How To Find HEX Values With The Built-in iMac Digital Colour Meter App
You may not know this, but there’s a handy-dandy tool on your Mac that you probably haven’t used yet. This tool is found deep in your Mac’s utility folder, and it allows you to find the color value of anything on your screen. This built-in tool will spit out the RGB, HEX, or Percentage value of any color displayed on your screen.
This so-called digital colour meter can identify the color of any single pixel on your screen, and this guide will show you find values with this Mac built-in app.
Where to find this Digital Color Meter App
First things first, let’s open the Digital Color Meter app. This utility program can be found in the Applications folder under Utilities.
Once you’ve opened this application, just hover with your mouse anywhere on your screen and get a close-up view of what you’re looking at and get it properly exposed.
The View menu offers a number of handy options. The one I like most is locking the position of an individual screen area with the keyboard shortcut CMD + L.
Lock the position of an individual screen area with the keyboard shortcut CMD + L.
Using this shortcut allows you to move the pointer again, the Digital Color Meter will stay in place and hold that same RGB value.
The View menu has a couple more handy options, such as displaying other color values, showing the mouse location, and more.
How to copy the HEX color values to your clipboard With Digital Colour Meter App
How often do you find yourself willing to know what color a certain element is, but you don’t have a HEX color meter at your disposal? That’s why I thought to write a separate paragraph to show you how to copy HEX values to your clipboard because it’s such a frequently used option. Once you know how to do it, you will be using the Digital Color Meter to its full potential.
A HEX color code is made up of letters and numbers after the hash (#) symbol. It’s basically the computer code for colors.
First, make sure to have your Digital Color Meter app open and selected. Then, at the menu bar (at top of your screen) go to View > Display Values > and set the value as a Hexadecimal.
After doing this, select any color from the screen by just hovering your mouse over it (don’t click on that element) and use Command + Shift + C to copy its hex color code to your clipboard. You can then use Command + V to paste it into the design program you’re using.
That’s it. Now you know exactly how to discover that shade of green, purple, red, yellow, blue, or any other color you run into online. This color-reading app is easy to use, and I was more than happy to show this piece of software to you guys. Feel free to play around with it to get the hang of it.
Some Handy Shortcuts For The Digital Colour Meter
With these simplified applications, I like to use my mouse as little as possible. In general, I like to use shortcuts whenever my machine allows me to do so. Therefore, I would like to share some handy shortcuts you can use when you have the Digital Colour Meter app open.
Lock Position
We’ve glanced over this one in the beginning, but there is no shame in repeating a handy shortcut. To lock a value and be able to move your mouse without losing it, hit CMD + L. To lock just the X or Y axes, Hit CMD + X or Y.
Alter Size Magnification
To make the magnification of the Digital Colour Meter bigger or smaller, click on Command + 1, 2, 4, or 8.
Change Color Values With Digital Colour Meter App
There is no shortcut for this one, but to change color values from RGB to HEX and vice versa, go to View > Display Values > and select as Decimal, as Hexadecimal, or as Percentage.
Copy Colour as Text or as Image
To copy the selected value as text or as an image, simply click on Command + Shift + C for text or Command + option + C for the image.
Minimise Digital Colour Meter App
This is a more universal shortcut for macOS, but to minimise the digital Colour Meter app, simply hit Command + M. As I said, you can use this shortcut to minimise any running application on your Mac.
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