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19

P: Ability to sample colors from the Libraries panel

LEGEND ,
May 19, 2015 May 19, 2015

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I think it would be a great improvement if I could sample colors from my CC Library anywhere within Photoshop. Presently, for example, if I am editing a Gradient Overlay for a layer and I want to change a color to one I have already defined in my Library I can't! I can click on the swatch I want but it doesn't translate to the color picker for the gradient I am trying to edit. So I have to hover over and look for the hex value and manually type that in. This seems so counter-intuitive to the way the Library should work. Yes I can set the foreground color, but that is only in the toolbar and that doesn't help while I am editing a Layer Style.

Idea Under review
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macOS , Windows

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26 Comments
LEGEND ,
May 19, 2015 May 19, 2015

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Correct, you can't sample colors from the libraries panel while in a modal dialog.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 16, 2016 Feb 16, 2016

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I would like to see this feature too - assuming its realted, but would love to be able to apply a library color to a segment of text (highlight portion of text, apply color from library)

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Community Beginner ,
May 10, 2016 May 10, 2016

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Absolutely retarded.

It's like none of the devs even use PS.

What's the point of colour swatches if you can't even access them in 50% of the occasions where you're prompted to select a colour?!

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LEGEND ,
Jun 15, 2016 Jun 15, 2016

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please implement this feature Adobe!

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Explorer ,
Feb 09, 2017 Feb 09, 2017

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I agree!!  I am typing text and don't want the entire text box to be one color, but would like to highlight certain areas and click from the libraries to change the color.  I'd like them to behave like the swatches- but libraries are easier to view because they can be grouped by project colors.  I can't even turn a color library into a swatch easily.  

Same with text characters.  It's entire text boxes or nothing, and can't be applied when EDITING the text...  Doesn't make sense.  I like that you don't have to be editing the text to use it, but that it CAN'T be used when editing text seems counter-intuitive.

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New Here ,
Apr 05, 2017 Apr 05, 2017

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Please add this feature! It's so badly needed. I like how i can color pick my Swatches. Wish I was able to color pick my CC Libraries.  I'm currently using stand alone app called Sip just to be able to color pick from Libraries. 

Here's a screen capture of how it currently works: 
https://media.giphy.com/media/l0IycPaWoUou1yE0w/giphy.gif

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LEGEND ,
Apr 20, 2017 Apr 20, 2017

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I can't believe it has been two years and this still doesn't exist. Ridiculous!!!!!!

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New Here ,
Apr 20, 2017 Apr 20, 2017

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My thoughts exactly. Maybe we're using Photoshop wrong and it's not meant to be used that way?

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LEGEND ,
Apr 21, 2017 Apr 21, 2017

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Adobe should indeed have implemented this but in the meantime you can use an app like ColourSnapper (paid but much more reliable) or Sip (free with a premium plan).

I never felt this pain because I always had CS installed.

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LEGEND ,
Oct 06, 2017 Oct 06, 2017

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Those are both mac .... Any recommendations for Windows?

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LEGEND ,
Oct 06, 2017 Oct 06, 2017

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You can click and drag the eyedropper tool from the document window to any part of Photoshop, including the colors in the Library Panel and select them that way. Not elegant, but should do until this feature is added.

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New Here ,
Oct 14, 2017 Oct 14, 2017

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Mike, I used to use Pixie and it worked great when I used to be on Windows 7. Should work fine on the latest version of Windows.  http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php 

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LEGEND ,
Nov 14, 2017 Nov 14, 2017

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I vote for this! In addition, can there be a way to set the color management for the libraries? At top level branding, they tend to select a PMS, CMYK, RGB, and these don't always match how Adobe chooses to handle the colors in each type of document. 

It would be so cool, if we could do something souped up for branding colors that sets how color should be handled for each document type. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but if I need to match something so that it "blends into" and matches a background color, it can quickly turn into a huge deal! I'm working with designs that must translate to multiple campaigns, from booth signage to print collateral to matching social and web. I need the colors to be spot on. 🙂

Say, you want to "set" a color as a special "brand color."

Right click, "Set as Brand Color" and this brings up the following dialogue box:

SET BRAND COLOR 1:
PMS:
CMYK :
RGB:
HTML:

This would save me and others soooooo much time.

Also, can we divorce color themes from Adobe Color? 5 is really, REALLY limited and it seems like the web colors get out of whack often since that tool was originally meant for hex code colors. I would much prefer the ability to create a color collection of our 12 total branding colors. If I could make larger color groupings, it would be so much easier for my branding palettes, especially those that live inside the same parent company. 

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LEGEND ,
Feb 22, 2018 Feb 22, 2018

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Yes please do fix this. I have asked tech support about it today and there was no solution. 

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Enthusiast ,
May 08, 2018 May 08, 2018

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Wow. I thought I must've been missing something, but this is SUCH a glaring omission. The fact that this is "under consideration" and has been for over THREE YEARS is utterly ridiculous. WTF is the point of having the library swatches if I can't colour pick them? OK - I'll close the colour picker, then drag them from the Library panel to my swatches panel....oh, that doesn't work either. What the hell, Adobe? How can you leave such a hideous bug (and it is a bug) for YEARS?

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LEGEND ,
May 09, 2018 May 09, 2018

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Wow. I had to create an account just so I could comment on this. I thought for sure I was missing something. But, you seriously can't access the library panel from the layer styles panel. That's absurd. In the past I've just been too lazy to Google the solution, but it never dawned on me one didn't exist. I agree with the poster above who asked, "Do the developers even USE the product??"

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Community Beginner ,
May 09, 2018 May 09, 2018

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Agree with the previous two posts! And technically not a bug, but a user experience design fail. The addition of Libraries and sharable assets is great - but the fact they cannot be used within the context or normal, expected user tasks is obviously a miss. Would greatly appreciate a fix to this in the near future (I posted to this thread 2 years ago!), its something that frustrates me EVERY day, no exaggeration.

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LEGEND ,
Aug 06, 2018 Aug 06, 2018

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Wow, +1000 for how utterly ridiculous this is : /

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LEGEND ,
Aug 09, 2018 Aug 09, 2018

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Agree, this could be a really nice feature.

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New Here ,
Jan 28, 2019 Jan 28, 2019

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+1 - I love the library feature and would like to use it in Layer Styles.

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LEGEND ,
Mar 18, 2019 Mar 18, 2019

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Thought it was just me missing something, but this actually isn't possible. This is ridiculous. Libraries work great, but mostly just to group and share assets across other apps. Not for colors within Photoshop, apparently. 

Edit: hang on, I think I just found something. With a layer selected, you van right-click the color in the library and choose 'Apply Fill/Stroke Color' or 'Apply Color Overlay'. 
That's one way to approach this.. 

In case anyone else stumbles across this post. 

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New Here ,
Mar 18, 2019 Mar 18, 2019

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The only workaround I've found is to select the color from the library and set it as your foreground color, THEN select it from there when you need it when updating Layer Styles.  I was frustrated about this too but this seems to work for now.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 25, 2019 Jun 25, 2019

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Brilliant! This suggestion just saved me a ton of time and headaches.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 27, 2019 Jun 27, 2019

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Thank you to Gener7 for the post two years ago. In case anyone missed it:

THIS WORKS AND DOES NOT INTERRUPT WORKFLOW TOO MUCH
You can click and drag the eyedropper tool from [anywhere inside] the document window to any part of Photoshop, including the colors in the Library Panel and select them that way.
It scrolled my image almost off the screen but it DID work. I just had to press space to bring the hand up and move it back. This is much easier than setting the FG color first. (If I remembered EVER to set the FG color first, then I would not be here looking for a solution! lol )

I am on a PC. Unsure if this works on MAC. Maybe someone else can confirm...

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LEGEND ,
Apr 06, 2020 Apr 06, 2020

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That's @michelle for sharing, but this doesn't work for me (I'm on a Mac). And besides, it sounds like the UX is not great, scrolling the artboard out of the window like that.

This is something that has puzzled and infuriated me for years. Especially when I want to recolour text. Why can't I click the Text colour in the Character panel and then sample direct from the library.

Yes, I can simply black-arrow select the text and colour all the text, but what if I want to highlight some words and colour those?

Can we get this fixed, please? This seems like a complete no-brainer, yet it has remained like this since CC Libraries were introduced.

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