• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

How do you select color from outside of Illustrator?

Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hey, does anyone know what happened to the color selector in Illustrator? In Photoshop, you can sample a color from anywhere outside of the app window by clicking and dragging with the eyedropper tool. I know you used to be able to do it in Illustrator too, but now it doesn't seem to be working. I tried googling the answer, but all I get are about a hundred people showing how to do it in 2012, 2013. Nothing newer than that, which leads me to believe that they much have changed something in a recent version of Ai. Not sure how to do it now. Basically, what I need to know is, How do you select color from outside of Illustrator these days? I have the most current version - Ai CC 2015.3 I believe.

Thanks much!

Ben

Views

29.6K

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines

correct answers 2 Correct answers

Community Expert , Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

My guess is yes. I'm on a Mac, but testing everything that isn't working for you and it's working just fine, including colors from browser windows and my desktop background.

I just booted up my Surface (Win 10) and am getting the same results that you are describing. It could be a Windows limitation or a bug, but either way you can report it here: Feature Request/Bug Report Form​.

Votes

Translate

Translate
New Here , May 11, 2022 May 11, 2022

You have to set permissions to allow Illustrator to record your screen, as that's what it needs to do to sample outside itself.

Not sure on PC, but on Mac, it's under System Preferences > Security & Privacy, and then under the Privacy tab, you can select which apps you'd like to allow to "record"  the screen outside their app window.  

 

 

Votes

Translate

Translate
Adobe
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

nebo,

What happens if you ShiftClick?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

When I shift-click it, the selection turns black. Doesn't select any other colors. When running it slowly, It seems like it picks the colors of the palettes & frame as I exit Ai (black being the outermost color of the frame), but then nothing. Alt does nothing either.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

What happens if you don't Shift-click, but just hold down the Shift key while dragging the Eyedropper tool with the mouse button down (or whatever you have as device)?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hmm... not sure I understand the question. I tried holding down the shift key, but when I move the mouse over the edge of the program, it switches to the normal arrow cursor. doesn't look like it does anything. Does it work normally for you? Do you have problems with it? If no one else does, then it must be a setting or something that I must have accidentally clicked.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Advocate ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

as a work around, you could press the 'print screen' button and then hit paste? then take a dropper from the newly pasted screen grab image, then hit delete to bin the image...

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I guess that could work. I'd just rather try to figure out if this works for others or not. If no one else has problems with this feature and it works fine for them, then it might be an issue on my end. It's something I use pretty frequently.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Holding down the Shift key is not enough. Hold down the mouse button as well.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Also, not sure if this makes much of a difference, but I'm using a PC (unfortunately).

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

You can still do it in Illustrator CC 2015.

The trick is to select the Eyedropper tool, hold down on the Illustrator pasteboard, don't release your mouse, and drag the Eyedropper anywhere on your monitor. You will see the fill color swatch at the bottom of the Tools panel changing as you drag. When your Eyedropper is on top of the color you want, release your mouse.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Just adding that you don't need any modifier keys, like Shift. Just hold down the Eyedropper and drag.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hmm. Yep, exactly the way you are explaining it is what I'm looking for. It doesn't seem to be working for me. Just curious, are you by chance using a Mac? Because I'm on a PC. Wondering if that may have something to do with it.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I'm using a PC. Are you pressing down on an artboard in Illustrator before you drag Eyedropper outside of Illustrator?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

If it's still not working, it may be time to reset preferences.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

It's working exactly as Barbara described on my Mac. Select the eyedropper, hold the mouse button down on the artboard—don't release—drag over anything outside of AI and the color changes in the Fill or Stroke box, whichever is active. Release when you get the desired color loaded.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Guide ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

On my windows 7 its works too but

by selecting the eyedropper

then holding down the shift and left mouse

and with both still pressed - drag out of illustrator and release on the chosen colour

Just sampled Barbs nice brown hair here  on my second monitor

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Weird. I just tried to do just that and no beans. I wonder if it is a performance issue. Maybe it takes more beef than this computer has or something... kinda confused here.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I'm able to sample colors from Word... so

To reset your prefs, do one of the following:

  • Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) as you start Illustrator. Your current settings are deleted.
  • Remove or rename the AIPrefs file (Windows). New preferences files are created the next time you start Illustrator.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Very strange. I just reset my prefs (used your first option) and it looks like nothing has changed in regards to the color issue. I tried Word too and I am able to sample colors from Word's frame (the blue part), but not from any open doc in that app. Similarly, all websites show as solid black (in the Ai picker) from anywhere on the page and the URL box as white. I can pick from a couple of icons on my desktop, but not the background. Seems like what, maybe a bug in the software or something?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

My guess is yes. I'm on a Mac, but testing everything that isn't working for you and it's working just fine, including colors from browser windows and my desktop background.

I just booted up my Surface (Win 10) and am getting the same results that you are describing. It could be a Windows limitation or a bug, but either way you can report it here: Feature Request/Bug Report Form​.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Oh, okay, well this is at least good to know that it's not just me. Sounds like it's a PC thing then - bummer. Thanks much for your help though - I appreciate it! If you come up with anything, please let me know. Cheers!

Ben

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

If you come up with anything, please let me know.

I will!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Interesting. I did a bit more playing with it and it seems to pull from certain objects, but not others. For instance, I can pull colors from icons on my desktop, but not the desktop background, not from any browser, and not from any Ms Office app.
What do you mean by reset preferences? I know how to get into prefs, but do you mean to click the "reset all warning dialogs" or maybe something I don't know?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

It works for me using Windows 7. Are you using Windows 10?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Sep 06, 2016 Sep 06, 2016

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Yep.

This message brought to you by

Mrs. Whiffles' Frozen Breakfast Bars:

"When you're hungry and on the go, don't go for a waffle, get a Whiffle!"

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines