# Changing default palette

**URL:** <https://forum.makecode.com/t/changing-default-palette/797>\
**Category:** Arcade\
**Created:** [November 18, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/changing-default-palette/797 "2019-11-18T13:55:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![p3nguinc4g3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@p3nguinc4g3](https://forum.makecode.com/u/p3nguinc4g3)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/changing-default-palette/797/1 "2019-11-18T13:55:01Z")

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I’ve been playing around with changing palettes for the graphics. I have no problem changing the palette at run time but I’d like to be able to switch out the default palette; I’d like to be able to tell what the graphics I’m making actually look like in the new palette.

The documentation makes it sound like I can do this: [https://arcade.makecode.com/developer/images](https://arcade.makecode.com/developer/images) (changing the default palette section). However, in practice I don’t seem to be able to do what it says. I don’t have an option under my cogwheel to “edit settings as text”. I have found the settings file when looking through the explorer but the file is locked and can’t be changed. I’ve looked at both the regular and beta versions of the editor.

Does anyone know how to go about changing the default palette?

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**Author:** ![jwunderl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/jwunderl/32/5308_2.png) [@jwunderl](https://forum.makecode.com/u/jwunderl)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/changing-default-palette/797/2 "2019-11-18T18:45:06Z")

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Ah, the `edit settings as text` menu item was removed, as editing that file is more dangerous / can break your project. You can still get to the file through the explorer:

 ![12](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/makecode/original/1X/c55ebccfaf6e78ef84ea4368a98766cc1c8b89b3.gif)

Do be careful before changing this file, though; I would make a copy of your project before editing that file (e.g. `Share` it), in case a typo ends up in there and the project gets into a weird state. (Also worth noting, it doesn’t look like the new sprite editor is loading the palettes quite yet, so if you want to use a custom palette use the live site for now: filed [here](https://github.com/microsoft/pxt-arcade/issues/1468)).

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**Author:** ![p3nguinc4g3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@p3nguinc4g3](https://forum.makecode.com/u/p3nguinc4g3)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/changing-default-palette/797/3 "2019-11-18T19:37:31Z")

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Oh nice! Yes, that’s exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much. And thanks for the warning about backing up the project first. 🙂

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**Author:** ![peli](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/peli/32/12_2.png) [@peli](https://forum.makecode.com/u/peli)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/changing-default-palette/797/4 "2019-11-18T19:54:36Z")

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If you are on [https://arcade.makecode.com/beta](https://arcade.makecode.com/beta), you can use the github integration to “back up” your code.