Participant

Answered

Photoshop color picker suddenly isn't working

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
June 18, 2016
9 replies
70016 views

Hi,

I never had this problem before. I've been working on a project in Photoshop and for some reason, it is now only working in grayscale. When I used the color picker to change color, it doesn't work. I know remember doing anything different to cause it to work only in grayscale, but I can't seem to figure out how to switch it back to color mode and I'm in the middle of an important project. Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

Penny Jones

[email removed]

Correct answer gener7

Look at the Document tab at the top. RGB/8 should be the norm. If you somehow tapped "q" on your keyboard, then it would read

"Quickmask/8" and the color picker would not select a color. Tap q again to get it back to RGB.

Always check the Document tab, it will clue you into what you have selected. It would read "Layer 0, Layer Mask/8" if you selected a layer mask.

Finally you may have selected a Color Channel and it would read Layer 0,Blue/8. Cmd/Ctrl 2 can get you back to RGB.

T

Tyrone Donquavious

Participant

Personally none of these solutions worked for me until... I read a reply mentioning the Sample size or whatever it's called (don't judge me, I know little to nothing of these programs)! I then remembered setting it to 3 by 3 by accident when i right clicked with the magic wand tool. I changed it back to point sample, and my problem was fixed! I am full to the brim with jubilation at having found out what the problem was, and I would like to thank all of the wonderful, tech-savvy individuals willing to help out kindred souls (such as myself) by making quite successful attempts to alleviate the negative effects of Adobe's increasingly apparent lack of design prowess, such as unnecessary Scratch Disk failures, having to downgrade Premiere projects, or, in this case, the colour picker malfunctioning. I only have myself to blame, however, as I knowingly changed the Sample size (even though I wasn't sure exactly what it meant), and despite sneaking suspicions that it was the 3-by-3 average that was screwing me over, I did not even think to investigate the potential (and actual) root of the problem.

Rant over.

R

Red Point

Inspiring

My color picker stopped working after the latest update. I checked all the above solutions and none worked. This is obviously a bug in Photoshop (maybe related to the ever recurring AMD / NVIDEO combination issue in Windows). It all wouldnt be a problem if Adobe did not constantly revert my settings on larger updates. It's a real nuissance... Working with the same documents in Photoshop beta and the color pickers works normally.

When will the new Photoshop version finally run normally and stable?

R

Red Point

Inspiring

Until I received a new error. Now when I open Photoshop Beta I receive an error which prevents me from opening the app: "The procedure entry point?MC bla bla" could not be located in the dynamic link library. Bla bla.

The latest major Photoshop update(s) were a real joke in terms of stability.

I wish Adobe would clearly warn users when a major update is released, so that users who rely on stability and have important client deadlines can defer the update for three months. That is usually how long it takes before things run smoothly again. You could have a big red warning sign that reads

"Caution - this is a major update. If you are using Photoshop in a professional environment, we advise you to defer updates for 3 months".

I don't mean this in a cynical way.

I really mean it!!!!!!

aislingf63043220

Participant

I noticed this question on a search for answers as my colour picker was no longer offering the usual slider option. Yes the Q is from 2016 but others have had the same issue more recently

I found this answer and it worked for me.

There is an easy fix. Inside the color picker, try clicking on the radio buttons H, S, B, R, G, B and you'll see how the colour picker changes. To get back to the default Photoshop color picker, simply click on H (which stands for Hue) you'll find yourself with the old familiar picker.

https://www.photoshop-bootcamp.com/photoshop-color-picker/

aislingf63043220

Participant

p.s you may need to double click on the cord Colour for the Colour picker window to pop up even after you have reset to H

S

Sunita5C84

Participant

Please select the colour code to RGB while opening a new document, I had the same issue and then tried opening a new document and found that The colour code was in Greyscale.

E

endroID

Participant

maybe you can check your layer point sample, make sure that sample is "All Layers". i can resolve it with this

D

Dadathor

Participant

I just had a similar issue and the problem was indeed the sample size that changed from point sample (the color picker will take the color of the single targetted pixel) to 31x31 average, making the picked color an average of the targetted 31x31 pixels area. Changing it back to point sample solved the problem, however I don't know why it suddenly changed, I guess I must have hit the wrong keyboard shortcut

B

brynktucker

Participant

This was my issue. I was losing my mind trying to figure out the issue. Not sure how I changed the sample size, but so thankful for your response being the answer!