Eyedropper tool does not pick colors

Symptoms

If one or more of these match what you are seeing, you are on the right page.

• •Alt does nothing on the canvas
• •The sampled color does not match the layer you clicked
• •Sampling a gradient gives an unexpected single color
• •The sample varies slightly each time on textured areas

Causes and fixes

Ordered from most to least likely. Work down the list — each cause is paired with what to do about it.

1. 1

   The color picker is not open.

   The eyedropper is only available while the picker is open. Open it first, then click the eyedropper icon or press Alt.

2. 2

   The sample is of the composite, not the layer.

   The eyedropper reads the rendered canvas including every visible layer, blend mode and effect. Hide the layers above the one you want to read in order to sample it directly.

3. 3

   The sample area is a single pixel.

   The default is an exact 1×1 sample, which picks up noise on textured or grainy areas. Change it to 3×3, 5×5 or 11×11 averaging in the eyedropper settings for a more representative result.

4. 4

   You are trying to sample outside the canvas.

   Sampling is scoped to the rendered canvas. Import the reference image into the project if you need to pick colors from it.

Related pages