7 Swatches Palette
Used
for storing special colors
Grouped with the Color, and Styles palettes
In the default arrangement, this one will be in the group which is second from the top in your column of palettes. To bring the Swatches palette to the front of the group, click on its title tab, or choose Window > Swatches.
If you want to use a consistent group of colors in a picture you are working on, you can store them in the Swatches palette and reuse them as needed. Sets of colors can be saved, and loaded for use in other images by using the Preset Manager (Edit > Preset Manager or use the palette menu).
To add a swatch to the Swatches palette, you can use the eyedropper, the Color palette, or the Color picker to select a foreground color. Then click on an empty area in the Swatches palette, and that color will appear as a new swatch. When the cursor is in a position in the Swatches palette where a swatch can be added, the cursor will turn into the paint bucket.
To select a swatch as the foreground color, click on the swatch. To select a swatch as the background color, hold down the Ctrl key and click on the swatch. Please note that this has been switched from previous versions of Photoshop where Alt-clicking used to set the background color.
If you want to delete a swatch, hold down the Alt key and click on that swatch. The cursor will turn into a pair of scissors when you do this. Please note that this shortcut used to be the Ctrl key. It has been switched in Photoshop 7.
If you want to return to the default collection of swatches, choose Reset Swatches from the palette menu, shown below.
The swatches you have chosen are saved in the Adobe Photoshop preferences file when you exit the program.
Please note that palettes which are in the palette well will not stay open while you edit. To bring a palette out of the well, click on its name tab and drag it out.
The illustration below left shows the Swatches palette with numbers added to identify the 1) New Swatch button and 2) the Trash/Delete button.
To the right is the options menu, found by clicking on the little arrow
in the top right corner of the palette.
Please note that this entire palettes section has been updated from a Photoshop 6 version (which was updated from a 5.5 version). Wherever the palette is essentially the same as it was in 6, I have continued to use the screen capture illustrations made using that version. So if you notice cosmetic discrepancies in the illustrations, that’s why. In all instances where features were added or changed, I have made new screen captures.
To hide all palettes and the toolbar, press the Tab key. To hide the palettes, but leave the toolbar in view, hold down the Shift key while pressing the Tab key. Pressing the Tab key again will bring them all back. This can be a big help if the palettes are overlapping an image you are trying to work on.
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