How I save the gradient color that I made with Flood Select Tool

[jinnyjinny]

I drew multiple square star shapes, turned them into pixel, and I chose all of them, using Flood Select Tool.

And I applied a gradient color to them.

But I couldn't save that gradient color to the swatches.

When I save that gradient color, using Add to Swatches -> From Fill,

Affinity Photo only saves one solid color.

When I draw a ractangle, apply a gradient color, and I try to save that gradient color,

Affinity Photo can save whole gradient color.

It makes me confused how I can save a gradient color that I make.

[GarryP]

When you apply a gradient fill to a Pixel Layer (or selection within one), the ‘identity’ of the gradient is lost once you start to do something else. This means that when you come to try and later add the gradient information to a palette as a swatch you will only get the original colour of the shape or the colour which is subsequently given to that shape (which may not be seen when applied).
To put that another way, the gradient will be used to fill the area but, once the gradient has been applied, the gradient is applied pixel-by-pixel and the original gradient settings have gone.
See my attached video for an example.

If you want to add a gradient fill to shape then don’t rasterise it before you add the fill. That way you will be able to modify the gradient, or add it to a palette, as the shape will retain the gradient fill settings.
I hope this helps to clarify things a bit.

[NotMyFault]

In you screenshot I can see that the gradient is still listed in the “recent” category. So you can still save it!
add any shape (e.g. rectangular shape), apply the wanted gradient from recent, and save it as own swatch, ideally in a new category (not recents, e.g. “my gradients” or “gradients”)

It seems you can only add gradients if a vector shape (others might work, pixel layer don’t work) is active before you switch to gradient tool. I find this UI very confusing, too.