Global colors

[Loris]

Why are the colors not reflected in the color swatches menu when you copy an object from one document to another? For me this is the most frustrating thing about this software. When I copy even a simple rectangle it doesn't show the color and to modify it globally I have to reselect it, apply the color sample to the color menu and modify it. Does it make sense?

[loukash]

3 hours ago, Loris said:

Why are the colors not reflected in the color swatches menu when you copy an object from one document to another?

Having played with it right now, I am wondering as well.

If a pasted object has a global swatch, it is actually copied into the new document, as can be seen if you open the Color panel in the Tint mode.
There is even the "Edit Global Color" button with the popover menu where you can edit the color, but it's not even being applied to the selected pasted object. 
Trying to add the imported global color as a swatch via context menu → Add to Swatches → "From Fill As Global" doesn't do anything either.

I smell a bug here.

[thomaso]

Hi @Loris, welcome to the Affinity forums!

3 hours ago, Loris said:

Why are the colors not reflected in the color swatches menu when you copy an object from one document to another?

Unfortunately this unexpected behaviour is caused by Serif's general concept for handling colour swatches in Affinity and the understanding of "global" as a document-only colour but not as an app-wide colour. Unfortunately it even affects "Assets" that don't transfer global colour swatches (e.g. a clients corporate colour in a logo asset).

51 minutes ago, loukash said:

If a pasted object has a global swatch, it is actually copied into the new document, as can be seen if you open the Color panel in the Tint mode.
There is even the "Edit Global Color" button with the popover menu where you can edit the color, but it's not even being applied to the selected pasted object. 
Trying to add the imported global color as a swatch via context menu → Add to Swatches → "From Fill As Global" doesn't do anything either.

I smell a bug here.

Alternatively to the failing context menu → Add to Swatches → "From Fill As Global" you can click the "Add global swatch" button in the Swatches panel if a document palette exists. But note, it creates a swatch with a different name.

Various issues with colour swatches were reported and discussed in several threads since years, recently in Dec. 2023.

[loukash]

5 minutes ago, thomaso said:

But note, it creates a swatch with a different name.

Exactly. It creates a new swatch when it definitely shouldn't although the original information is available in the new document.
Hence my aforementioned bug odor in the air… 

[Leigh]

Just wanted to let you know that I've logged this with our developers.

[Viktor CR]

@Leigh this looks like the same issue, can you check, please?