Color List

Add a list of the colours in your artwork to proofs, approval forms and spec sheets in one click: a swatch and the name (or formula) of every colour, laid out neatly. It also shows up colours that shouldn't be in the artwork. (In the shop: Proof Color List.)

See it in the shop · Version 3.0.9 · Needs PowerScripts 3.8.42 or later

Open the PowerScripts panel (Window > Extensions > PowerScripts) and choose Color List from the Color Tools scripts. The script has three tabs: Options, Color Name Library and Layout.

1. Select the artwork.
2. Press Get Colors. The colours are listed in the panel.
3. Untick any you don't want on the proof, and change names if you like.
4. Press Create List.

• Source: the colours of the Selection, All Swatches, or the Selected Swatches.
• Include process colors: list CMYK and RGB colours too. Untick for spot colours only.
• Include color formula for spot colors: show each spot colour's formula (CMYK, RGB or Lab) as well as its name.
• Position: put the list Below Artboard, Below Selection, or at a Fixed Position (x and y).
• Get Colors: fill the list below from the Source.
• Select All, Select None: tick or untick every colour.
• The colour list: untick colours to leave them off, type a new name, or delete a colour with the X.
• Create List: adds the colour list to your document.

Give common colours friendly names automatically, for example CMYK 0,0,100,0 is listed as “CMYK Yellow”.

• Matching Color: the colour to look for.
• Display Name: the name to show instead of its formula.
• Match:
  • Exact: the formula must be exactly the same (CMYK 0,0,100,0 matches, 0,0,99.7,0 doesn't).
  • Close: within the Tolerance on each ink, for example a tolerance of 2 matches CMYK 50,90,0,0 to anything from 48,88,0,0 to 52,92,0,0.
  • Lab ΔE: when the colours look alike, within the Tolerance in Delta E.
  • None: never matches.
• Lab ΔE Method: the Delta E formula for Lab ΔE matching (1976, 1994 or 2000).

• Font, Font Size.
• Text Left Padding: the gap between the swatch and its name.
• Vertical Spacing: the gap between colours.
• Shape Width, Shape Height: the size of each swatch.
• Color Shape: Circle, Rectangle, Custom or None.
• Custom Shape: your own swatch shape. Select a shape in Illustrator and press Use Selected Shape as Custom (Reset goes back to the default).
• Fit Custom Shape to size: fit the custom shape to the Shape Width and Height. Untick to use it at its own size.
• Rows: how many colours in a column before starting a new one.
• Column Spacing: the gap between columns.

1. Set Position to Fixed Position, at the place on your form for the colours.
2. Set up the Layout to match the form, and save it as a preset (see Using Presets).
3. On each job: select the artwork, Get Colors, Create List.

• Use the Color Name Library for your house colours, so the list says “Logo Blue” instead of a formula.
• A colour you didn't expect in the list? Find and fix it with Color Replacer.
• For printed colour test patches instead of a list, see Color Print Samples.

• Making a colour list never changes the colours in your document.
• On a long list a Stop button shows while it works.

• 3.0.9
  • New: a long colour list can be stopped.
  • Fixed: making a colour list no longer changes the spot colours in your document (their values were rounded).
  • Fixed: Get Colors with All Swatches works again, and the list uses the Font you pick.
  • Improved: long lists are made faster, and general bug fixes and reliability.
• 3.0.5: Buy in PowerScripts now opens this script's page in the shop.
• 3.0.4: Updated for PowerScripts 3.8.32.
• Older changes: PowerScripts Release Notes