If you want to pick a color on your desktop screen then Powertoys utility Color picker is your sure shot! A system-wide color picking utility for Windows to pick colors from any screen and copy it in a configurable format to the clipboard.
Picker allows you to grab any color on your screen! No matter if it’s on your favorite design software, your browser or just an image.
It is possible to see colors on the Color picker interface in real time. This way, you can see the Hexadecimal or RGB code quickly without losing your last adjustments.
How to use Powertoys Color Picker ?
- Download Powertoys: Download Official Application from Microsoft called Powertoys download.
- Install The Powertoys: After downloading this software. You need to run setup. just follow simple instructions on screen and complete installation process.
PowerToys Run is a quick launcher for power users that contains additional features without sacrificing performance. It is open source and modular for additional plugins. To use PowerToys Run, select Alt + Space and start typing! (Note that this shortcut can be changed in the settings window.) - Enable Color Picker: Enable Color Picker in the Color Picker tab in PowerToys Settings.
- Activating Color Picker: You can choose what happens when you activate Color Picker (default: Win+Shift+C) by changing Activation Behavior
- Open editor opens an editor that lets you choose a color from the colors history, fine-tune a selected color, or pick a new color
- Pick a color and open editor activates Color Picker, then opens an editor and copies the selected color to the clipboard after you’ve picked a color
- Only pick a color activates Color Picker and copies the selected color to the clipboard
After activating Color Picker, select a color on your screen to pick that color. If you want to see the area under your cursor in more detail, scroll up to zoom in.
Color Picker copies the selected color to the clipboard in the Default color format you’ve chosen in Color Picker’s settings (default: HEX).
Pro Tip
1. Move the mouse pointer close, but not over the element.
2. Zoom in by scrolling the mouse wheel up. Image will be frozen.
3. In the enlarged area, you can pick the color of the element.
Using the Color Picker editor
The Color Picker editor stores a history of up to 20 picked colors and lets you copy them to the clipboard. You can choose which color formats are visible in the editor in Color formats in PowerToys Settings.
The colored bar at the top of the Color Picker editor lets you:
- fine tune your chosen color
- pick a similar color
To fine tune your chosen color, select the central color in the color bar. The fine-tuning control lets you change the color’s HSV, RGB, and HEX values. Select adds the new color to the colors history.
To choose a similar color, select one of the segments on the left and right edges of the color bar. The Color Picker editor suggests two lighter shades on the left of the bar, and two darker shades on the right of the bar. Selecting one of these similar colors adds that color to the colors history.
To remove a color from the colors history, right-click a color and select Remove.
To export the colors history, select and hold (or right-click) a color and select Export. You can group the exported values by colors or formats.
Settings
Color Picker has the following settings:Expand table
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Activation shortcut | The shortcut that activates Color Picker. |
| Activation behavior | Changes what happens when you activate Color Picker. Read more about this setting in Activating Color Picker. |
| Default color format | The color format that Color Picker copies to the clipboard. |
| Show color name | When turned on, this setting shows a high-level representation of the color. For example, ‘Light Green’, ‘Green’, or ‘Dark Green’. |
| Color formats | This section lets you enable and add different color formats, and change the order of color formats in the Color Picker editor. Read more about Color formats in Managing color formats. |
Managing color formats
You can add, edit, delete, disable, and change the order of color formats in Color formats.
To change the order that color formats appear in the Color Picker editor, select ••• next to a color format and select Move up or Move down.
To disable a color format, turn off the toggle next to that color format. Color Picker doesn’t show disabled color formats in the editor.
To delete a color format, select ••• next to a color format and select Delete.
To add a new color format, select Add custom color format. You can choose the color format’s Name and Format. Select Save to add the color format. The syntax for color formats is described in the Add custom color format dialog.
To edit a color format, select it from the list. You can edit the color format’s Name and Format in the Edit custom color format dialog. Select Update to save your changes. The syntax for color formats is described in the Edit custom color format dialog.
Define color formats with these parameters:Expand table
| Parameter | Meaning |
|---|---|
| %Re | red |
| %Gr | green |
| %Bl | blue |
| %Al | alpha |
| %Cy | cyan |
| %Ma | magenta |
| %Ye | yellow |
| %Bk | Black key |
| %Hu | hue |
| %Si | saturation (HSI) |
| %Sl | saturation (HSL) |
| %Sb | saturation (HSB) |
| %Br | brightness |
| %In | intensity |
| %Hn | hue (natural) |
| %Ll | lightness (natural) |
| %Lc | lightness (CIE) |
| %Va | value |
| %Wh | whiteness |
| %Bn | blackness |
| %Ca | chromaticity A |
| %Cb | chromaticity B |
| %Xv | X value |
| %Yv | Y value |
| %Zv | Z value |
| %Dv | decimal value |
| %Na | color name |
Format the red, green, blue and alpha values to the following formats:Expand table
| Formatter | Meaning |
|---|---|
| b | byte value (default) |
| h | hex lowercase one digit |
| H | hex uppercase one digit |
| x | hex lowercase two digits |
| X | hex uppercase two digits |
| f | float with leading zero |
| F | float without leading zero |
For example %ReX means the red value in hex uppercase two digits format.
Color formats can contain any words or characters that you prefer. For example, the default color format, which shows up on color format creation is: _'new Color (R = %Re, G = %Gr, B = %Bl)'_.
Limitations
- Color Picker can’t display on top of the Start menu or Action Center, but you can still pick a color.
- If you started the currently focused application with an administrator elevation (Run as administrator), the Color Picker activation shortcut won’t work, unless you also started PowerToys with administrator elevation.
- Wide Color Gamut (WCG) and High Dynamic Range (HDR) color formats are currently not supported.