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Eyedropper problems in CS5

May 22, 2012 8:14 AM

Tags: #cs5 #error #background #mac #photoshop_cs5 #eyedropper #foreground #eye_dropper

Hi everyone, my eyedropper tool has suddenly gone awry. Selecting the eyedropper (or alt clicking the open window while on another tool) makes the colour selected the background colour and not the foreground as it always has done. Whereas and alt-click with the eyedropper selected makes the colour the foreground one.

 

Not a huge problem but one that's getting increasingly annoying as I try to work and keep painting the wrong colour.

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Using OSX 10.7.3 and CS5.

 

thanks

Trev

835 Views   14 Replies   Latest reply: Noel Carboni, May 23, 2012 2:54 PM
 
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  • Curt Y
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    1. Curt Y,
    May 22, 2012 8:51 AM   in reply to trevreav
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    Click on Window/color and in that window you can set for foreground or background.  A line around the color swatch indicates which preference you have set.

     
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  • trevreav
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    2. trevreav,
    May 22, 2012 9:03 AM   in reply to Curt Y
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    Hi Curt, thanks for the reply, unfortunately it doesn't help.

     

    Window>Colour only brings up the CMYK/RGB etc slider box and there's no preference in there for selecting the eyedropper preference, if I click on a colour in my main window with the dropper selected it still comes up as the background colour in this box.

     

    Thanks anyway.

    Trev

     
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  • Curt Y
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    3. Curt Y,
    May 22, 2012 9:33 AM   in reply to trevreav
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    You should get a window that has 3 tabs - color,swatches, style.  You want to be on color tab and you will sell the 2 color icons and one with a border around it.

     

    The one you mentioned does not seem correct.

     
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  • trevreav
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    4. trevreav,
    May 22, 2012 9:44 AM   in reply to Curt Y
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    Hi again Curt, yes, that's exactly what I get, and the eyedropper tool (or alt-brush [or whatever] always defaults to the background colour, whereas it should be the foreground colour.

    Trev

     
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  • Curt Y
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    5. Curt Y,
    May 22, 2012 9:52 AM   in reply to trevreav
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    Does it look like this?

     

    color picker.JPG

     
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  • trevreav
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    6. trevreav,
    May 22, 2012 9:58 AM   in reply to Curt Y
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    Yes, exactly like that, and then whatever I select with the eyedropper tool always goes to the back colour (red in your pic).

    Trev

     
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  • Noel Carboni
    21,024 posts
    Dec 23, 2006
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    7. Noel Carboni,
    May 22, 2012 10:02 AM   in reply to trevreav
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    Try clicking the other icon then, then if that doesn't work, try clicking back on the foreground icon.

     

    Failing that, reset your Photoshop preferences to default by holding Control - Shift - Alt down when cold-starting Photoshop.

     

    -Noel

     
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  • Curt Y
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    8. Curt Y,
    May 22, 2012 10:04 AM   in reply to trevreav
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    Then you might try resetting eyedropper tool.

     

    That is is the dropdown menu of icon in upper right hand corner.  Then click on "gear" in right hand corner of this window.

     
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  • trevreav
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    9. trevreav,
    May 22, 2012 10:16 AM   in reply to Curt Y
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    Curt, Noel, thanks for this.

    Curt, this is what I get when I touch the dropdown menu:

    ColourPicker.jpg

     

    Noel, I think the resetting of preferences might be the way to go. I'll report back once I've tried that - a bit up against it at the moment so it may not be in the next few hours.

    Thanks again

    Trev

     
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  • Noel Carboni
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    Dec 23, 2006
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    10. Noel Carboni,
    May 22, 2012 10:18 AM   in reply to trevreav
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    In the image you've posted above, the background swatch is selected.

     

    Read carefully:

    Click on the little white box at the upper-left under the COLOR tab so that the black highlight is around it.

     

    -Noel

     
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  • trevreav
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    11. trevreav,
    May 22, 2012 10:22 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    Yes, I have read everything carefully, so just to reiterate:

     

    It doesn't matter which one is highlighted, the eyedropper tool ALWAYS reverts to choosing the background colour, unless I hold down the ALT button, which is the opposite way to how it's always been.

     

    Trev

     
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  • Noel Carboni
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    Dec 23, 2006
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    12. Noel Carboni,
    May 22, 2012 11:06 AM   in reply to trevreav
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    OK, I just wanted to be sure you didn't misinterpret the earlier instructions.

     

    Good luck getting to the bottom of this.

     

    -Noel

     
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  • trevreav
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    13. trevreav,
    May 23, 2012 12:41 AM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    Curt, Noel, just to report back that the resetting of the preferences did the trick.

     

    Noel, thanks for that tip, I didn't know how to reset these.

     

    Trev

     
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  • Noel Carboni
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    Dec 23, 2006
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    14. Noel Carboni,
    May 23, 2012 2:54 PM   in reply to trevreav
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    You're welcome, glad the prefs reset worked for you.  That can clear up some really weird problems.

     

    -Noel

     
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