Inspiring

Answered

eyedropper tool not picking up color (InDesign) - LOCKED

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
May 4, 2009
18 replies
93602 views

Hi,

I'm trying to pick up color from an image using the eyedropper tool.

But it only will pick up white as a color and fill the other object with white, and not the actual pixel color I am trying to grab.

This doesn't always happen but I can't figure out why it is happening in this instance.

Thanks!

Kim

Correct answer Barb Binder

it's not working at all - for color or for text. I just recently had to re-download all of my programs because I had to get a new hard drive. I didn't want CC, I wanted to stick with CS6. Don't know if that version is faulty now or what the heck happened - but I'm hating not to be able to use it.

~ Personal info removed by moderator

I have CS6 installed and the eyedropper is working as expected.

What operating system are you using? Is CS6 supported on it? If you are on an unsupported OS, then that could be the issue.

WIN: Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 3 or Windows 7 with Service Pack 1. Adobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 and CS6 applications also support Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. See the CS6 FAQ for more information about Windows 8 support.*
Mac: Mac OS X v10.6.8 or v10.7. Adobe Creative Suite 5, CS5.5, and CS6 applications support Mac OS X v10.8 or v10.9 when installed on Intel-based systems.**

Did you read this whole post? Reasons for it not appearing to work on any version include:

Clicking on a empty frame that is above the object you think you are clicking on (try bringing your object to the front)
Having already clicked the Eyedropper once, and forgetting to Alt/Opt click for additional attempts
Disabling one or more checkmarks in Eyedropper Options (visible when you double click the Eyedropper tool in the Toolbox.)

Show previous replies

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Quick Mask button? You mean Preview Mode? Are you actually talking about Photoshop?

Mike Witherell

V

VermiciousKnid

Inspiring

Personally, I was talking about Photoshop--I see now that the OP's question is classified as InDesign, but the question came up when I searched for Photoshop, so I didn't realize. I was having the exact same issue in Photoshop (eyedropper picking up only white). Turning off Quick Mask Mode fixed it.

P

pizzaandfries

Participant

I was also going crazy over this problem and finally i FOUND THE SOLUTION. you might have accidentally clicked on the QUICK MASK button that is situated in the toolbox just below the foreground and the background colour boxes. Un-select that and everything will be fine.

V

VermiciousKnid

Inspiring

Thank you so much for posting the quick mask solution!!!

C

CDZ °__°

Participating Frequently

Hi, in case you did not find your answer since last winter, you should uncheck appearance(english)/aspect(french) in both colums in the eyedropper options. The object is not much detailed in illustrator informations, but fixed all my eyedroppers issues (text, gradients, …). Regards, Paul

A

Ahoy

Participant

Thank you! This worked for me .

S

sfg

Participant

If you have a layer above what you're trying to sample, even if it locked, it's sampling that. Try hiding the layer.

rob day

Community Expert

What color mode is the image? Eyedropper won't sample grayscale or duotone mode images.

J

Jonibean

Inspiring

It's not an image, I'm just trying to copy one style of text to some other text. It's just cmyk.

S

SJRiegel

Legend

There is most likely something above the color you are trying to pick up. It could be the empty bottom of a text box, or the edge of a picture box. Check in the layers pallet and turn off everything about your target object, then try again.

J

Jonibean

Inspiring

It's just text though - I do it the same every time and some days it works, some days it doesn't. Sometimes if I restart it works again. Seems like a bug to me.

J

Jonibean

Inspiring

This is happening to me as well. Sometimes it works fine, other times it just seems to change the type to nothing, although there still seems to be something to select. It's driving me nuts and doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason.

K

kims02Author

Inspiring

Hi again,

Does anyone happen to know this? I have been going crazy trying to figure out why on every image of my document the eyedropper tool does not pick up any color - only white.

Please help - thanks!