There are many ways of doing something, especially in software. Unfortunately I cannot show all of the ways of achieving the same thing, and to avoid confusion will try to stick to one method only

All of the "How To..." sections are done in "Layout&Editing" of Palette/PE Design version 5

Even if you have a later version, these "How To...." sections may assist you.

How to change the colours of a design
You will change the colours:

To minimise on colour changes and stops

 or if you wish to see how the design will look with alternative colours in it before actually embroidering it.

 

First you will need to open the file that you wish to embroider.
In this Instance it is the Watering flowers Babe

 

To see the amount of colours and any other information about this design
Click on
"Option" in your menu bar
and then click on
"Design property"
The following Dialog Box will appear, and it will give you all the ins and outs about the design's
Size, Stitch Count and Colour Count

Now I know, many of you will say - "20 colour changes, You are crazy!"

Not really, with the way this design is set up, it gives you the opportunity to make this design as colourful as you want it to be, and it gives you the option to minimise the colours if you so wish. Had I done it, that there were only a few colours, You would have been stuck with my choices.
 

I Prefer to use the Sewing Order Bar to change my colours, because I can see exactly where the change will happen.

To get this bar, Click on SEW in the menu bar, and then Click on Sewing order

  or use the shortcut key "F10"

The bar will appear and look like this

If you wish to have a closer view of the "pieces" - then click on the "eyeglass in bottom left hand corner of this bar

Now you will get a much clearer view of each segment.

 

I want to change the colours of the patches on the little girls dress all to one colour

To do these 4 all at once and not one at a time

Hold down your "Ctrl" key on your keyboard and with your mouse click on each "patch"

Each one you select will get a "bluish redish colour around the selected box.

Once you have selected all four, You can let go of the "Ctrl" key

then Click on the Cotton Reel (see black arrow pointing to cotton reel)

This following screen will appear, and does not look like much

Click on the black Arrow opposite "Thread Chart"

From the Drop Down menu select the Thread chart you wish to get your colours from

Once you select a chart, then all the colours of that chart will appear

Click on the cotton reel of colour you wish for the patches to be changed to

At the bottom left,  you will then see your selection displayed with a description

in this instance  Embroidery, 900 and RED

Click on "OK" and now you will see that all the patches have changed to RED

If you wish you can also change her shoes to red

Change her dress and hat to the same colour

as well as the detail on her hat and the bow to one colour

Then lastly change all the flowers to the same colour.

And then you will see that you now only have 10 colour changes - opposed to the initial 20

If you think you may want to use this changed file again in the future then make sure you save it to your hard drive.

Click on File - then on  Save as -

Make sure to select the folder where you want to save the design to

Type a new filename in the filename box and click on Save

Then write the changed design to your card/disc.

Click on "File", then on "write to card" - then on  "current design"

Or if you are saving to a 3.5" disc  - Click on - "File"  - then on  "save as" . Click on "A" drive for your 3.5" disc and then click on "Save"

Please let me know if you have found this page helpful.

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