Refbox
Frames

Palette Frames

Create, edit, arrange, and copy reusable color collections in Refbox.

Palette Frames show a color palette as full-width color rows. A Palette can contain one color or a collection of colors.

Create a Palette

Create an empty Palette

  1. Enable Add Palette in Settings > Toolbar if the action is hidden.
  2. Click Add Palette in the Toolbar.
  3. Refbox creates an empty Palette and opens its Frame.
  4. Click Add a color to add the first swatch.

If a Section is selected, the new Palette is added to that Section.

Create a Palette by pasting colors

Use Paste From Clipboard in the Toolbar or press ⌘ v . Refbox creates one Palette when the complete pasted text contains only supported color values.

You can paste one color or a comma-separated or line-separated list:

#F2EB8C
#DAFA10
rgba(16, 16, 16, 0.75)

Supported input includes:

  • Three-, six-, and eight-digit HEX values with #.
  • rgb() and rgba() values.
  • hsl() and hsla() values.

If the clipboard includes other text, Refbox creates a Note instead. Hold Shift while you click Paste From Clipboard to force a plain Note for that paste. You can also turn off Settings > Behavior > Colors > Paste as Palette.

The Paste button inside an existing Palette also accepts bare HEX values such as F2EB8C. This lets you paste values copied from a Palette that uses HEX no #. General clipboard paste stays strict so ordinary text is not mistaken for a Palette.

Frame Layout

Each color fills one row. Rows divide the available height equally and never scroll. Adding colors makes all rows thinner; it does not resize the Frame.

When Show values is on, each row shows its value if the row is tall enough. Refbox uses black or white label text for contrast. A color with alpha appears over a checkerboard so its transparency remains visible.

The Palette header is also the Frame's drag handle. Header controls hide one at a time as the Frame becomes narrower. The Add a color control is the last control to hide.

Add Colors

The Frame header provides three ways to append colors:

Pick a color from the screen
Use the screen color picker and click a pixel. The sampled color is added to the end of the Palette. Press Escape to cancel without adding a color.
Paste colors from the clipboard
Append one or more supported values from the clipboard. The button is disabled when the clipboard has no recognized color or the Palette is full.
Add a color
Append a new swatch and open the color editor immediately.

A Palette can contain up to 100 colors. Duplicate colors are allowed.

Edit a Color

Right-click a swatch and choose Edit. The color editor supports:

  • A saturation and value area.
  • Hue and alpha controls.
  • A value field for supported HEX, RGB(A), and HSL(A) values.
  • The screen color picker.
  • Deleting the current swatch.

The swatch updates while you adjust the editor and saves when the value changes.

Deleting the last swatch leaves an empty Palette. It does not delete the Palette Asset. Use the Frame or Asset Delete action when you want to move the complete Palette to the Trash.

Copy Colors

Copy one swatch

Click a swatch to copy it. The row briefly shows Copied. You can also right-click the swatch and choose Copy.

Copy all swatches

Right-click the Frame and choose Copy all. Refbox copies one value per line in Palette order. In the Box, a multi-color Palette has a Copy submenu with each swatch and a Copy all action. A one-color Palette shows its copy action directly.

Choose the Color Format

Use the format menu in the Palette header. The selected format belongs to that Palette and controls its labels and copied values.

HEX
Copy opaque values as #F2EB8C. Values with alpha use eight-digit HEX, such as #F2EB8C80.
HEX no #
Use the same HEX value without the leading #.
RGB
Copy opaque values as rgb(...) and transparent values as rgba(...).
HSL
Copy opaque values as hsl(...) and transparent values as hsla(...).

Settings > Behavior > Colors > Color Format sets the initial format for new Palettes. Changing that setting does not change existing Palettes.

Reorder Colors

Drag a swatch up or down inside the Frame. The other rows move to show the drop location. Release the pointer to save the new order.

Drag the header, not a swatch, when you want to move the complete Frame.

Show or Hide Values

Right-click the Palette Frame and use Show values. This setting belongs to the Palette Asset, so the Box item and every Frame for that Palette use the same choice.

Labels still hide when rows are too short to read. Turning on Show values does not force a label into a row without enough space.

Settings > Behavior > Colors > Show Color Values sets the initial value for new Palettes. It does not change existing Palettes.

Lock a Palette Frame

Locking a Palette Frame removes its header and disables swatch copy, editing, and reordering. The colors fill the complete Frame edge to edge. Value labels stay visible when Show values is on and each row is tall enough.

Context Menu

Right-click a swatch to get the Color, Palette, and Frame sections. Right-click the header or empty area to omit the Color section.

Edit, Copy, Delete
Change, copy, or remove the swatch that you right-clicked.
Copy all
Copy all colors, one per line, in the Palette's selected format.
Show values
Show or hide value labels for this Palette.
Lock
Lock the Frame and remove its editing header.
Frame Docs
Open the Refbox documentation in your browser.
Close
Close the Frame without deleting the Palette Asset.

Palette Frames do not have Save As because their colors are stored as Refbox data instead of a media file. Use Copy all when you need the values in another app.

Sketch

Draw directly inside Refbox with lightweight sketch canvases.

Group

Display multiple Assets together in a single Frame.