Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 475)

469 USING INDESIGN
Color
Last updated 11/16/2011
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.
Working with swatches
Swatches panel overview
The Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches) lets you create and name colors, gradients, or tints, and quickly
apply them to your document. Swatches are similar to paragraph and character styles; any change you make to a swatch
affects all objects to which the swatch is applied. Swatches make it easier to modify color schemes without having to
locate and adjust each individual object.
When the fill or stroke of selected text or an object contains a color or gradient applied from the Swatches panel, the
applied swatch is highlighted in the Swatches panel. Swatches you create are associated only with the current
document. Each document can have a different set of swatches stored in its Swatches panel.
When working with a prepress service provider, swatches let you clearly identify spot colors. You can also specify color
settings in a preflight profile to determine which color settings work with your printer.