Applying colours and icons

AutoColor rules determine which colour each track, item, region and marker should have, and which icon each track should have. Tracks, items, regions and markers are called objects in the window and on this page. Editing a rule does not change the project. The rules take effect only when they are applied.

Applying the rules means that AutoColor checks every name against the rules and writes the resulting colours and icons into the project. There are two ways to apply the rules:

• By hand, with Apply now or Selection in the configuration window, or with the matching actions in the Action List. This page describes these.
• Automatically, with auto-apply switched on. AutoColor then applies the rules when a track is added or renamed, and when items, regions or markers are added or renamed.

What applying changes

Applying writes a colour only where the colour differs from the one the rules assign. If every object already has the right colour and icon, applying changes nothing and adds no undo point. The status line then reads Already up to date.

By default, applying never removes a colour. A track, item, region or marker that no rule matches keeps the colour it already has. For example, an item you coloured by hand last week keeps that colour after every apply, as long as no rule matches it.

To remove colours, use one of these:

• Clear removes colours once.
• Reset to the default colour when no rule matches removes the colour from every object of a chosen object type that no rule matches, each time the rules are applied.

From the window

Apply now and Selection, on the action bar

The buttons act on the open tab

Apply now and Selection apply only the rules of the tab that is open, and change only objects of that tab’s type. For example, with the Items tab open, they colour items, and tracks, regions and markers keep their colours. With the Icons tab open, they set track icons and change no colours.

To apply the rules of every tab at once, run the action MXM_AutoColor_ApplyAll.lua, described in From the Action List, or switch on auto-apply.

An item can receive its colour from a track rule with the FI (force item colour) switch on. Apply now on the Tracks tab writes that item colour too, because it comes from a track rule. Selection on the Tracks tab colours the selected tracks only. See Items and their track’s colour.

Apply now

Apply now applies the rules of the open tab to every object of that type in the project. For example, on the Tracks tab it colours every track. All changes go into one undo point, so one undo reverts the whole apply.

If auto-apply is running, it does not change colours and icons that you set by hand. Apply now does change them, for objects of the open tab’s type: it replaces them with the colours and icons from the matching rules. See Auto-apply for details.

The status line reports the result, for example Coloured 12 tracks., Set 3 icons., or No rule matched anything.

Selection

Selection applies the rules of the open tab to the selected objects of that type only. Everything else in the project stays unchanged.

Open tab	What Selection changes
Tracks	The colours of the selected tracks.
Items	The colours of the selected items.
Regions	The colours of the selected regions.
Markers	The colours of the selected markers.
Icons	The icons of the selected tracks.

The open tab also decides which selection is used when REAPER has tracks and items selected at the same time. For example, you select a track and then click some items, and the track stays selected. Selection on the Tracks tab then colours the track, and Selection on the Items tab colours the items.

A selected track gets the same colour that Apply now would give it. Unselected tracks still count when AutoColor works out folder colours and gradient shades, but their own colours are not changed.

The status line reports the result, for example Coloured 4 of 4 selected items., or No item is selected.

From the Action List

Apply now and Selection are also available as actions. Use them to apply the rules from a keyboard shortcut or a toolbar button without opening the window.

Action	What it applies the rules to
MXM_AutoColor_ApplyAll.lua	The whole project: the rules of every tab.
MXM_AutoColor_ApplySelection.lua	The selected tracks and items.

The actions report their result in the REAPER console. They show a message box when something needs attention, for example when no rule matches anything or a colour could not be written.

The actions and the buttons differ

The actions do not depend on a tab:

• MXM_AutoColor_ApplyAll.lua applies the rules of every tab. Apply now applies the rules of the open tab only.
• MXM_AutoColor_ApplySelection.lua colours the selected tracks and the selected items together. It never changes regions or markers.

When edited rules take effect

Editing a rule in the window does not recolour the project. The window shows a preview of what the rules would do, but the project keeps its current colours.

• To apply the edited rules immediately, press Apply now on the tab whose rules you edited.
• If auto-apply is running, it applies the edited rules at the next change to the project, such as a track being added or renamed. It then applies them to the whole project at once, not only to the object that changed.

Limitations

• On REAPER older than 7.62, Selection leaves all regions and markers unchanged. See REAPER versions before 7.62.
• If SWS Auto Color is enabled, MXM_AutoColor_ApplyAll.lua shows a warning first. See Colours keep changing back.

Where to go next

• Auto-apply — keep the project coloured without pressing a button.
• Clearing colours — remove colours instead of setting them.