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Applying color

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Apply color

Adobe InDesign provides a number of tools for applying color, including the Toolbox, the Swatches panel, the Color panel, the Color Picker, and the Control panel.

When you apply a color, you can specify whether the color applies to the stroke or fill of an object. The stroke is the border, or frame, of an object, and the fill is the background of an object. When you apply a color to a text frame, you can specify whether the color change affects the text frame or the text inside the frame.

  1. Select the object you want to color by doing one of the following:
    • For a path or frame, use the Selection tool  or the Direct Selection tool , as necessary.
    • For a grayscale or monochrome (1‑bit) image, click the Content Grabber or use the Direct Selection tool. You can apply only two colors to a grayscale or monochrome image.
    • For text characters, use the Type tool  to change the text color of a single word or the entire text within a frame.

    To change the color of gaps in a dashed, dotted, or striped stroke, use the Stroke panel.

  2. In the Toolbox or in the Color or Swatches panel, select the Formatting Affects Text or Formatting Affects Container to determine whether color is applied to the text or the text frame.
  3. In the Toolbox or in the Color or Swatches panel, select the Fill box or the Stroke box to specify the fill or stroke of the object. (If you selected an image, the Stroke box has no effect.)


    Specify how color is applied in the Toolbox
    A. Fill box B. Formatting Affects Container C. Stroke box D. Formatting Affects Text 
  4. Do one of the following:
    • Select a color, tint, or gradient using the Swatches or Gradient panel.
    • Select a color, tint, or gradient from the Fill or Stroke menu in the Control panel.
    • Double-click either the Fill or Stroke box in the Toolbox or the Color panel to open the Color Picker. Select the desired color, and click OK.

You can apply color to any grayscale image, provided it does not contain alpha or spot channels. If you imported an image with a clipping path, select the clipping path using the Direct Selection tool to apply color to the clipped area only.

Select a color with the Color Picker

The Color Picker lets you choose colors from a color field or specify colors numerically. You can define colors using the RGB, Lab, or CMYK color model.

  1. Double-click either the Fill or Stroke box in the Toolbox or the Color panel to open the Color Picker.
  2. To change the color spectrum displayed in the Color Picker, click a letter: R (Red), G (Green), or B (Blue); or L (luminance), a (green-red axis), or b (blue-yellow axis).


    Color Picker
    A. Original color B. New color C. Color field D. Color slider triangles E. Color spectrum 
  3. To define a color, do any of the following:
    • Click or drag inside the color field. Cross-hairs indicate the color’s position in the color field.
    • Drag the color slider triangles along the color spectrum or click inside the color spectrum.
    • Enter values in any of the text boxes.
  4. To save the color as a swatch, click Add CMYK Swatch, Add RGB Swatch, or Add Lab Swatch. InDesign adds the color to the Swatches panel, using the color values as its name.
  5. Click OK.

Apply the last used color

The Toolbox displays the last color or gradient you applied. You can apply this color or gradient directly from the Toolbox.

  1. Select the object or text you want to color.
  2. In the Toolbox, click the Fill button or Stroke button depending on which portion of the text or object you want to color.
  3. In the Toolbox, do one of the following:
    • Click the Color button  to apply the last selected solid color in the Swatches or Color panel.
    • Click the Gradient button  to apply the last selected gradient in the Swatches or Gradient panel.
    • Click the None button  to remove the object’s fill or stroke.

Remove fill or stroke color

  1. Select the text or object whose color you want to remove.
  2. In the Toolbox, click the Fill button or Stroke button depending on which portion of the text or object you want to change.
  3. Click the None button  to remove the object’s fill or stroke.

Applying colors by dragging and dropping

An easy way to apply colors or gradients is to drag them from a color source to an object or panel. Dragging and dropping lets you apply colors or gradients to objects without first selecting the objects. You can drag the following:

  • The Fill or Stroke box in the Toolbox or a panel.

  • The Gradient box in the Gradient panel.

  • Swatches from the Swatches panel.

  • The last-used, in-gamut color swatch located next to the out-of-gamut icon  in a panel.

You can drop colors or gradients on the following objects and panels:

  • The fill or stroke of a path. To drop color on a fill or stroke, position the center of the drag icon precisely over the path’s fill or stroke while you drag a color, and then release the mouse button.

  • The Swatches panel.

If you drag one or more Swatches panel swatches, or the color swatch next to an out‑of‑gamut icon, you can drop them into another InDesign document window, which adds the swatches to that document’s Swatches panel.

Apply a color or gradient swatch

  1. Using the Selection tool , select a text or object frame; or using the Text tool , select a range of text.

  2. If the Swatches panel is not open, choose Window > Color > Swatches.

  3. In the Swatches panel, select the Fill box or the Stroke box.

  4. Do one of the following:

    • To apply color to selected text, click the Text button .

    • To apply color to a selected object or text container (such as a frame or a table), click the Object button .

  5. Click a color or gradient swatch. The selected color or gradient is applied to any selected text or object, and it appears in the Color panel and in the Fill box or Stroke box in the Toolbox.

You can set the default fill or stroke colors the same way you set other InDesign defaults. Choose Edit > Deselect All to make sure that no objects are selected, and then choose a color.

Apply color using the Color panel

Although the Swatches panel is the recommended panel for working with colors, you can also mix colors by using the Color panel; you may be familiar with it if you use other Adobe products, such as Adobe Illustrator.

You can add the current Color panel color to the Swatches panel at any time. The Color panel is most useful for mixing unnamed colors.

Note:

If you select an object that currently uses a named swatch, editing its color using the Color panel will change the color of that object only. If you want to edit the color throughout the document, double-click its swatch in the Swatches panel.

Edit the fill or stroke color

  1. Select the object or text you want to change.
  2. If the Color panel is not displayed, choose Window > Color.
  3. Select the Fill box or the Stroke box in the Color panel.


    Color panel
    A. Fill box B. Stroke box C. Formatting Affects Container D. Formatting Affects Text 
  4. If you selected a text frame, select the Container box  or Text box  to change the color of either the fill or text within the frame.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • Adjust the Tint slider, which appears by default if the object uses a swatch from the Swatches panel.
    • Choose a Lab, CMYK, or RGB color model in the Color panel menu, and use the sliders to change the color values. You can also enter numeric values in the text boxes next to the color sliders.
    • Position the pointer over the color bar, and click.
    • Double-click the Fill or Stroke box, and select a color from the Color Picker. Then click OK.
  6. If an out-of-gamut alert icon  appears, and you want to use the CMYK color values closest to the color you originally specified, click the small color box next to the alert icon.

Create a swatch from a color in the Color panel

  1. In the Color panel, make sure that the active Fill or Stroke box displays the color you want to add.
  2. Choose Add To Swatches in the panel menu.

Cycle through color modes

  • Do one of the following:
    • In the Color panel, Shift-click the color bar at the bottom of the panel.
    • In the New Color Swatch or Swatch Options dialog box, Shift-click the color box.
    • In the New Gradient or Gradient Options dialog box, select a gradient stop, make sure that RGB, LAB, or CMYK is selected in the Stop Color menu, and then Shift-click the color box.

Apply colors using the Eyedropper tool

Use the Eyedropper tool  to copy fill and stroke attributes, such as color, from any object in an InDesign file, including an imported graphic. By default, the Eyedropper tool loads all available fill and stroke attributes of an object and sets the default fill and stroke attributes of any new objects you draw. You can use the Eyedropper Options dialog box to change the attributes the Eyedropper tool copies. You can also use the Eyedropper tool to copy type and transparency attributes.

Note:

If an attribute is not listed in the Eyedropper Options dialog box, it can’t be copied with the Eyedropper tool.

Apply colors using the Eyedropper tool

  1. Select one or more objects that have the fill and stroke attributes you want to change.

  2. Select the Eyedropper tool .

  3. Click any object that has the fill and stroke attributes you want to sample. A loaded eyedropper appears , and the selected objects are automatically updated with the fill and stroke attributes of the object you clicked.

  4. To change other objects to the same attributes, click the objects with the loaded eyedropper. If an object is stroked and not filled, be sure to click the object’s outline.

Pick up new attributes when the Eyedropper tool is loaded

  1. Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) while the Eyedropper tool  is loaded. The Eyedropper tool reverses direction, and appears empty , to indicate that it’s ready to pick up new attributes.

  2. Without releasing the Alt or Option key, click an object containing the attributes that you want to copy, and then release the Alt or Option key so that you can drop the new attributes on another object.

Change Eyedropper tool settings

  1. In the Toolbox, double-click the Eyedropper tool .

  2. Select the attributes in the Fill Settings and Stroke Settings sections that you want to copy with the Eyedropper tool, and then click OK.

To pick up only the fill or stroke color of an object and no other attributes, Shift-click the object with the Eyedropper tool. When you apply the color to another object, only the fill or stroke color is applied, depending on whether the stroke or fill is on top in the toolbar.

Apply colors to grayscale images

You can add color to a placed grayscale image in InDesign.

  1. Make sure the image is saved as a grayscale or bitmap image and that it’s saved in PSD, TIFF, BMP, or JPG format.

    In Photoshop, you can choose Image > Mode > Bitmap or Image > Mode > Grayscale.

  2. Click the Content Grabber, or use the Direct Selection tool  to select the image.

  3. Select a color from the Swatches panel or Color panel.

If the image is in PSD format, it may contain multiple layers, but the bottom layer must be opaque. You cannot apply color to a PSD image with a transparent background in InDesign. In addition, the grayscale image cannot contain alpha or spot channels.

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