Comments on: Cannot Delete InDesign Swatch?

By: Elisabetta Bruno

Elisabetta Bruno — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:12:12 +0000

So the style sheet wasn’t used anywhere, not even on a blank space (it can happen if you delete things)? Were you asked to replace the colour with something else when you deleted the paragraph/style sheet?

By: NomadNadia

NomadNadia — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:46:02 +0000

I finally was able to delete a swatch by deleting the Pargraph/character style sheet [though it wasnt used], was in the file and had that swatch applied as part of the style sheet (character color)…

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:29:47 +0000

OOOOH I LOOOOOOOVE THE ONLINE CREATIVE COMMUNITY!!! THANKS SO SO SO SOS OS OSOSOSOSOSOS MUCH for all the suggestions. I’d tried both ways on day one with nothing working. shut down. went home frustrated. Prayed about it! Next morn i got to try No. 1 nothing working. No. 2 worked and it felt like a real miracle! MWAH!

By: Steve Walker

Steve Walker — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:34:20 +0000

Thanks. I found another way to do it that is even easier. Import an eps or similar containing the swatch name you cannot delete. Now delete that graphic from InDesign. You should now be able to delete the unwanted swatch. Don’t know how it works but it does!

By: emi

emi — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 19:22:37 +0000

Thank you so much!
The second solution worked for me!

By: S. Hetzel

S. Hetzel — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:14:33 +0000

Thank you so much. This tip helped me tremendously. I was going crazy. Number 2 is the tip that ended up working for me.

By: Elisabetta Bruno

Elisabetta Bruno — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:21:48 +0000

I am not talking about a swatch that is in a placed graphic. You just cannot and shouldn’t delete those.

It has happened that, despite the fact that there is no spot colour in any graphics, the swatch just wouldn’t delete.

This is a remedy for this kind of situation, call it bug if you will, where trying to delete it the normal way fails and the graphics don’t actually have any spot colour in them.

By: Jelmar

Jelmar — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:06:33 +0000

Actually, the cause of undeletable swatches is that the swatch is being used in a placed graphic. Like an .eps or something like that.
Deleting it would not be a smart thing. Just open the graphic, and change the color, and then try to delete the swatch again.

By: T. Buenerkemper

T. Buenerkemper — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:33:22 +0000

Also, instead of waiting for the file to export completely, simply cancel and the trash can should now be ungrayed and you should be able to delete the ghost color. Then just save and close your file….

Worked for me!

By: Simon van Gend

Simon van Gend — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 06:53:32 +0000

fantastic – had tried everything and was in despair and then number 2 did the trick. Thanks.