Figure 9.34.  The Palettes dialog (Grid View)

In the Tab menu, you can choose between View as Grid and View as List. In Grid mode, the palettes are laid out in a spectacular rectangular array, making it easy to see many at once and find the one you are looking for. In List mode (the default), the palettes are lined up in a list, with the names beside them.

	Note
	In the Tab menu, the option Preview Size allows you to adapt the size of color cell previews to your liking.

Clicking on a palette in the dialog makes it GIMP's active palette. This does not really have any significance, though. Double-clicking on a palette brings up the Palette Editor, which allows you to set GIMP's foreground or background colors by clicking on colors in the palette display.

Double-clicking on a palette name (in List View mode) lets you to edit the name. Note that you are only allowed to change the names of palettes that you have added yourself, not those that are supplied with GIMP. If you edit a name that you are not allowed to change, it will revert back to its previous value as soon as you hit return or move the pointer focus elsewhere.

Right-clicking in the palette display area brings up the Palettes Menu, described in the next section. At the bottom of the dialog are a set of buttons, whose function all duplicate those of entries in the Palettes Menu:

“Edit Palette” is an alternative way of activating the Palette Editor: it can also be activated by double-clicking on a palette in the Palettes dialog, or by pressing the "Edit Palette" button at the bottom of the dialog.

“New Palette” creates a new, untitled palette, initially containing no color entries, and pops up the Palette Editor so that you can add colors to the palette. The result will automatically be saved in your personal palettes folder when you quit GIMP, so it will be available from the Palettes dialog in future sessions.

Figure 9.36.  The Import Palette dialog

“Import Palette” allows you to create a new palette from the colors in a gradient, an image or a palette file. Choosing it brings up the "Import Palette" dialog, which gives you the following options:

The imported palette will be added to the Palettes dialog, and automatically saved in your personal palettes folder when you quit GIMP, so it will be available in future sessions.

Duplicate Palette creates a new palette by copying the palette that is currently selected, and brings up a Palette Editor so that you can alter the palette. The result will automatically be saved in your personal palettes folder when you quit GIMP, so it will be available from the Palettes dialog in future sessions.

Currently this operation is not implemented, and the menu entry will always be insensitive.

Delete Palette removes the palette from the Palettes dialog, and deletes the disk file in which it is stored. Before it acts, it asks you confirm that you really want to do these things. Note that you cannot remove any of the palettes that are supplied with GIMP, only palettes you have added yourself.

Refresh Palettes rescans all of the folders in your palette search path, and adds any newly discovered palettes to the list in the Palettes dialog. This may be useful if you obtain palette files from some external source, copy them into one of your palettes folders, and want to make them available during the current session.

If you click on a color box in the palette display, GIMP's foreground color will be set to the selected color: you can see this in the Color Area of the Toolbox. If you hold down the Ctrl key while clicking, GIMP's background color will be set to the selected color.

Double-clicking on a color not only sets the foreground, it also brings up a color editor that allows you to modify the selected palette entry. (This only happens if the palette is one you are allowed to modify: that is, one you have added to GIMP yourself.)

Right-clicking in the palette display area brings up the Palette Editor menu. It's functions are mainly the same as those of the buttons at the bottom of the dialog.

Below the palette display area, at the left, appears a text entry area that shows the name of the selected color (or "Unnamed" if it does not have one). This information has no functional significance, and is present only to serve you as a memory aid.

To the right of the name entry is a spinbutton that allows you to set the number of columns used to display the palette. This only affects the display, not how the palette works. If the value is set to 0, a default will be used.

At the bottom of the dialog are a set of buttons, which mostly match the entries in the Palette Editor menu, accessible by right-clicking in the palette display area. Here are the buttons:

"Edit Color" brings up a color editor that allows you to modify the color of the selected palette entry. If the palette is one that you are not allowed to edit (that is, one supplied by GIMP when it is installed), then the menu entry will be insensitive.

These commands each create a new palette entry, using either GIMP's current foreground color (as shown in the Color Area of the Toolbox), or the current background color.

"Delete Color" removes the selected color entry from the palette. If the palette is one that you are not allowed to edit, then the menu entry will be insensitive.

"Zoom Out" reduces the vertical scale of the entries in the palette display.

"Zoom In" increases the vertical scale of the entries in the palette display.

"Zoom All" adjusts the vertical size of the entries in the palette display so that the entire palette fits into the display area.