Illustrator - Save & Reuse Pattern Swatches - Keep Patterns Accessible

[@begodeapoita]

I cannot thank you enough for this video, Helen!!

[@HelenBradley]

You are so welcome!

[@MrZooBreak]

Helen, you are the BEST! No complex instructions can defeat your clear explanations.

[@HelenBradley]

Glad you think so!

[@annajanowska6164]

Helen, whenever I am having any problem with Illustrator, there is always a video form you covering it! Straight information with no unnecessary comments. Thank you so much for saving me time and trouble! :)

[@HelenBradley]

I am so happy to hear this Anna.

[@carpathianshepherdess4990]

Thank you! I've been looking everywhere for instructions on how to do this.

[@HelenBradley]

Great to hear

[@sahos7244]

Madam, Great example. It is really helpful.

[@HelenBradley]

I’m so happy to hear this.

[@valerieflaim4546]

Thank you so much. I appreciate this Helen.

[@HelenBradley]

You are so welcome!

[@hasantaz7832]

EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED, THANKS!

[@HelenBradley]

I’m so happy to hear this.

[@dcwatashi]

Just what I needed. Thanks SO MUCH. I learned this 15 years ago, so I knew it could be done. You've made my life easier once again Helen!! Love love love your tutorials. Appreciated the time and effort into making these.

[@HelenBradley]

I am so glad you found my channel and that you can now save your swatches! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

[@terriparkin9276]

Thank you so much, this really helped me and has saved me from hours of frustration!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome!

[@madysenyates6419]

Oh my God thank you!! I’ve been trying to do this for the last hour and the blog I was following had me soo confused! I’ll be trying this later tonight!😊

[@HelenBradley]

Madysen I am so happy you found this video and that you solved your issue.

[@leenie7241]

You are amazing Helen thank you so much, short and sweet - Cheers

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome, Thank you for the kind words and for stopping by my channel.

[@Elizabethvnv]

This was a very clear and useful tutorial. Thank you so much.

[@HelenBradley]

Thank you for your kind comment Elizabeth. Glad to be of help.

[@jessicaguadiz3196]

life saver!thank you so much!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome!

[@kaw18thar]

Very useful video, God bless you and thank you very much!

[@HelenBradley]

Thank you for your kind words! I am very pleased that the video was helpful!

[@rainy342]

This was very helpful Helen!

[@HelenBradley]

You are welcome! Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@parvez4455]

God has really helped me by directing me to your channel...really useful tutorials and to the point, esp this tutorial when i needed it the most....keep up the good work !

[@HelenBradley]

I'm glad you found the video useful, Thanks for stopping by my channel.

[@christopherreinhardt5185]

Thanks Helen, really helpful.

[@HelenBradley]

I am so glad this helped Christopher, thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@michellei834]

Very helpful...thank you!

[@HelenBradley]

My pleasure

[@elsanilaj6135]

Very simple & very helpful :) Thank you !

[@HelenBradley]

Glad this worked for you Elsa. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@LeraKimchi]

Thank you for this video! It is very helpful.

[@HelenBradley]

I am pleased to hear that the video was useful! Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@melrowlands4801]

Thanks so much for this Helen

[@HelenBradley]

Cheers Mel - I am glad it was of value to you.

[@foxlarssonart]

Thank you so much, your tutorial really helped me!

[@HelenBradley]

I’m so glad the video was helpful to you. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@gifernandes7269]

YOU ARE AMAZING!

[@HelenBradley]

So glad to be of help.

[@JosephArceLogodesign]

Hi Helen, nice video!, Question: What happen when we update Illustrator version. Should we save the patterns subfolders in another folder, to avoid illustrator erase the main folder containing all the subfolders with the pattern swatches we have created? Thanks!

[@HelenBradley]

That’s a really good question Joseph. I think the Adobe is pretty good about leaving the folders in place Even when the application is removed/updated. But, in general, if I had patterns that I really cared about it would be a good idea to at least include them in your regular back up routine. For that reason and because of where the patterns are stored inside hidden folders it’s probably a good idea to regularly make a back up of those files or at least check that your back up routine is including them.

[@loriwoodard6955]

Hi Helen - Thank you for your video. It has helped a lot. Question - I have saved a group of colors to use throughout a pattern collection and I saved as instructed and used through. But know when putting the patterns together decided to change a couple of colors. So I saved the new group. How do I go into my libraries or where is my libraries located so that I can delete the first color group? Actually after I am finished with a collection I could delete both to keep it tidy.

[@wanderfulbyaki9686]

thank you for the tips

[@HelenBradley]

No problem!

[@anshikaraj2230]

Thank you so much. ❤

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome 😊

[@emilywills8689]

Thank you so much for all your super useful tutorial videos. I have a quick question....I have created a pattern, saved to swatches, followed your video to save pattern swatch to library but the option to save to library is grey'ed out and I cannot save!! Any ideas? Really appreciate your time and expertise on any info!

[@HelenBradley]

Try saving as an ai file instead - it is the other option on the fly out menu. That should work just fine. Let me know if you still have problems.

[@JordanLikeSherbet]

Ace! Thank you

[@HelenBradley]

My pleasure!

[@richardmendoza4389]

Thanks for this Helen! I just discovered the hard way that the pattern swatches needed to be saved b4 I closed Illustrator...all that conversion from photoshop, for nothing. D'OH!😫

[@HelenBradley]

Oh Richard, I am so sorry. Photoshop and Illustrator work so differently in terms of patterns and, yes, you have to save them or they go into a big digital waste bin (alongside some of my patterns - mea culpa!). I now make it a rule to always save everything! I have a folder called Deletable Junk and, if I think I absolutely don't need something - it goes in there. Periodically I empty out this folder but, if I make a mistake, the solution is often to be found there! I hope it won't be too much effort for you to rebuild what you lost?

[@richardmendoza4389]

@@HelenBradley Agreed, Photoshop & Illustrator are related? Sometimes I fail to see how! I only say this out of frustration that as much as I try, I still know so little about Illustrator. But, to answer your question, yes, I was able to recover my mistake, & after watching this vid, happy to announce the swatch list is now saved & copied to my computer.

[@HelenBradley]

Awesome news Richard - I'm glad you got your swatch back.

[@annaavital5612]

thank you!

[@HelenBradley]

Cheers Anna!

[@milesawayG]

Thank you so much !

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome! Thank you for stopping by my channel

[@mouradselmi2336]

Thanks Helen

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome, Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@JeremysJackoffHand]

I followed this step by step, but when I tried opening the saved file I get an error saying "Illustrator could partially read this file. We recovered as much of the file as possible, but some content might be missing. Open to view the recovered file." Then it opens a screen with text on it. Would love to know what I've done wrong.

[@HelenBradley]

Ok, try this again and open the file. Now open the Swatch panel and see if your pattern swatches are there. I'm willing to bet they are and everything is just fine. If this is not the case, can you restart your computer (total restart), close all other applications that don't need to be open and try again. That often helps.

[@hellsbells961]

I was so.frustrated because my swatches kept going missing . Thanks for this no fuss tutorial . 🙂

[@HelenBradley]

That sucks doesn’t it? So glad you found this video.

[@zenfulkatoria]

Thank you!

[@HelenBradley]

You're welcome, Thank you for stopping by my channel.

[@amismith4693]

thank yooooouuu!!!

[@HelenBradley]

My pleasureeeeeee!

[@str8sports885]

are we able to add new swatch patterns to a saved swatch file?

[@HelenBradley]

Great question. No you can't do this easily. You will have to empty the current swatches (delete them all except [None], [Registration] and the new swatch to save. Then open the swatches file you want to add the new swatch to. Drag all the swatches from this file into the Swatches panel and close the panel for the swatches file that you just opened. Now you can save the swatches giving it the same file name as the one you wanted to add it to. So you're basically recreating the file the hard way. It's cumbersome and ridiculous but unfortunately saving Swatches isn't one of Illustrator's strengths - it's always been a stupid workflow and adding swatches to an existing file just takes a stupid workflow into another dimension of stupidity. I hope this helps? Let me know if you still have questions.

[@georgeluchoronga2462]

Hi, am getting error message whenever I try to save in ai format. Also I can't access any patterns whenever I save as ase format, please I need your help

[@HelenBradley]

Ase format doesn’t save patterns so that’s why you can’t access patterns when you save as ASE files. You have to save an AI format. Perhaps try saving to a different location and then copy the file into your swatches folder. That might work.

[@georgeluchoronga2462]

@@HelenBradley Thanks a lot

[@rokhyrokhy5319]

Thank you. i have a question, how can we save a swache pattern as a file for fabric printing because when I click on a pattern in swach that's like as seamless pattern in artwork or another shape in illustrator,and fills the shape, but if i want to save like as a file for fabric printing sa png or tiff corners are not like repeating patterns,don't complete each other .save me please !!! :)

[@HelenBradley]

Hi there. Great question, here is a video which shows how to prep a swatch for Illustrator: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmGwnKyNntF7jM0 let me know if you still have questions when you have watched that video?

[@שרונהרודהין]

the best

[@HelenBradley]

I’m so glad you enjoyed this video.

[@leewilson1978]

What you didn't mention is that this is limited to the computer you save to. I find this a big limitation with saving swatches, I want my patterns and swatches available on all my computers.

[@HelenBradley]

You're right. However the AI file that you are saving can be saved anywhere and used on any computer.

[@leewilson1978]

@@HelenBradley good point, Thanks Helen

[@HelenBradley]

Lee I'm also looking into how they can be stored in Libraries and so shared with all other computers on the same Adobe account.

[@billholl5305]

Helen you G

[@HelenBradley]

:)