eyedropper tool not picking up color (InDesign) - LOCKED

[kims02]

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

[kims02]

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!

[Eugene Tyson]

Double click the Eyedropper tool and make sure everything is selected on the check boxes.

[kims02]

Hi - I did that and every single option is selected.

[Eugene Tyson]

Are you sure there is nothing above the image.

Make sure that the image is not locked (which i don't think makes a difference)

Two things to try if something isn't working

Reset your preferences - Hold down Shift Alt Ctrl (CMD) when starting indesign

or if that does not work

On your file File>Export and choose Indesign interchange (.inx)

Open the .inx file in indesign and do a Save as to save it as an indesign file.

[vaskard45728971]

i dont know

[Jonibean]

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.

[SJRiegel]

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.

[Jonibean]

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.

[rob day]

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

[Jonibean]

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

[sfg]

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

[CDZ °__°]

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

[Ahoy]

Thank you! This worked for me .

[pizzaandfries]

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.

[VermiciousKnid]

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

[Nadine1502]

THANK YOU!!! The Quick mask solution worked for me in Photoshop too... I thought this was going to plague me for months! Phew!

[bebeting]

Ditto.  Quick Mask is always the culprit for me.  My History panel wouldn't appear correctly either (the outline of the history panel would just glow and then disappear and "Quick Mask" in the title bar was appearing in real-time I think.  Even after I got out of Quick Mask, I almost saved a simple JPG with a Quick Mask indicator on Save until I deleted it from Channels.  Quick Mask = Quick Bugs sometimes.

[jane-e]

bebeting  wrote

Ditto.  Quick Mask is always the culprit for me.  My History panel wouldn't appear correctly either

bebeting​

InDesign doesn't have Quick Mask or a History panel. Are you thinking of Photoshop?

[Steve Werner]

Since this thread about the Eyedropper tool in InDesign is being hijacked by other application users, and it seems to be finished, I'm locking this thread

[Mike Witherell]

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

[VermiciousKnid]

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.

[PointerDesigner]

Struggled with this for years. Make sure the desired effects you want to pull are actually set on the individual object, and not a grouped object. Couldn't figure out why my settings for a group weren't being pulled. This is why. It will only pull from the object.

Especially helpful if your drop shadows and other effects don't seem to be pulling. This may be why.

[angiesing]

I was having this issue in Photoshop. I finally figured out that I clicked something under 'Sample Size' so it was reading where I was clicking as well as the surrounding area, which was washing out the color I needed. I changed it back to 'point sample' and then it read only where I was clicking. I don't know when I changed it, but putting it back to 'point sample' fixed it.

[ohnho]

I just ran into the same issue, but realized I had a locked layer with a transparent image above my current layer. Turned that layer off and eyedropper worked as expected. Hope this comment helps someone out!