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Global hotkeys

The short version: Open Settings → Hotkeys. Click the recorder for one of the four actions. Press the keys you want. That’s it.

The four actions

ColorCopy exposes a global hotkey for every primary tool:

  • Pick Color — opens the screen sampler. The most-used hotkey by a wide margin.
  • Check Contrast — opens the contrast checker.
  • Palettes — opens the palettes window.
  • Convert Color — opens the Convert Color window (and pre-fills it from the clipboard if it can).

Hotkeys are global — they fire from any app, any space, any full-screen window. You don’t need to bring ColorCopy forward.

Setting them up

  1. Click the menu bar icon → Settings…
  2. Scroll to the Hotkeys section.
  3. Click the recorder next to the action you want to bind.
  4. Press the key combination — e.g. Cmd-Shift-C, or Option-Space.
  5. Done.

To clear a binding, click the small × on the recorder.

Picking shortcuts that won’t collide

The system reserves a lot of common combos. ColorCopy uses the same recorder framework as a number of other Mac apps, so it’ll either accept your combo or refuse it cleanly. If a combo doesn’t take, try adding a modifier (Shift, Option, Control).

Some combos that tend to be free and ergonomic:

  • Cmd-Shift-C
  • Option-C
  • Control-Option-C
  • Function keys (F5 through F12) if your keyboard makes them easy to reach.

Try whatever feels natural. You can always rebind later.

Without a hotkey

You don’t need to set any of these. Every action is also one click away in the menu bar:

  • Right-click the menu bar icon to instantly trigger Pick Color.
  • Left-click opens the menu, where every tool is one more click away.

The menu also displays your current hotkey next to each item, so you can build muscle memory by glancing at it.

Permissions

None. Global hotkeys on macOS don’t require Accessibility access for ColorCopy, because it uses the standard frameworks for menu bar apps. Set the shortcut, hit it from anywhere, no system prompts to dismiss.

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