. That's how much I need this. <bg> Alas. . .
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LEGEND ,
Mar 04, 2020 Mar 04, 2020
Been yearning for this for years. The gray one is essentially useless. So we are stuck with 6 usable color tags :|. Come on Adobe! Please ❤️
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LEGEND ,
Mar 05, 2020 Mar 05, 2020
I'd love this too!
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Participant ,
Jun 29, 2020 Jun 29, 2020
It's a great feature request, but it should not be restricted to layer colors – the menu customization colors and action colors (button mode) are also restricted to those 7 colors. Therefore I think this should be addressed application-wide.
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LEGEND ,
Jan 24, 2021 Jan 24, 2021

Is there any real reason we are still stuck with the seven colour options for our layers in the layers pallet? Can it not be moved inline with the options in Illustrator, or even better yet, give us a colour palette to choose from. More colours would be a real help in some of my more complex files, some of them have hundreds of layers. Seems like such an easy improvement in the grand scheme of things. 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 25, 2021 Jan 25, 2021

I agree that more color options for Layer labelling would be an improvement but I would hesitate to call it 

such an easy improvement

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LEGEND ,
May 24, 2021 May 24, 2021

is this ever going to happen ?
// In all fairness; Adobe wastes resources on so many pointless changes... and ignores changes that matter.

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New Here ,
Jan 04, 2022 Jan 04, 2022

I really hope yes, i can't believe they haven't done it yet.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 07, 2022 Jan 07, 2022

Things to think about:

 

1) GUI - Would this just be another single icon for "custom", which when selected would then bring up a new window with colour picker? Then click on the custom icon to edit the existing colour values? Vertical real estate in the contextual menu is limited when right-clicking on the layer name, as opposed to the eye icon or thumbnail icon.

 

2) ACTIONS - How would this be recorded into an action and the underlying code that is generated by the action that would be used in scripting or UXP development?

 

3) BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY - what would happen when an older version of Photoshop opened a file containing a custom label colour.

 

These are of course issues for the developers, however, users have to give feedback or they may not like the implementation.

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Explorer ,
Mar 30, 2022 Mar 30, 2022

It's been 8 years already and we still don't have an option to add more than 7 colors.

 

This is pathetic.

 

 sss.jpg

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New Here ,
Jun 11, 2022 Jun 11, 2022

2022 and it's still not there yet.. If only there was at least as many colors to pick from like in Adobe After effects.. Is there any 3rd party plugin or whatever thing that can bring in more color tags please?

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New Here ,
Jul 11, 2022 Jul 11, 2022

Checking in on a thread for something I've nebulously wanted for a long time, I'm surprised it's been asked for for this long in Photoshop while other apps have a similar feature already?

 

I'm curious if this is a thing that's still on the table for development at any point - the ability to add custom colors would be a lifesaver for me 🙂 

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New Here ,
Sep 05, 2022 Sep 05, 2022

Gentlemen of Adobe, I would just like to remind you that the program still allows you to mark layers and groups with only seven colors. Perhaps someone would like to finally listen to the demands of the people?

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 01, 2022 Oct 01, 2022

Adobe, in the 21century color palettes contain 16,7 Mio colors, why limit us to 6 plus grey???? 
I have a new slogan for Adobe: "Keep imagining tomorrow - but please give us more colors today!"

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Community Expert ,
Oct 01, 2022 Oct 01, 2022

I agree, this would be a great inprovement.

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Explorer ,
Mar 16, 2023 Mar 16, 2023

...Absolutely right. I made such a suggestion in a different post myself. In other graphics/compositing software such as the Foundary's Nuke, you have access to any colour you like to be able to label boundary boxes around nodes in a purely visual manner. I think you should be able to do the same for layers in your stack. I would like to use different shades of a colour to denote different aspects to any layers within a given Group.

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Explorer ,
Mar 16, 2023 Mar 16, 2023

You're absolutely right. Adobe has flirted too long with peripheral functionality in Photoshop without addressing core issues. Organization is one of them and color labelling layers is right up there.

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Explorer ,
Mar 16, 2023 Mar 16, 2023

The answer is simple. Enable an ability to use the Swatch Palette to pick from to color layers.

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Contributor ,
Apr 10, 2023 Apr 10, 2023

Thanks for all your upvotes and input. Still staggered this hasn't been looked at....fingers crossed it'll happen some day. I think I'm right in saying Photoshop is the only part of the suite with such a limited range of colour options for labels. Sheesh!

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New Here ,
Jun 28, 2023 Jun 28, 2023

Beyond ridiculous that we are halfway through '23 and we are still limited with this. I want more layer label colors/options.

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New Here ,
Jul 04, 2023 Jul 04, 2023
In the layers palette we should be able to color the layers using the color picker. 
The colors we now have is insufficient. 
In addition, we should have the possibility of being able to order the layers by color.
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