How To Import And Export Color Palettes In Procreate

• October 11, 2022
• Nick Saporito
• no comments

One of the many benefits of working with Procreate for the iPad is that it makes it easy to create your own color palettes. The problem, however, is that any color palette you create will be confined to that device. In this tutorial we’ll be going over how to import and export color palettes in Procreate so you can work with them on other devices if you’d like.

In a previous tutorial we went over how to use Procreate to generate color palettes from images. To save, or “export” that color palette, we’ll have to use the menu system and choose a path to save it to. Then, we’ll need to open, or “import” the color palette in order to work with it on another device. Let’s dig in.

Saving And Transferring Color Palettes

The following video tutorial will walk you through the entire process for exporting and importing color palettes in Procreate, and in less than 2 minutes:

Continue on for a brief written explanation.

How To Export Color Palettes

Let’s first go over how to export, or save, a color palette in Procreate. Then we’ll have a look at how you can import that palette later on.

Step 1: Open the Palettes menu via the Color menu

To export a color palette in Procreate, you’ll need to access the Palettes menu. This can be access via the color menu by tapping the Palettes icon in the bottom-right corner of the colors menu:

Access the Palettes menu in the bottom-right corner of the Colors menu.

If you’re unsure how to access the color menu, just tap the round color disc in the top-right corner of your screen.

Step 2: Tap the three little dots next to the color palette you’d like to export

Next, locate your color palette and tap on the three little dots to the right of its name label. From the menu that populates, choose Share. Then, when prompted to choose where to share it, scroll down to the bottom of the list and choose Save To Files:

Tap the three little circles to save (or “share”) your palette.

Step 3: Choose a path to save it to and name it

Now we need to name the palette and choose a location to save the file to.

At this point you will be prompted to choose a path to save the file to. This will save the palette to your iCloud drive, meaning you’ll be able to access it on any other device in which you are logged in to your Apple account.

Choose a folder/location that you’re familiar with and will know how to access on your other devices, and then name your file:

Name your palette and designate a location to save it to.

By default, the file’s name will automatically be the same as the palette’s name in the Palettes menu. However, you can change its name by simply tapping on it if you’d like.

Once you are finished, simply tap the Save button in the top-right corner of the menu. The color palette that you have exported from Procreate will be saved as a .swatches file.

How To Import Color Palettes

Now that we’ve gone over how to save your color palette, let’s examine how to import that same color palette into Procreate.

Step 1: Open the Palettes menu via the Color menu

In order to import a color palette into Procreate we will need to access the Palettes menu via the Colors menu, same as we did in step 1 of the exporting lesson.

Tap on the color disc in the top-right corner of your screen to open the colors menu, then tap the Swatches button at the bottom-right of the screen to open your Swatches menu.

Step 2: Tap the plus (+) icon in the top-right corner to import a color palette

To import your palette, all you have to do now is tap the little plus (+) icon in the top-right corner of the Palettes menu:

Tap the plus icon to add a new palette.

The allows you to add a new color palette.

Step 3: Choose “From File” and locate the color palette on your hard drive

Once you’ve tapped the add new palette button, choose From File from the list to import a palette from elsewhere:

Choose From File and access the saved palette on your hard drive.

Once selected, you will be prompted to choose a file to import. Locate your color palette on your hard drive and select it to import it.

Once imported, it should be indexed in your Palettes menu and ready to use in the same as it was on your other device.

Conclusion

Knowing how to export and import color palettes in Procreate is simply a matter of navigating through the menu system. Thankfully, Procreate makes this a simple process. So if you’ve recently upgraded to a new iPad and need to transfer your color palettes from the old device to the new one, you now know what to do.

That said, if you have any questions or need clarification on any of the steps taken in this lesson, simply leave a comment below.

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