# Colour Palette — Get a colour palette from an image on Mac

Pull the main colours from an image as a swatch card, CSS variables and an Adobe palette. Part of OneMacTools, 151 private tools in one native Mac app (macOS 26 or later); category: Images. Runs on your Mac; nothing is uploaded.

OneMacTools finds the main colours in an image, most common first, and saves a swatch card with hex codes. Optionally save CSS custom properties for your website and an Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase) file for Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Page: https://www.onemactools.com/tools/colour-palette-from-image · Download: https://www.onemactools.com/download · Pricing: https://www.onemactools.com/pricing

## How to use it
1. **Drop an image.** A photo, logo, artwork or screenshot. You can add several, and each gets its own palette.
2. **Choose how many colours.** 5 for a simple scheme, 8 for a fuller one, or 12 to capture more variety.
3. **Choose the extras.** Keep CSS variables for your website and the Adobe palette (.ase) for Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, or turn them off.
4. **Click Extract.** The colours appear in the app as hex codes, most common first, and are saved as a swatch card.
5. **Use the files.** The swatch card PNG, CSS file and .ase file are saved in a new dated folder in Downloads › OneMacTools. Open them with the Preview (eye) button or Show in Finder.

## Options
- **Colours:** 5, 8 (the default) or 12. The most common colours come first. Very similar colours are merged, so a simple image may give you fewer than you asked for.
- **Also save CSS variables:** On by default. Saves a .css file with each colour as a custom property, from --palette-1 to the last, ready to paste into your stylesheet.
- **Also save an Adobe palette (.ase):** On by default. Saves an Adobe Swatch Exchange file you can load into the Swatches panel of Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign.

## Tips
- Crop to the part you care about first. A big sky or plain wall will dominate the palette.
- Ask for more colours than you need, then pick the ones that work together. The most common colours aren't always the most striking.
- Check text and background pairs for contrast before using them on a website. A palette from a photo isn't designed for readability.
- To grab a single exact colour from your screen, use Colour Picker instead.

## Questions
**How do I get the colour palette from an image?**
Drop the image onto Colour Palette, choose 5, 8 or 12 colours and click Extract. You get the hex codes, a swatch card, CSS variables and an Adobe palette.

**How do I use the colours in my website?**
Open the .css file and copy the :root block into your stylesheet. Then use var(--palette-1) and so on wherever you need a colour.

**How do I import the palette into Photoshop or Illustrator?**
Open the Swatches panel, choose Import Swatches or Open Swatch Library › Other Library, and pick the .ase file.

**Why did I get fewer colours than I chose?**
Colours that are almost the same are merged so the palette doesn't repeat itself. An image with few distinct colours gives a shorter palette.

**What order are the colours in?**
Most common first, so the first colour covers the largest part of the image.