Working with swatches

Swatches are styles or materials created from colors, gradients, patterns, or textures that you can save to use again. Swatches offer a way to save your favorite colors, styles, and materials so that you can access them quickly when you are working on projects.

You can select, create, edit, delete, and rename swatches. You can also change the way swatches are displayed.

To create a swatch

Edit workspace

On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab

Click the Create New Swatch button

Type a name for the swatch.

This name appears as a tooltip when you hold the pointer over the swatch on the Materials palette.

Press Enter.

The Material Properties dialog box appears.

Select the style (color, gradient, or pattern) and the texture for the material.

Click OK.

You can also click the More Options button

on the Swatches tab of the Materials palette, and then choose New Swatch.

To select a swatch

Edit workspace

On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab

Do one of the following:

•

To select a swatch as the foreground material, click the swatch.

•

To select a swatch as the background material, right-click the swatch.

To edit a swatch

Edit workspace

On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab

Double-click the swatch you want to edit.

The Material Properties dialog box appears.

Edit the style (color, gradient, or pattern) or the texture for the material.

Click OK.

You can also click the swatch, click the More Options button

, and then choose Edit Swatch.

To delete a swatch

Edit workspace

On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab

Click the swatch you want to delete.

Click the Delete Swatch button

You can also click the More Options button

, and choose Delete Swatch.

To rename a swatch

Edit workspace

On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab

Click the swatch you want to rename.

Click the More Options button

, and choose Rename Swatch.

To change how swatches are displayed

Edit workspace

•

On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab

, and perform a task from the following table.


To	Do the following
Select which swatch types are displayed	Click the All button , and choose Colors , Gradients , or Patterns . You can also click the More Options button , choose View, and then choose the swatch type to display.
Change how swatches are sorted	Click the More Options button , choose Sort By, and then choose Style or Name. By default, the swatches are sorted by style.
Change swatch thumbnail sizes	Click the More Options button , and choose Small Thumbnails, Medium Thumbnails, or Large Thumbnails. Medium thumbnails are displayed by default.