Files and formats

A palette belongs to one place at a time, and ⌘S saves changes back to that location.

Suisai works directly with palette files stored on your Mac. You can open and edit existing palettes, save new ones wherever you choose, install them into the macOS color picker, or export copies for other applications.

The palette’s title shows a dot when there are unsaved changes. If you close a window containing unsaved work, Suisai asks before discarding it.

Opening files

You can open a palette in several ways.

Drop a file onto an existing palette window to load it into that window. If the current palette contains unsaved changes, Suisai asks before replacing it.

Drop a file onto Suisai’s Dock icon to open it in a new window, leaving your existing palette untouched.

You can also open files from Finder, the Palette Library, or Load Palette in the Palette menu.

Supported palette files

Suisai preserves the original file’s location and format wherever that format supports saving.

Opening stylesheets as palettes

Suisai 1.1 also lets you open CSS, SCSS, Sass, and Less stylesheets as editable palettes.

Drop a stylesheet onto a palette window, or paste a CSS :root block containing color variables. Suisai extracts the colors and uses their variable names as swatch names.

For example, a CSS variable named --brand-primary becomes a swatch carrying that name.

You can edit the resulting colors, rearrange them, and use them with Suisai’s other tools.

Stylesheet imports aren’t edited in place. Suisai doesn’t rewrite your original CSS, SCSS, Sass, or Less source file when saving an extracted palette.

To keep the palette, save it in a supported palette format. You can also export the colors as a new stylesheet.

Stylesheets can be included in watched folders in the Palette Library, allowing you to search project colors alongside your other palettes.

See The Palette Library for details.

How Suisai handles color names

If a palette file already contains swatch names, Suisai preserves them when opening, editing, saving, and exporting the palette.

For example, a named color such as brand/primary retains that name when the palette is saved back to a compatible file.

Colors without stored names receive automatically matched names from Suisai’s color-name collection.

There’s an important distinction between the two:

• Assigned names: Names from an imported file or names you’ve entered yourself are retained when the color changes and written into compatible saved files.
• Automatically matched names: Suisai updates these when the color changes. They can appear in exports, but aren’t written into the original palette file merely because Suisai assigned them.

A name you deliberately chose belongs to the swatch. An automatically matched name describes the color’s current value.

Saving, installing, and exporting

Suisai provides four different ways to keep or share your work.

The distinction is important: Save As and Install change the file associated with the current palette window. Export does not.

Saving a palette

Choose File → Save or press ⌘S.

Where Suisai saves depends on how the palette was created or opened.

For example, if you open an ASE palette from your Desktop, edit several colors, and press ⌘S, Suisai saves the changes to that ASE file on your Desktop.

It doesn’t relocate the file or convert it to another format.

ACO is an exception because Suisai can read Photoshop Color Swatches but cannot write that format. Suisai explains the limitation and saves the palette as a CLR file instead.

Why new palettes default to the Colors folder

New palettes are saved by default in:

~/Library/Colors

This is the macOS folder used for user-installed color lists.

Saving a CLR palette there makes it available through the system color picker in applications that support macOS color lists.

It also makes the palette available to Suisai’s Palette Library when system color lists are included.

Folder permission

Because Suisai is sandboxed, macOS requests access when the application first needs to write to the system Colors folder.

After you grant access, Suisai can normally use the folder in later sessions without prompting again, provided the permission remains valid.

This is a folder-access request, not permission to record your screen or upload your files.

Save As…

Choose File → Save As… or press ⇧⌘S to save a palette under a different name, in another location, or in another supported writable format.

Available formats are:

• Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase)
• GIMP Palette (.gpl)
• Apple Color List (.clr)

The macOS Save dialog lets you choose the destination and filename.

After Save As, the current palette window belongs to the new file.

Subsequent saves update that file rather than the palette’s previous location.

The original file remains unchanged unless you deliberately choose to overwrite it.

Install in Color Picker…

Install in Color Picker… makes a palette available through the macOS system color picker.

Suisai creates a CLR copy in:

~/Library/Colors

You choose the installed palette’s name. The original file isn’t moved, renamed, or changed.

For example, you can open an ASE palette from a project folder and install a CLR copy for use throughout macOS. The ASE file remains in the project folder.

What happens to the current window?

Installing a palette changes which file the current window works with.

After installation, pressing ⌘S updates the newly installed CLR copy, not the original ASE, GPL, or other source file.

The two files are now independent.

If you want to continue editing the original file, reopen it from the Library or Finder.

Preventing accidental overwrites

Suisai checks existing color lists before installing a palette.

When renaming an installed list, Suisai moves the previous list to the Trash rather than deleting it permanently.

These confirmations protect existing color lists and help avoid unwanted duplicates.

Ordinary Save doesn’t present the same installation questions, because it updates the palette’s current file.

To open the system Colors folder in Finder, choose Reveal Color Lists in Finder from the Palette menu.

Exporting a palette

Export creates a copy of your palette for use elsewhere.

Unlike Save As or Install in Color Picker, exporting does not change the file associated with the current palette window.

If you export an ASE palette as CSS, the original palette remains an ASE file. Pressing ⌘S afterward still saves to the original ASE.

Supported export formats

Suisai provides 13 whole-palette export formats.

Choose Export from the palette window or Palette menu, select a format, and save the resulting file.

Exported code uses swatch names where supported. Suisai converts names into suitable identifiers and adds numbering when necessary to distinguish duplicates.

For example, a custom name such as Brand Primary can become --brand-primary when exported as CSS.

Your preferences in Settings → Code, including HEX capitalization, also affect supported text exports.

Dragging files and colors

You can also export an entire palette by dragging it from the footer of its window, where it displays PALETTE · N COLORS.

Suisai creates a file using your most recently selected whole-palette export format. Drop it onto the Desktop or into Finder without opening the Export menu or Save dialog.

Individual colors can also be dragged directly into other applications.

Depending on the destination, Suisai supplies native color data or text in the window’s selected code format.

For a detailed explanation of copying individual colors, format selection, and drag-and-drop behavior, see Copying and exporting.