Version 1.24         Approx 0.6 MB (zipped)	First Published 3 Oct 2026

A colour picker tool is a simple utility that detects the screen colour under the mouse cursor and displays that in various colour formats for use in other applications.

Many free colour picker tools are available. For example:
•   Snipping tool   (free with Windows 11)
•   Microsoft PowerToys Color Picker   (Free download from Microsoft Store)
•   CARDA Color Picker

However, as far as I am aware, until now there has been no freely available color picker created in Access. The attached utility fills that gap.

The Access Colour Picker is based on an example app forwarded by Xevi Batlle. several months ago. I have finally got around to completing the project with some additional functionality.

The app contains one form frmColorPicker:


To use this tool, click the Pick Color button and hold down the left mouse button while you move to select a color anywhere on your screen.
The cursor changes to a black eye dropper and the colour below the cursor is shown on the form.


Click the mouse when the cursor is over the color you want to select. The selected color is displayed on the form and the color values are displayed in HEX, RGB, OLE and HLS formats:


The default color format value is copied to the clipboard. The default is initially set to HEX but this can be changed by clicking on any color format label.

Any of the colour values can also be copied to the clipboard by clicking the small button on the right.

Other features:
•   Click ESC to cancel a colour selection
•   Click the Clear button (recycle bin icon) at the top right to remove all colour information
•   Click the blue Help button in the form header to display this information:


NOTE:
The modern HSL format used 0-360 degrees for Hue (H) and a 0-100% scale for saturation (S) and luminosity (L).
However, the colour selector in all Office apps such as Excel and Access use a legacy HSL format based on a 0-255 scale for backwards compatibility.


For internal consistency, this app also uses the legacy 0-255 scale for HSL. However, the code to output the modern HSL format is also supplied with the app.



Download

Click to download: Access Color Picker v1.24    ACCDB file (approx 0.6 MB zipped)

As is the case for all files downloaded from the internet, first unblock the downloaded file, unzip then save to a trusted location.
For more details, see my article: Unblock downloaded files by removing the Mark of the Web

NOTE:
1.   The zip file also includes the eyedropper cursor file which should be saved in the same folder as this Access utility.
2.   If you want to use this utility within your own apps, import the form and both modules. Also copy the eyedropper cursor file to the same folder.
      Alternatively, move the cursor file to c:\Windows\Cursors and alter one line of code in the form cmdPick_Click event.


3.   As the form is designed to capture the underlying colour when the mouse is moved, some screen flicker may be seen.
      If this is an issue, you should enable the Me.Painting = False line below in the form cmdPick_Click event.
      However, doing this will disable the 'live colour capture' whilst the mouse is moved.


      If this is done, make sure you enable both instances of the line below which appear later in the form cmdPick_Click event.




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Colin Riddington	Mendip Data Systems	Last Updated 3 Oct 2026

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