Keynote 6.0: How do I Change Default Colors in the drop down fill boxes?

Question

Keynote 6.0: How do I Change Default Colors in the drop down fill boxes?

We use custom color palette for all of our keynote presentations, and the existing "default" colors that show up in the color fill drop-downs are a big pain currently. There is a lot of clicking needed to get to the custom color-palettes in the color wheel. Is there a way to customize the drop-down colors that show up first to match our color palette?

We have tried dragging and dropping our colors into the default ones in hopes to overwrite them like the old keynote worked, but that doesn't do it.

Its a very new update so no help topics on this seem to answer! But I cannot imagine we are the only ones who need to be able to customize the color palattes! Screenshot of the drop-down colors in question that need to be customized:

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 31, 2013 8:45 AM

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Answer 1

trailgirl

Level 2

310 points

Oct 31, 2013 9:48 AM in response to francesfromchicago

Can you use the color picker? Click the color wheel next to the fill color in the Inspector. Or Shift-CMD-C. You can save custom palettes and they are system-wide. In some cases you may need to select what kind of Fill first.

Message was edited by: trailgirl added note about selecting the Fill

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Answer 2

Oct 31, 2013 9:49 AM in response to trailgirl

We do know about the color picker. Navigating to the color picked adds unneccessary steps and clicking, and has already caused a lot of confusion in our offices; you should be able to customize the default drop-down colors, which is what I am trying to do. Also, the default colors that show up in the drop-down are causing people to use the wrong colors, which is a problem!

Why do those not have color-memory (last used colors) or anything more customizable to the document? It seems silly!

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Answer 3

trailgirl

Level 2

310 points

Oct 31, 2013 10:11 AM in response to francesfromchicago

I see what you mean, and yes that would add confusion.

I did nothce that the colors vary from one template to another. For example, open a new document with a template, the default Black. Place a square and click the color fill to see the drop down colors. Now open a new document with another template, Artisan, do the same thing and you'll see a different color palette in the drop down.

So it looks like the colors can somehow be changed.

Anyone have suggestions for best workflow?

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Answer 4

capsmet

Level 1

4 points

May 18, 2014 12:17 PM in response to francesfromchicago

This youtube video adds to what trailgirl discussed, and may be a solution for what you're looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvS9Uz2rAvM

capsmet

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Answer 5

Rab1984

Level 1

4 points

Aug 5, 2014 3:27 PM in response to francesfromchicago

Any Luck?

So I am working with a deck we got from Duarte (The presentation people that did Al Gores presentation in Inconvenient Truth) and they won't tell me how they did this feature of customizing the color fill pallet. It is killing me, I just want the color pallet to follow the deck am I asking for too much? PowerPoint does it, Excel Does it, Even Illustrator.

Let me know if you ever get an answer to this perfect question!!!!

rabideau.aaron@gmail.com

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Answer 6

Aug 26, 2014 5:41 PM in response to francesfromchicago

Finally figured it out!

1) Set a Background color of choice

2) Click on the upper right color box, adjacent to "Background" label

3) Drag color from the "Current Fill" box to any of the "Color Fills" boxes below

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Answer 7

Aug 5, 2015 11:40 AM in response to GlassZach

This worked perfectly! Thank you!

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Answer 8

Sep 24, 2015 11:21 AM in response to GlassZach

GlassZach, you ROCK! I spent an hour at the Genius bar trying to figure this out, and the Apple Genius didn't know how to do that. He agreed there must be a way because so many templates were using custom palettes, but he had no idea how to do it. I really, really needed to do that for my client. Thank you so much for posting this tip!

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Answer 9

sssssztf

Level 1

0 points

Jan 30, 2016 12:21 PM in response to GlassZach

Thank you very much! Hours of time saved 🙂!

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Answer 10

hyung s

Level 1

4 points

May 16, 2017 8:34 PM in response to francesfromchicago

I can not help commenting "THANK YOU!" It has been always pain in the butt. It is a shame this thread started 4 years ago, and I have been using color picker cursing every time.

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