An application to easily pick a color in Mac OS X and get the hex value

I'm looking for a way to easily pick a color from anywhere on the screen in Mac OS X and get the value as a hex code (like #ACC782 ).

OS X has a built in system "color picker" and I found a standalone "app" that will just run that, but I don't see any way to get the hex code from it.

Firefox and Chrome both have "color picker" extensions but I'm looking for something that I can use on any application.

What can I use for that? It would be really nice if it automatically copied the value to the clipboard, but that may be asking too much :)

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cwd

Posted 2011-12-30T02:06:19.177

Reputation: 13 508

You do realize that you didn't need to register a second account to answer your questions, but can simply answer them with your own account (like e.g. I do)? – Daniel Beck – 2011-12-30T08:26:30.063

I asked a moderator about it; if you want, they could merge your accounts. There is no rule against answering your own questions. (Assuming you are haxie) – Daniel Beck – 2011-12-30T08:55:35.837

Answers

OS X comes with DigitalColor Meter:

Applications > Utilities > DigitalColor Meter.app

It has many options and preferences.

command+shift+c will copy the color under the cursor to the clipboard in many different formats.

broomdodger

Posted 2011-12-30T02:06:19.177

Reputation: 1 810

11Just to add you can get the output in hex by going to View->Display values->Hexadecimal – donturner – 2014-07-13T19:09:54.910

I tried command+shift+c but it does not copies the values in mountain lion. Update: We have to keep the DigitalColor Meter Selected, I would click on the image expecting the keys to copy the color. – pal4life – 2014-08-08T20:53:45.170

@broom, Where did the color picker go to? – Pacerier – 2017-10-12T07:33:56.990

This is literally the worst answer in the world and is worth the cost for a DV. Completely downgraded the OPs color app for the lousy built in color picker. – hmedia1 – 2019-10-14T06:59:24.090

The Mac OS X color picker is extensible.

Use Hex Color Picker to add a tab that provides you the configured color in hexadecimal RGB.

enter image description here

Just run e.g. TextEdit and press Cmd-Shift-C to open the color picker, or run your standalone program.

An even more versatile color picker is Developer Color Picker with many different output formats, one of which is hexadecimal.

enter image description here

Daniel Beck

Posted 2011-12-30T02:06:19.177

Reputation: 98 421

1Can they pick color under cursor? – qed – 2014-07-18T15:56:27.140

@Daniel, I dun get it.. Why not just use mac DigitalColor? – Pacerier – 2017-10-12T07:35:17.820

@Pacerier Because that's the option I was aware of and used at the time. Note that the latter has a number of additional features useful in many contexts you may want to use the color in. – Daniel Beck – 2017-10-12T17:48:21.460

This is easily done with AppleScript. A complete working example of code is available here.

enter image description here

mark

Posted 2011-12-30T02:06:19.177

Reputation: 521

I know this is a super old post, but just thought I'd throw this one out there that I've been using for awhile: Sip. Works pretty sweet, and you can get a ton of different color options.

App Store Link: Sip

I have no affiliation with the developer, just think it's a cool little app. And it's Free! :-) Enjoy

Drew

Posted 2011-12-30T02:06:19.177

Reputation: 131

I dun get it..What can Sip do that DigitalColor cant? – Pacerier – 2017-10-12T07:34:52.983

Granted... It works similar to DigitalColor. Where I've found differences is in the how the app functions over all. Sip for instance has a lot more options in terms of what it can capture the color as; NSColor RGB, HSB, OpenGL RGB, Swift NSColor, UIColor RGB, CSS Hex, Java RGB, Android XML etc... just to name a few (30+ options in total). Versus the six options that DC has. Personally, I also like the history palette that stores some of my recent color pics, and that it sits up in the menu bar tucked away neatly. Anyway, yeah, the both do (pretty much) the same thing. I just prefer Sip. – Drew – 2017-10-12T16:05:40.360