Create my own color palette in Photoshop

Question

How do I create and save custom palettes to reuse on other projects?

Answer 1

If you already have a color palette in the Color Palette window then skip to step 7. Otherwise:

1. Delete existing color swatches from the Swatches palette

2. Select the eyedropper tool

3. Sample your first color from the image

   Note that to you can also press B to select the brush tool, then hold Alt and click to sample a color.

4. Move your mouse cursor into the empty area inside the Swatches palette. You'll see your mouse cursor change into a paint bucket icon.

5. Click anywhere inside the empty area to convert your sampled color into a color swatch. Photoshop will pop up a dialog box asking you to enter a name for your color swatch.

6. Continue sampling colors and creating swatches for as long as you need

7. When you're done, save those swatches as a swatch set:

   • Click on the small right-pointing arrow in the top right corner of the Swatches palette to access the palette menu.
   • Then select Save Swatches from the menu that appears. Name your collection and you're good to go.

8. Load your custom swatch set

The next time you want to use your custom color swatch set, all you need to do is click once again on the right-pointing arrow at the top of the Swatches palette to access the palette menu.

If you look down at the bottom of the menu, you'll see a list of additional color swatch sets that are available. Most of these are additional sets that installed with Photoshop, but since Photoshop saves our custom swatch sets in the same directory as the other sets it comes with, you'll find your custom sets listed here as well. All you need to do is click on the name of your custom set to select it.