Conclusionĭo not let trouble with deleting color swatches delay your project. This should prevent CS3 from crashing the next time you delete a color. For software updates, visit and download the latest CS3 update.
If you try to delete a color used in a transparency effect and InDesign CS3 crashes, you need to update your version of the software. When your computer crashes, it can be very frustrating, but be encouraged. Now you are all set to finish your poster or brochure printing projcet. Go to the Swatches menu and click Select All Unused, then delete.
Next you need to put the PDF file in the original InDesign file and delete the PDF. After accepting the default settings, click Export. Go to File-Adobe PDF Presets-High Quality Print. Then drag each color one by one from your original document over to the new document, filling in the empty rectangles. Make sure you can see your original document and the new document at the same time. Then draw a small rectangle object for each color you are using. Importing as a PDF file works if you have a color swatch that will not delete, even a spot color. To do this, after opening your InDesign file, go to the Swatches menu. Sometimes simply choosing to delete all unused swatches at once will work when deleting a single swatch will not. Now you can continue working on your website, catalog, or brochure printing project. When you open the new file in InDesign, you should be able to delete the swatches you want to delete. When the Export box appears, select InDesign Interchange and then click Save. Using the export to InDesign Interchange method works for both CS and CS2 when you can’t delete swatches in InDesign. For information on how you can use grayscale in your InDesign work, see this article: Going Gray: Converting InDesign Documents to Grayscale. If you want to change it to an unnamed color, click on Unnamed Swatch.
If you want to replace all instances of the color with another swatch, then click on Defined Swatch and choose the swatch you want to change to. If you are using CS4, you can delete the swatch and InDesign will prompt you to replace it. Delete the graphic that has the color then you will be able to delete the swatch. If you can’t delete swatches in InDesign, one of the colors may be in a graphic without you realizing it.