Can’t Change Gradient Color in InDesign? [How to Fix It]

Gradients are a staple in design and especially when done well, they can provide a striking effect. There are a number of different ways to incorporate gradients into your designs and InDesign is no different. While there are plenty of InDesign plugins that can help you achieve the look you want, sometimes you need to do things the old-fashioned way.

To change a color of a gradient in InDesign, the easiest way is using the Gradient Panel. Try dragging a swatch from this area to the gradient color stop to swap. You can also adjust settings to shift color.

The following article will teach you how to get the most out of InDesign by correcting InDesign’s color gradient issue. Don’t worry, we’ll walk you through the process step by step so that you can get the look you want in no time.

How to Change a Gradient Color in InDesign?

 This article is the ultimate guide on how to change a gradient into a different color. It will help you to fix InDesign’s gradient color issue easily and quickly. Follow these steps:

  1. Open your file
  2. Choose the Gradient Tool
  3. Adjust Gradient settings
  4. Apply Gradient

Adjust your Gradient Settings in InDesign

The easiest way to do this is to use the Gradient panel. The Gradient panel is a separate panel that appears between the Swatches and Type panels. To access the Gradient panel, click on the drop-down menu icon in the top left corner of your document window. Select “Gradient” from the menu, then select your gradient from the list.

Next, click on “Color” in the top right corner of your document window and choose a different color for your gradient. Here are some quick tips for changing colors. Be sure to change one color at a time so that you can see how each change affects your gradient.

If you make changes to more than one color at a time, it may be difficult to see how they affect your gradient. If you want to change multiple colors at once, you will need to use a combination of tools.

Select all or part of your gradient by clicking anywhere inside it with the Selection tool. Select the Gradient tool from the Tools panel and click anywhere inside your gradient to select it. Change your color by clicking on the gradient with the Gradient tool.

Apply Color Change in InDesign to Gradient

Press “Enter” on your keyboard to apply the settings. The gradient will replace the color you used in the first place and it will start changing color at one point and work its way through the document. Note that if you are using a JPEG image with a lot of color variation, then InDesign may not have enough dynamic range to show all of it.

This is because when you use gradients, they are limited to 16 colors or 256 shades of gray and InDesign uses only 16 colors or 256 shades of gray for each pixel in your document.

This is why if you have a lot of color variation (e.g., different hues for each pixel) then you may see some areas where the gradient does not change from one point to another because those areas are outside of the 256 color range that InDesign supports for gradients.

If this happens, then try using a Bicubic gradient instead because those gradients have more colors in the gradient.

How to Set up a Basic Color Gradient

To get a basic understanding of how to set up a color gradient in InDesign, let’s create a simple example. We’ll use a warm color for the top half of our page and a cool color for the bottom half. We’ll also use a light blue for the header, the footer, and any other background containers.

The header and the footer are also shadowed, and so are any other containers that will receive the majority of the page’s content. To create our basic color gradient, double-click the Background color in the Color section of the Options bar, and then click on the Gradient button in the top-right corner. From there, you can set up the following options:

Different Methods for Applying InDesign Gradients

There are a number of different ways to go about this. We’ll begin with the easiest method of all.

To achieve a very basic color gradient, all you have to do is type something into the Gradient field, and then press Enter. This will create a color gradient that is quite simple.

If you want to create a more intricate color gradient, there are a few different methods that you can use.

Type the color of your choice into the color picker and then click on the Options button at the bottom of the picker. From there, you can choose from a variety of different effects, from changing the color completely to a luminosity adjustment.

How Do You Reset Gradients in InDesign?

If you have just created a gradient and are not happy with the results, you can always reset your gradient. You can do this by simply clicking on the Gradient tool in the top toolbar and then clicking on the gradient icon.

Alternatively, if you have already made a gradient, but want to reset it, simply click on the gradient icon in the Options bar and then click on either Cancel or Reset. This will remove all of your settings for that particular gradient.

InDesign has two different ways of creating gradients: linear and radial gradients. A linear gradient is made up of straight lines that change color from one end to another; a radial gradient is made up of circular shapes with different colors in them; both types of gradients can be applied to text or other objects in your document.

Why Is My Gradient Tool Only Black and White?

When you create a gradient, you can choose from a variety of different colors. The default, however, is black and white. If you want to change the color of your gradient, hold down the key and click on the Gradient tool in the Tools panel. Click on either Black or White and then click on OK.

Why Does My Gradient Keep Changing?

You can control how many colors are used in your gradient by using the Gradient slider in the Options bar. If you want to use more than two colors, simply drag it left or right until it looks like what you want.

As mentioned earlier, if there are more than two colors used in your gradient, then it will not look nice because there will be too many different gradients being applied at once; that is why it sometimes appears as though your gradient keeps changing when you change the number of colors used. You can try using less colors to see if this makes a difference; if not, then you’ll have to experiment with the gradient slider in the Options bar.

Conclusion

InDesign is not always the most easy to use when creating a design, but can create wonderful graphics for your needs. If you get stuck, you can always use Placeit.net for fast, quality graphic creation. However, if you need a fix for your gradient color issue, this step by step guide will help you.