Paint.NET Color Picker Tool Shortcut

This guide provides the keyboard shortcut required to activate the Color Picker tool in Paint.NET, along with practical tips on how to sample colors efficiently. Mastering this shortcut streamlines your digital editing workflow, allowing you to select and match colors instantly without manually navigating the Tools palette.

The default keyboard shortcut to select the Color Picker tool in Paint.NET is the letter K.

Pressing K on your keyboard instantly switches your active tool to the Color Picker (represented by an eyedropper icon). Once selected, you can interact with your canvas in the following ways:

• Left-Click: Samples the pixel beneath the cursor and sets it as your Primary Color.
• Right-Click: Samples the pixel beneath the cursor and sets it as your Secondary Color.

Temporary Color Picker Shortcut

If you are actively using a drawing tool—such as the Paintbrush, Pencil, or Paint Bucket—you do not need to permanently switch tools to sample a color.

Instead, hold down the Ctrl key. While Ctrl is held, your cursor temporarily turns into the Color Picker. Click to sample your desired color, and then release the Ctrl key to immediately revert back to your previous drawing tool.

Sampling Modes

When the Color Picker is active, the tool options bar at the top of the window provides additional controls:

• Sampling Layer: You can choose whether to sample from the active layer only or from the entire merged image.
• After Click Behavior: You can configure the tool to remain on the Color Picker after clicking, switch back to the previous tool automatically, or switch to the Pencil tool.