In August last year, Microsoft updated PowerToys with a system-wide color picker to help users easily select and extract color codes anywhere on Windows 10 devices. let’s see how you can install PowerToys and use its color picker feature on your Windows 10 machine.
Get system-wide color picker in Windows 10
PowerToys is a powerful tool to customize your Windows 10 PC. If you already have PowerToys installed on your system, feel free to jump to the different sections using the table of contents tool below. Also, check out our in-depth PowerToys features article which outlines all the features you can access using this awesome add-on.
Download and install PowerToys
To use the system-wide color picker, you need to download and install PowerToys. Do this, visit the PowerToys GitHub page. In the Assets section, click on the latest .exe file to download it. Once the download is complete, run the installation file to install the application on your computer.
Once you complete the installation process, you will be treated with the PowerToys app homepage. If you still want to access the color picker, remember to enable the “Run at startup” toggle.
Enable PowerToys Color Picker
1. In the PowerToys sidebar, switch to the Color Picker tab. It’s the second option from the top and the eighth option from the bottom. On this page, toggle the “Enable Color Picker” button to the “Enabled” state.
2. As you can see in the image below, you can activate the color picker using the keyboard shortcut Win + Shift + C. You can also remap it to any other shortcut you prefer. To modify the shortcut, click on the “Enable Color Picker” field and press the new hotkey combination. For demonstration, I changed the keyboard shortcuts to Win+Shift+J.
3. Before starting with the tool, you can choose to customize the activation behavior. The available options are Color Picker with Editor mode enabled, Editor, and Color Picker only. The color picker with editor mode opens the color picker interface first, then opens the editor when you choose a color, while the editor opens the edit mode directly, and the color picker mode stays in color picker screen even after copying the color.
Use the PowerToys Color Picker
Now that you’ve downloaded and activated the color picker, let’s get to the exciting part of running it. To start, press the keyboard shortcut you defined in the app. As soon as you press the shortcut, a color picker interface pops up, prompting you to choose the color on the screen.
When you choose a color, the The HEX color code is automatically copied to your clipboard. Additionally, you can view HEX, RGB, and HSL codes along with your recent color choices in the editor mode.
PowerToys has also packed an option for users to slightly change the chosen color. This should come in handy if you are looking for a lighter/darker shade of a particular color you just picked on your screen.
Choose colors anywhere on Windows 10
So that was our quick guide to introduce PowerToys system-wide color picker tool in Windows 10. We hope this handy tool helps you choose colors without any hassle. For more Windows 10 tips, be sure to check out our article on the best Windows 10 tips and tricks.
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