Applying colors by dragging and dropping, Apply a color or gradient swatch, Apply color using the color panel – Adobe InDesign CS5 User Manual
Page 473: Edit the fill or stroke color
467
USING INDESIGN
Color
Last updated 11/16/2011
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.