Powerpoint Office2016 Eyedropper not working

Anonymous
2015-12-01T17:51:55+00:00

Hi

just upgraded last week to Office2016/64 on Win10 and discovered that the eyedropper in the color picker in PowerPoint no longer works. No matter where on the screen I put the cursor I get a gray color as opposed to the color immediately under the cursor as in Office365/2013/64 Powerpoint

help!

Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2017-06-26T15:35:44+00:00

I, too, had this problem. Ran Office 365 ProPlus "Office Updates", which took PowerPoint from Build 7369.2130 up to 7766.2092, and the eyedropper issue is now non-reproducible on my machine. Seems if you can do the updates, you should be good to go.

For those who might not be able to update Office, or do and still see the issue, here's a workaround that's not too painful: The issue only seems to affect colors in the PowerPoint application; I was able to pick colors with the eyedropper from other apps just fine. (To do this, after activating the eyedropper tool, click anywhere in a PowerPoint slide, then hold and drag the mouse to anywhere else on your desktop; release the mouse button when over the desired color.) So, to pick a color that's on the slide, screenshot the slide, then use the eyedropper to pick the desired color from the screenshot.

Hope that makes sense...

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-26T03:13:17+00:00

    To the MS developers, is this a situation where the PSR is the easiest way to capture trouble shooting info?

    PSR - Win7 & Win8  & Win 10 Problem Steps Recorder

    http://www.howto-connect.com/windows-10-problem-step-recorder/

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows7/How-do-I-use-Problem-Steps-Recorder

    http://www.windows10compatible.com/blog/using-problem-steps-recorder-in-windows-10/

    http://www.maximumpc.com/article/how-tos/how\_use\_windows\_7\_problem\_steps\_recorder\_make\_easy\_pc\_guides 

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd371782%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

    http://www.7tutorials.com/easy-troubleshooting-and-problem-solving-problem-steps-recorder 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6EgLm3-XcQ

    http://blogs.msdn.com/b/patricka/archive/2010/01/04/using-the-secret-windows-7-problem-step-recorder-to-create-step-by-step-screenshot-documents.aspx

    Please use the Problem Steps Recorder to capture what you are doing so we have more details to work with. Either copy and paste the recorded steps into the forum or upload the zip file to Onedrive and give us a link to the zip file

    Users and computer ‘geeks” often don’t speak the same language, interpreting things differently based on their experience. This short article has 3 examples of fundamental misunderstandings http://www.infoworld.com/t/it-jobs/say-what-three-unfortunate-users-in-need-of-tech-translator-212321  When you read it, if you are posting a question you will probably scratch your head at the answers, while computer people will be slapping their forehead and laughing out loud. Both reactions are reasonable reflections of the readers experience. Using PSR is one way to bridge that communication breakdown.

    Solving problems unique to a machine can be an arduous task for both the end-user and the help desk. That’s why Win7 introduces the Problem Steps Recorder, a screen-capture tool that allows the end-user to record the problems they’re having step-by-step. If the problem is repeatable, the recorder will capture what you do in text form.

    It’s as simple as hitting “record” then adding in comments as needed. A HTML-based file is converted to a .ZIP folder, which is easily passed on to the help desk.  The program is accessible from the Control Panel under “Record steps to reproduce a problem” or run psr.exe from Explorer.

    Upload result to a file share site like onedrive and post the link back here so we can look at it too.

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  2. Steve Rindsberg 99,176 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-01-26T05:18:58+00:00

    Good question!  My take:

    The PSR would provide more info, I suppose, but needs an email address to send the results to.

    I'm guessing that since the devs/testers who're watching this problem asked for specific info rather than a PSR report, they want to keep it simple for starters.

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  3. Steve Rindsberg 99,176 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-01-26T05:38:39+00:00

    Thanks!  Coupla followups:

    >> Magnifier is set to 100% and not in use when using PPT

    But has it been activated at any point and set back to 100% from higher value?  That may be important.  If it's activated at all, try closing it and see if that affects anything. 

    [added later]  DEFINITELY check this one before messing with the rest.  I'm testing in Win10 now, and if I set the Win magnifier to 200% then back to 100% using WinKey with Plus and Minus keys, ... bingo.  I've got repro here. 

    If I dismiss the Windows magnifier (x-box in upper right corner), even while the eyedropper's still active and waiting for a click, the eyedropper returns to normal expected behavior.

    >> I don't readily see a "9 point Segoe UI at xx pixels per inch" reference using the method you describe. Or a "Use Windows XP style DPI scaling"

    The XP style scaling option is apparently gone, but to get to the other in Win 10:

    Right-click the desktop, choose Display Settings

    Mention the percentage you're set to under "Change the size of text ... etc."

    Click Advanced Display Settings

    Click Advanced Sizing of Text and Other Items

    Now click Set a Custom Scaling Level and mention what percentage it's set to.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-01-26T07:23:41+00:00

    My answers...

    • Magnifier: set to 100% when opened for this test, but otherwise not used
    • PPT version: MS PPT 2013 (15.0.4787.1000)  MSO (15.0.4787.1002) 32-bit

    [Is there a way to just copy & paste the version info? I couldn't find one...]

    • Windows version: 10.0.10586 Build 10586
    • Kind of graphic card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000
    • Does it work if you turn off hardware acceleration: No
    • Resolution: 1920x1280
    • "Change only the text size": 9 for all menu options ("Title bars," etc.)
    • Custom Scaling Level: 100%, 9 point Segoe UI

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