Applies To
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac PowerPoint 2024 PowerPoint 2024 for Mac PowerPoint 2021 PowerPoint 2021 for Mac PowerPoint 2019 PowerPoint 2016 Microsoft Office Microsoft365.com

There are three basic steps for copying and transferring a color with the Eyedropper in the PowerPoint desktop app:

  • First, select the thing you want to re-color.

  • Next, select the eyedropper.

  • Then, select the color you want to apply. 

Change the color of a shape or text

  1. Select the shape or text you want to assign a new color to. (To select multiple objects, press Ctrl and then click the shapes.)

  2. On the Format or Shape Format tab, select Shape Fill (if you're coloring a shape) or Text Fill (if you're coloring text). Then select the Eyedropper option:

    The Eyedropper tool is located on the Shape Fill menu.

    The mouse pointer turns into an eyedropper tool:  Button image

  3. Press and hold the mouse button. As you move your pointer around onscreen, a live preview of the color you're pointing at appears. Hover or pause on a color to see its RGB (Red Green Blue) color coordinates.

    Numbers for RGB colors selected using the Eyedropper

  4. When you're pointing at the color you want to match, release mouse button. The color is immediately applied to the selected shape or object.

    Eyedropper cursor and matched color

    For a more accurate way of getting the exact color you want when many colors are clustered together, select the color by pressing Enter or spacebar instead.

  5. To turn off the Eyedropper tool without picking a color, press Esc.

Match a color and apply it to the slide background

  1. Right-click the slide whose background you want to re-color.

  2. Select Format Background.

    The Format Background pane opens on the right.

  3. Open the Color menu.

    The Format Background pane has a Color selector.

  4. Select the Eyedropper.

    The eyedropper command is on the Color menu in the Format Background pane.
  5. Point at the color you want to apply, and then click. The color is immediately applied to the slide background.

  6. If you want all slides in your file to have that same background, at the bottom of the Format Background pane, select Apply to All.

    If you've changed your mind and don't want to apply the color, at the bottom of the Format Background pane, select Reset Background.

See Also

Make a picture transparent

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