PC Doctor April 14, 2017

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Dear PC Doctor:

I make a lot of posters and flyers.  I used to use Publisher 2007.  It was kind of old and clunky, but it had a feature that I love & relied upon:  sample font color.  I would use it to make text just the right color by selecting a color from whatever image I was using on my poster.  Now I’m using Publisher 2010.  It’s better in many ways, but I cannot find that sample font color tool!  It looks like a little eye dropper.  Does Publisher 2010 have it?  Does it have something similar?

Thank you,

   Faye

 

Dear Faye:

The way you get to the eyedropper tool is different, but Publisher 2010 does have it! 

Place the piece of artwork you want to use into your document.  With the picture selected, choose “Picture Tools” (at the top of your screen), then “Format”, then “Picture Border”, then “Sample Line Color”. 

If selecting color from other shapes, select a shape. Go to “Drawing Tools” “Format” “Shape Fill”, then “Sample Fill Color” or “Shape Outline”, then “Sample Line Color”.

 If selecting color from text you've added to the page, with the text highlighted, go to “Text Box Tools”, “Format”, “Font Color” ,then “Sample Font Color”. 

When your cursor changes to an eyedropper, place it over any color in the image. If you click and hold, a small square of color pops up to show you what color you are selecting, This is handy if you are trying to zero in on one color among many. Release the mouse button.  Repeat the process for all the colors you want to capture. They now appear in the Recent Colors section below Scheme Colors and Standard Colors.

Be sure to save your publication at this point. The sampled Recent Colors stay with the publication.

Now that you have a selection of colors, you can start applying color to other objects on your page. 

Until next time,
Happy Computing!

   PC Doctor