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tracyp32215871
Participant
January 2, 2019
Answered

Eyedropper not working correctly

  • January 2, 2019
  • 6 replies
  • 11035 views

Used to be able to eyedrop across multiple pages for colors and styles, yet this is no longer working correctly. Color selections just coming up black of not on the same spread. Stop breaking it please! please! please!

    Correct answer Barb Binder

    Hi Tracy:

    It's unlikely the Eyedropper is broken but there are multiple reasons why it isn't working the way you want it to.

    1. What version of InDesign are you using?
    2. Double click on the Eyedropper and check what it is set to pick up.
    3. Look for a frame on top of whatever object you are trying to sample from.

    More information and screen shots will help us help you faster.

    ~Barb

    6 replies

    Participant
    December 11, 2024

    The eye dropper tool in inDesign confuses me... coming more from illustrator/photoshop it is very frustrating because it doesn't work as well, in my opinion. Why can't I eyedrop multiple colors consecutively? It forces me to click away and then click back to my object if I want to perform a second eye drop. It adds so many extra clicks! Or am I missing something?

    Participant
    January 16, 2025

    Colour picker is not working for me ,If i pick something,Its coming as monochrome colour ..
    Can you please suggest something..?

     

     

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    January 16, 2025

    Hey @Ar._Yasar9717,

     

    Let’s try to figure it out. Would you mind sharing your InDesign version, OS details, and if you’re using an external monitor? Does this happen with all files or just one? If possible, a quick screen recording would be super helpful!

     

    Best,
    Abhishek

    c2x2c
    Participant
    August 16, 2023

    eyedropper on indesign is one of the most useless/bugged/ impossible to understand or use tools in all of adobe

    Participant
    January 17, 2025

    i disagree

    Inspiring
    March 11, 2023

    I stopped using the eye dropper in Indesign for picking colors, as it never really works. In my eyes, it has been completly over-engineered. The whole point of a picker tool is simplicity. If you you need to go through a checklist of 20 items in InDesign (or other Adobe Apps) just to get the color picker to work, it is really pointless. What I do is create a screenshot in Windows, and then pick the color in Snagit, copy HEX code and enter it manually. That works realiably every time, and I don't need to check the forums every time just to pick a color in Adobe Apps. 

    Inspiring
    March 11, 2023

    ... but entering a hex code in Indesign can also be a very challenging task: If you don't remove the # symbol, InDesign will not accept the color. Together with the eye dropper, picking a color in Indesign is very time consuming and can fill a whole afternoon (;

    Srishti Bali
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    January 8, 2019

    Hi Tracy,

    I would like to know if the suggestions shared above worked for you, or the issue still persists. If it is still not working, you may also try resetting preferences for InDesign: Set preferences in Adobe InDesign

    Please note: Resetting preferences will remove all the custom settings and Illustrator will launch with default settings. You can also take a backup of the folder in case you want to. Location is mentioned in the article.

    Thanks,

    Srishti

    JonathanArias
    Legend
    January 2, 2019

    you can’t use paragraph and object styles? that is faster than using the eye drop tool

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    January 2, 2019

    Hi Tracy:

    It's unlikely the Eyedropper is broken but there are multiple reasons why it isn't working the way you want it to.

    1. What version of InDesign are you using?
    2. Double click on the Eyedropper and check what it is set to pick up.
    3. Look for a frame on top of whatever object you are trying to sample from.

    More information and screen shots will help us help you faster.

    ~Barb

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training