Eyedropper Tool Samples Wrong Fill Color Instead of Visible Stroke in Illustrator

Forum|Forum|8 days ago
May 15, 2026
2 replies
38 views

I want to sample the red stroke color from an object, but when I use the Eyedropper, it samples the blue color of the object’s bounding box instead.

Instead of changing the stroke color to red, it changes the fill color to blue.

Correct answer Ton Frederiks

@Z4cK Thanks, it looks like the image in the top layer: Mark is preventing this.

If I turn it off, I can pick up the stroke color.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

@Z4cK Good to hear that helped.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Is it a particular document? If not did you restart, reset Preferences?

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/video/setting-preferences-video.html

Z4cKAuthor

Participant

Yes, it only happens with this specific document. I’ve already tried resetting preferences and closing/reopening the document, but the issue still remains.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

@Z4cK Can you share that document, but first have a look at the Appearance panel for multiple strokes.

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