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How to pick a color from anywhere on your Mac screen

Need the exact blue from a website, a brand color from a PDF, or the shade in a photo? Copy it as a hex code in two seconds.

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Steps

  1. Press ⇧⌘2 and drag a box around the area with the color.
  2. Press C. A magnifier follows your pointer and shows the exact pixel and its value.
  3. Click the pixel you want. The hex code is copied, and the swatch is saved in your clipboard history.
  4. Paste it into Figma, CSS, Keynote or a message.

Tips

  • Prefer rgb(47, 107, 255)? Switch Copy colors as in Settings › General.
  • Every color you pick stays under Colors in the clipboard, so you can build a palette as you go.

Without Pluck

macOS includes Digital Color Meter in Applications › Utilities. It shows the value under your pointer; you lock it and copy it from the Color menu, and it doesn't keep a list of what you picked.