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Custom Colors

Created: 2026-05-30 · Updated: 2026-08-28

Custom Colors allow an administrator to define a company-specific palette of 16 colors that users can click directly in the parameter dialogs of parameterized snippets. This way, the organization's corporate design colors are available without a detour — no searching for or manually entering color codes.

Accessing

PPPTools ribbon → “About” group → Settings → Appearance → Colours

The page has two sections: Recently used colours at the top, and below them the custom colours — the Custom Colors maintained by the administrator.

Recently used colours

Every colour picker in PPPTools remembers what you chose and offers the last ten colours again. Entries tied to the theme follow the presentation's design — change the design and the colour changes with it.

  • Remove from list — the handle on an individual entry.
  • Clear list — removes every remembered colour. You are asked to confirm first.

With nothing remembered yet the page says Nothing remembered yet - the list fills up as you pick colours.

Why Custom Colors?

A corporate design consists of a handful of fixed colors that are needed over and over. Instead of typing them in as hex values every time, the administrator stores them once centrally — they reach all users via sync.

Result for users: In a @param color dialog (→ Parameterized Snippets) one click on the palette button puts the 16 corporate design colors on screen as swatches.

16 colors

There are exactly 16 fields. A typical corporate design assignment: primary and secondary colors, accent colors, grays, white and black.

For Administrators — Defining Colors

Colors are configured under PPPTools ribbon → “About” group → Settings → Administration → Team Defaults.

Requirement: Admin mode active (→ Admin Guide).

Steps

  1. Open Settings → Administration → Team Defaults → Custom Colors section
  2. Click on one of the 16 color fields → the color picker opens
  3. Select the desired color → OK
  4. After adjusting all fields: click Save

Saving writes the colors to admin_config.xml in the shared network path (Public Share). At the next sync, all users automatically receive the updated colors.

Color Field Layout

The 16 fields are arranged in 2 rows of 8 colors each. A recommended assignment:

Row Recommendation
Row 1 Primary color, secondary color, 2–3 accent colors, 2–3 grays, black
Row 2 Lighter tones, backgrounds, complementary colors, white

Reset

The Reset button sets all 16 fields back to white. The change must then be confirmed by clicking Save.

For Users — Viewing Colors

Under PPPTools ribbon → “About” group → Settings → Appearance → Colours, PPPTools displays the 16 administrator-defined colors in a read-only table:

Column Content
Color Visual color swatch
Hex Hexadecimal color code, e.g. #FF5733
RGB RGB values, e.g. R: 255 G: 87 B: 51

Managed by administrator

Custom Colors are maintained by the administrator and automatically distributed via sync. Users cannot change the colors directly.

Usage in Snippet Dialogs

Custom Colors appear with the @param color type in parameterized snippets:

// @param color Background "Background color" default=#003366
// @param color Border     "Border color"      default=#FF9900

In the parameter dialog, each color has two buttons side by side: the palette button opens the 16 corporate colors as swatches to click directly, and the color button next to it opens the color picker with theme colors, standard colors, palettes, eyedropper and hex entry.

Since version 2.1

PPPTools no longer uses the Windows color picker but its own. Its 16 "custom color" slots only existed there because Windows provides exactly 16 such places — the corporate colors therefore no longer sit behind the color button but behind the palette button next to it. Nothing changes for administrators: the 16 colors are still maintained under Settings → Administration → Team Defaults and distributed via sync.

Synchronization

Action Who When
Define colors Administrator Manually in the Admin tab
Save colors PPPTools Immediately to admin_config.xml in the Share
Receive colors All users Automatically at the next sync

Sync runs at startup and periodically in the background. After receipt, the colors are immediately available in the next @param color dialog.