Using swatch libraries


    Illustrator comes with a wide variety of preset swatches. These are organized in collections called swatch libraries. You can open multiple swatch libraries to browse through their contents and select swatches. You can also create new swatch libraries.

    Swatch libraries are collections of colors, gradients, and patterns from other Illustrator files and custom color systems, including third-party color systems (such as PANTONE swatches) as well as ones provided by Adobe (such as Web-safe color swatches). Swatch libraries are particularly useful for defining spot colors.

    When you load a swatch library, it appears in a new palette (not the Swatches palette). You select, sort, and view swatches in a swatch library the same as you do in the Swatches palette. (See Using the Swatches palette.) However, you can't add swatches to, delete swatches from, or edit the swatches in swatch libraries.

To load a swatch library from another Illustrator document:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Window > Swatch Libraries > Other Library.
    • Choose Open Swatch Library > Other Library from the Swatches palette menu.
  2. Select the file from which you want to import swatches, and click Open.
  3. Note: If you select a file whose color mode is different than the current document, the colors will be converted into the closest equivalent color in the destination document's color mode.

To load a custom swatch library:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Window > Swatch Libraries.
    • Choose Open Swatch Library from the Swatches palette menu.
  2. Select a library from the submenu. The options include the following swatch sets:
    • Diccolor are DIC Color Guide swatches, which are commonly used for printing projects in Japan.
    • FOCOLTONE swatches consist of 763 CMYK colors. FOCOLTONE colors help avoid prepress trapping and registration problems. A swatch book with specifications for process and spot colors, overprint charts, and a chip book for marking up layouts are available from FOCOLTONE.
    • HKS swatches represent process colors that are optimized for standard printing output.
    • PANTONE® Colors are the worldwide standards for spot color reproduction. In 2000, a major revision was made to the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® Color guides. 147 new solid colors and seven additional metallic colors have been added to the System to now include a total of 1,114 colors. PANTONE Color guides and chip books are now printed on coated, uncoated and matte paper stocks to ensure accurate visualization of the printed result and better on-press control.

    Tip iconTo see how a solid PANTONE Color will look when printed in CMYK, refer to the PANTONE solid to process guide. This guide displays a visual comparison of 1,089 solid PANTONE Colors alongside their closest process color match. The CMYK screen tint percentages are printed under each color. The guide is now printed on a brighter coated stock and includes comparisons of the 147 new solid colors to CMYK. PANTONE process guides let you choose from over 3,000 process combinations now printed on coated and uncoated stocks. Displayed in chromatic order in fan-guide format, it's easy to select colors and specify CMYK screen values. Contact Pantone, Inc. in Carlstadt, NJ (http://www.pantone.com).

    • System (Macintosh) swatches contain the 256 default colors used with the Mac OS.
    • System (Windows) swatches contain the 256 default colors used with Windows.
    • Toyo are TOYO Color Finder 1050 swatches, which consist of more than 1000 colors based on the most common printing inks used in Japan. The TOYO Color Finder 1050 Book contains printed samples of Toyo colors and is available from printers and graphic arts supply stores.
    • Trumatch swatches provide predictable CMYK color matching with more than 2000 achievable, computer-generated colors. Trumatch colors cover the visible spectrum of the CMYK gamut in even steps. The Trumatch Colorfinder system displays up to 40 tints and shades of each hue, each originally created in four-color process and each reproducible in four colors on electronic imagesetters. In addition, four-color grays using different hues are included.
    • Visibone2 swatches provide Web-safe colors.
    • Web swatches contain the 216 colors used by all browsers, regardless of the platform.
    • In addition, various sample swatch libraries are provided with themes such as skin tones, metallic colors, and forest colors.

To make a swatch library appear each time Illustrator is started:

    Choose Persistent from the swatch library's palette menu. The library will now automatically open in the same position each time the Illustrator application is started.