Participating Frequently

Answered

Eyedropper not working

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
May 29, 2018
7 replies
9704 views

Why can't they fix the inDesign eyedropper?

Been broken for a couple years now.

iMac 5k, High Sierra, inDesign 13.1

I want to be able to paste some text from an email into my inDesign document and then use the eyedropper to apply a style from another text block on the page. All it does is make the background of the new text block the color of the text but does not change the actual text style. This bug has been there forever, please fix.

And the Adobe support page???? WTF

"One moment while we gather your account information" ... 20 minutes later still spinning... ridiculous!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Barb Binder

Hi mstone :

It works sometimes, but even if what you say is the default behavior, it is the wrong behavior in my opinion because if it is sampling the background color of the original text box it should apply the same background color to the new block but it doesn't. Original text background = none then the new background should = none when applied.

As a career trainer on InDesign (and other Adobe applications), my personal opinion is that sometimes we have to let go of how we think things should work, and just focus on how they actually work. I totally hear what you are saying, but SJRiegel was correct to identify how your selection was causing the issue. If you want to change what the text looks like, just select the text you want to update with the Type tool first. When I have trouble remembering a new workflow, I put it on a post-it until I master it—if that helps.

Anyway I have discovered other anomalies where tool behavior gets broken somehow. For example, often the shift to constrain or shift/option to scale or shift to rotate tool breaks and the only way to fix it is to restart the computer.

We have found this this specific behavior is almost always caused by a keyboard conflict with another application. Common culprits are anti-virus apps, anti-malware apps and browser extensions. Webroot comes up more than other other application.

InDesign CC Shift Key not working

Indesign CC - OptionDrag and ShiftDrag not working

Proportional Scaling Using Shift Button Not Working – Adobe InDesign Feedback

Modifier keys not working

~Barb

AdDesigner11595779

Known Participant

pasted inside someone else's reply by mistake. this is in reply to eyedropper not working started in may 2018!!!!

STILL NOT WORKING HERE EITHER. It exists. It is not user error alone. It is the unreliable, buggy, unstable the indesign eyedropper tool. We don't even use the color theme tool!

We went thru all the recommended steps, multiple times -- it is a continuing unstable tool, a bug. unfixed.

adobe cc indesign 2022 mac os monterey 12.6.4 intel

April 2023!!!

martin draax

Inspiring

Oh dear, i have the same problem. I read the follow ups below and i do work with paragraphs if i desing a book or so. But somethimes it was just really handy to activate a text, use the eyedroppertool on another piece of thext and have the design copied. - just a quick way for corrections or such. When I double click on the eydropper tool i see i have activated the text and paragraph functions. Still. doesn't work.

I thought it was a problem with memory as InDesign also does not show font changes right away. I have to enlarge or activate another frame to see what i dd after changing a font. But that is a bit weird too since i am working on a one page document on a new mac studio...

Anyway, if anyone found a solution for the eyedropper tool to work as it did before rather than to not use it at all, I'd be happy to hear!

P

peromod

Participant

I found that the problem is if there are layers above the layer you are trying to copy attributes from.
It works well once you move the text layer to the top.

If there are objects overlapping and above the source for the eyedropper tool, — even if those objects are on a hidden layer — the tool picks up a color of no fill and no stroke.

If the hidden layer is dropped below the target layer, the problem goes away.

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/39136597-eyedropper-bug-attribute-pick-up-is-glitched-by

M

melaniem44089580

Inspiring

Wow. This is it. I was trying to select a color from a photo with no other frames above or below it. The eyedropper was giving me black instead of any colors in the photo. I moved it to the top layer, and voila, it works.

I think in a few years Adobe products will really be unusable, because they keep adding new features instead of fixing problems they've known about for years. They are just completely not interested in fixing problems for professional users.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

A couple of useful reminders:

1. Make sure it really is the Eyedropper tool; not the Color Theme Tool.

2. Double-click the Eyedropper tool in the Tool Panel to open up Eyedropper Options and then...

3. Turn off many things you *don't* want it to do.

4. Yes, paragraph styles is what you should be doing. It is so much faster. The eyedropper was and always will be a habit that should be unlearned.

Mike Witherell

baadtaste

Participating Frequently

@Mike Witherell
1 - Yes it is the eydropper tool
2 - have checked and 3 turned off what I dont want.

4 - yes let's do things the hard way and not use the tools at hand (note: irony)

Or - tools that where at hand.

Just updated from 20 to 21 version and now the eyedropper tool no longer brings with it all the settings it used to. I have received a document with lots of styles and they have all been "tampered" with. (not by me) In cases like this the eyedropper was my go to tool instead of spending a lot of time figureing out what had been done. It used to bring along all attributes but for some reason it does no longer function the way it did. Now I probably have to mess around deleting hidden preferences and what not. Lets just face it - we live in a world of Beta software with constant upgrading (read: bugfixing). For some reason all my menu commands have been greyed out for the last year, I know this is not the topic for this thread, but still have not found a fix for it. So please let's not assume user error right away?

D

DiHall17567115

Participating Frequently

For years I have been waiting for InDesign to come up with a keyboard shortcut like Quark XPress had 30 years ago for copying styles from one paragraph to another: Put the cursor in the text you want to style, then CMD-Shift-click (or some similar key combo) in the paragraph you want to emulate. It worked flawlessly every time. I find the eyedropper to be far inferior, frustrating, and not a timesaver at all.

S

susib48622382

Participant

I have just started to have this problem and it has totally blown my workflow out of the water. I use the tool all the tile to pick up a style and apply it across other pieces of copy. I'm not sure what's changed. I've double-clicked on the eyedropper tool and it all looks right. Does anyone have updated advice on how to fix this?

D

defaultf32k5qnqwp5c

Participant

Just started for me today. As far as I know I have changed nothing. Frustrating, as I use(d) it all the time.

rob day

Community Expert

mstone wrote
And the Adobe support page???? WTF
"One moment while we gather your account information" ... 20 minutes later still spinning... ridiculous!

The helpx.adobe.com pages you’ll get in a web search are good for specific questions like this

Format text in InDesign

M

mstone-638EfMAuthor

Participating Frequently

Fine but the support page is still spinning an hour and a half later. I rarely need any help so I'm not all that familiar with the support options. It just seems odd that the page just hangs apparently forever.

BobLevine

Community Expert

You’re in the best place you’ll ever be for support. Plenty of us here ready to help, but please check your frustration at the door when get here.

We’re just volunteers here.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

HI mstone:

All it does is make the background of the new text block the color of the text but does not change the actual text style. This bug has been there forever, please fix.

Elaborating on the two previous on-point answers:

Clicking on the pink text with the Eyedropper when the text frame is selected:

Clicking on the pink text with the Eyedropper with the text highlighted:

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

M

mstone-638EfMAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks,

It works sometimes, but even if what you say is the default behavior, it is the wrong behavior in my opinion because if it is sampling the background color of the original text box it should apply the same background color to the new block but it doesn't. Original text background = none then the new background should = none when applied. Anyway I have discovered other anomalies where tool behavior gets broken somehow. For example, often the shift to constrain or shift/option to scale or shift to rotate tool breaks and the only way to fix it is to restart the computer.

Barb Binder

Correct answer

Community Expert

Hi mstone :

It works sometimes, but even if what you say is the default behavior, it is the wrong behavior in my opinion because if it is sampling the background color of the original text box it should apply the same background color to the new block but it doesn't. Original text background = none then the new background should = none when applied.

As a career trainer on InDesign (and other Adobe applications), my personal opinion is that sometimes we have to let go of how we think things should work, and just focus on how they actually work. I totally hear what you are saying, but SJRiegel was correct to identify how your selection was causing the issue. If you want to change what the text looks like, just select the text you want to update with the Type tool first. When I have trouble remembering a new workflow, I put it on a post-it until I master it—if that helps.

Anyway I have discovered other anomalies where tool behavior gets broken somehow. For example, often the shift to constrain or shift/option to scale or shift to rotate tool breaks and the only way to fix it is to restart the computer.

We have found this this specific behavior is almost always caused by a keyboard conflict with another application. Common culprits are anti-virus apps, anti-malware apps and browser extensions. Webroot comes up more than other other application.

InDesign CC Shift Key not working

Indesign CC - OptionDrag and ShiftDrag not working

Proportional Scaling Using Shift Button Not Working – Adobe InDesign Feedback

Modifier keys not working

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

BobLevine

Community Expert

Sounds like user error to me. The eyedropper works just fine for this. Double click the tool to set the appropriate options.

That said, you’d be far better off using a paragraph style.

M

mstone-638EfMAuthor

Participating Frequently

Sorry you are wrong. It flat out doesn't work. All settings are correct. Paragraph styles are fine if it was defined, but in my case the original paragraph style was altered slightly manually, for example made a little smaller. I just want to sample an existing text style and apply it. DOES NOT WORK.