Select by Swatches

Script for Adobe Illustrator

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Description

This script allows users to select objects in Adobe Illustrator based on their swatch colors. It provides a convenient way to find and select elements that use specific swatches in your document, whether as fill colors, stroke colors, or both.

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Additional Features

• Select objects based on fill color, stroke color, or both.
  
• Filter swatches by type (spot, gradient, pattern, grayscale).
  
• Search swatches by name.
  
• Support for multi-swatch selection.
  
• Automatically zooms to show selected objects.
  

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Installation

1. Download the Select by Swatches.jsx script file.

2. Place it in your Adobe Illustrator Scripts folder:

⮑ Mac: /Applications/Adobe Illustrator [Version]/Presets/<Language>/Scripts/

⮑ Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator[Version]\Presets<Language>\Scripts\

3. Restart Illustrator if it's already running.

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Getting Started

• Open your Adobe Illustrator document with the artwork you want to select objects from.
• Select some swatches in your Swatches panel (optional).
• Run the script from File > Scripts > Select by Swatches.
• When the dialog opens, you'll see a list of all swatches in your document.

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Using the Script

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➊ Choose swatches

The swatches list in the Select by Swatches script is a central interactive element that displays and allows selection of color swatches from your Illustrator document. Here's a detailed breakdown of its functionality:

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Multi-select support

The list allows you to select multiple swatches simultaneously for batch operations:

• Click on a single swatch to select it.
  
• Use Cmd/Ctrl+click to select multiple non-contiguous swatches.
• Use Shift+click to select a range of swatches.
• Click and drag to select multiple contiguous swatches.
• Double-clicking on a swatch in the list acts as a shortcut to execute the selection process.

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Two-column format

• The list displays each swatch with two columns of information: First column represents the swatch name as it appears in Illustrator.
• Second column represents the swatch type (RGB, CMYK, Spot/Global, Gradient, Pattern, Grayscale, etc.)

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Resizable Window

The Select by Swatches dialog is fully resizable, allowing you to customize the interface to better fit your workflow. Simply click and drag any edge or corner of the dialog window to adjust its dimensions. When resized, all elements within the dialog will automatically reposition and resize to maintain proper layout and visibility.

This feature is particularly useful when working with documents containing many swatches, as you can expand the window vertically to show more swatches at once in the list, reducing the need for scrolling.

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➋ Search by name

The "Search by Name" field in the Select by Swatches script provides a real-time filtering mechanism for the swatch list. Here's how it works:

• Real-time filtering: The swatch list updates automatically as you type, showing only swatches that match your search criteria.
• Case-insensitive search: The search is not case-sensitive, so typing "blue" will match "Blue", "BLUE", or "blue".
• Partial matching: The search looks for your text anywhere within a swatch name. For example, typing "dark" would match swatches named "Dark Blue", "Very Dark Green", or "Darkened Red".
• Works with current filter: The search respects your current selection in the "Swatch Filter" dropdown. If you've selected "Spot Swatches", the search will only filter through spot swatches.
• Clear to reset: Clearing the search field will restore the complete list of swatches (based on your current filter selection).

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This feature is particularly useful when working with documents that have many swatches, allowing you to quickly locate specific swatches by name without scrolling through a long list.

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➌ Filter swatches

The "Swatch Filter" dropdown in the Select by Swatches script provides powerful filtering capabilities that help you narrow down the swatches displayed in the list. The dropdown offers six filtering options:

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• All Document Swatches: Shows every swatch available in your document, including defaults like RGB, CMYK, spot, gradient, pattern, and grayscale swatches.
• Swatches Panel Selection: Displays only swatches that are currently selected in Illustrator's Swatches panel. This option automatically pre-selects these swatches in the list, allowing you to quickly work with swatches you've already identified in the Illustrator interface.
• Spot Swatches: Filters the list to show only spot color swatches (often used for special printing inks like Pantone colors).
• Gradient Swatches: Shows only gradient swatches, filtering out all solid colors, patterns, and other swatch types.
• Pattern Swatches: Displays only pattern swatches in your document.
• Grayscale Swatches: Shows only grayscale color swatches.

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➍ Choose selection mode

The "Selection Mode" dropdown in the Select by Swatches script provides critical control over how the script identifies and selects objects in your Illustrator document. This feature determines whether objects are selected based on their fill color, stroke color, or both.

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The dropdown offers three main selection options:

• Fill Color: When this option is selected, the script will only find and select objects that use the selected swatch(es) as their fill color. Objects that might use the same swatch for their stroke but have a different fill will not be selected.
• Stroke Color: This option causes the script to only find and select objects that use the selected swatch(es) as their stroke color. Objects that use the same swatch for their fill but have a different stroke will not be selected.
• Fill or Stroke Color: This is the most inclusive option and is selected by default. It will find and select any object that uses the selected swatch(es) in either its fill or stroke (or both). This is useful when you want to locate all instances of a particular color regardless of how it's applied. 

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➎ Execute the selection

• Click the "Select" button to find and select all objects matching your criteria.
• Clicking the "Cancel" button closes the dialog without applying changes.
• Remember that you can always access this guide by clicking the help icon ⏼ in the script dialog.

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After processing, the script will:

• Display a message showing how many items were selected.
• Automatically zoom the view to show all selected objects.
• Run the script again so you can make additional selections if needed.

 

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☻ Wrap-Up

The Select by Swatches script for Adobe Illustrator is a powerful tool that streamlines the process of finding and selecting objects based on their color attributes. By combining an intuitive interface with robust filtering capabilities, this script helps designers quickly locate and work with specific colored elements in complex documents.

Whether you need to select all objects using a particular spot color, find elements with specific gradients, or identify objects with matching stroke colors, this script provides the precision and flexibility required for efficient workflow management. The combination of searchable swatch names, type filtering, and selection mode options creates a comprehensive solution for color-based object selection.

By mastering this script, you'll save significant time on selection tasks that would otherwise require tedious manual searching, allowing you to focus more on the creative aspects of your design work. The automatic zoom feature further enhances usability by immediately showing you all selected objects across your artboard.

For designers who frequently work with complex, color-rich documents, the Select by Swatches script is an essential addition to your Illustrator workflow toolkit.

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