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Mac Color Picker Trick
Previously, we've talked about built-in Preview color picker for Mac OS X Leopard. To our disappointment, last time we've failed to grab the real hex color code for picked color.
Fortunate for us, we found out a way to get the real hex color code from color bar and we will discuss about that in this article.
Pick the Color
In most of free built-in Mac applications, under Menu Bar → Tools you can find a tool named Show Colors (shortcut: command-shift-c). Upon clicking on it, a color pane will appear and…
Shown Above. Opening Colors Pane in Preview
- Click on the magnifier icon just next to color bar. Your cursor will now be transformed into a huge magnifier crosshair
- Sample any visible pixel of your Desktop and you can see the color bar change accordingly
- If you're currently using RGB Slider, you will notice the changes also apply on each Red, Green, and Blue sliders
- Now click-and-hold your mouse at any point inside the slider and move out your mouse
- You will see a color being dragged out; put it onto your text editor
- And you've successfully pick your color hex code (for free)
Shown Above. Picking Out Sample from Color Bar
So far, this is the fastest and cheapest color picker I've found on my Mac. Perhaps you've something to say about this, why don't you shout it out on the comment box below?
Categories:
Tips and Tricks
Tags:
Color,
Preview
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52 Comments
Mark
OS X comes with a free color picker utility called DigitalColor Meter. It's located at /Applications/Utilities/DigitalColor Meter.app Does everything from the post and more, be sure to tour the menus.
John C. Descy
Does not seem to work. A little color square gets dragged out, but snaps back as soon as I let go of it. Also nothing is inserted. I've testet with Mail, TextEdit and MacVim so far.
Kcrystina
Thank you for this tip! I didn't even realize you could do this. I love being able to take a photo of mine & using the colors within it. This makes it much easier to do!
Tom
Why do you need the dragging function? I hope you could remember 6 chars for 5 seconds, can't you? You don't have to make things more complicated than they are, the DigitalColorMeter.app works very fine :)
Wendy
That's my biggest problem I have here, I can't remember a 6-letter hex code during my designing process…
Tim Stringer
Thanks for the tip! I use a free add-on called Hex Color Picker that adds an extra tab to the standard Color Picker. Works really well in my experience. http://wafflesoftware.net/hexpicker/
Martin
Check this site out for lots of plugins and tips :) http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/OtherTuts/MacColorPicker/MacColorPicker.html
Steve
Add a proper hex colour picker into the mix: http://rubicode.com/Software/RCWebColorPicker/ It will appear in the toolbar the next time you open the color picker and you can still select the magnifying glass to select a pre-existing colour. DigitalColor Meter.app in /Application Utilities also allows dragging of the colour from the swatch. There is a preference to enable clicking in the swatch too and a few other options including 'copy hex color as text' in the Color Menu. I find myself relying on this more for convenience reasons than anything.
ScottB
Get Yahoo! Widgets - formally Konfabulator. Get this widget: http://www.widgetgallery.com/view.php?widget=41992 Works great. Scott
Fixx
I use Pipette :) http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/pipette Very simple... gets the job done :) try it out, everyone :)
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Thanks, Fixx, nice one too. SB
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Wow. I’ve used a Mac for years and I never knew about this simple and common sense trick. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I discover these Mac usability ‘easter eggs’ - such an impressive operating system!
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DaTribe
For a simple colour picker that just identifies the color the mouse is current over then use PIXA - http://www.avantprime.com/products/view-product/1/pixa. Only for Windows.
DaTribe
For a simple colour picker that just identifies the color the mouse is current over then use PIXA. Only for Windows.
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