Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 6/2/2008

Question
QUESTION: This is driving me nuts, but the swatch palette will disappear every time I click
on the swatch tool box. I then have to pull it down from the menu. Then it will
disappear when i click on the swatch toolbox. Any suggestions?

ANSWER: Hi Lillian,

Do you mean the drawer collapses into the docked palettes on the right side of your screen? You may have auto collapse turned on. Right click on the top gray bar of the palettes and turn off auto collapse. You should not have to go to the windows menu to bring it up.

Thanks

Kevin




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: No, I don't have auto collapse on. As long as I don't click on the swath toolbox
(on the left), the swatch palette remains on the screen. I have never seen this
problem with Illustrator before. I am running Leopard on a Mac with a 2.8 GHz
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor.

ANSWER: Hi Lillian,

Sorry I don't have a quick answer for you, but I need some more specifics to track down the problem...

1. Did you mean your swatches palette, which is normally on the right, or do you mean the toolbox with all the tools (pen, etc.)?

2. As soon as you try to click on a swatch in the swatches palette, it disappears so you cannot choose a swatch? or if you click on the toolbox the palette disappears?

3. Is you palette docked on do you have it floating out in the window? Is it by itself or do you have the colors palette linked to it?

Thanks

Kevin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The floating swatch palette disappears when I click on the swatch toolbox (the
long list of tools on the left). I can work on the document until I click on the the
toolbox on the left. When I do, the floating swatch palette disappears, and I
have to go to the pull down menu to get it back. It is not connected to another
palette. I've never had this problem before, and I've been working with Illustrator
since version 5. I'm beginning to think it might be a system problem. I have the
same version of Illustrator on my computer at home, but I'm running Tiger, not
Leopard.

Answer
Hi Lillian,

I checked out the issue, and have not found anything related to this issue. Clicking on the toolbox (not called a swatch toolbox), should not make anything disappear. Do you have any other palettes open and do they disappear?

Try this, go to Window>Workspace>basic and leave the swatches palette docked on the left side of your screen. Then try using your toolbar and see if it disppears.

Thanks

Kevin