InDesign

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

  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.