Bug 507932 - Spectacle - "Pick color from screen" does not remove grey overlay, making color selection impossible
Summary: Spectacle - "Pick color from screen" does not remove grey overlay, making col...
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: Spectacle
Classification: Applications
Component: General (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: 6.4.4
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Noah Davis
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-08-06 09:48 UTC by pigeonskiller
Modified: 2025-09-25 18:00 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
Bug sample (2.43 MB, image/jpeg)
2025-08-06 09:48 UTC, pigeonskiller
Details
Screencast 2025-08-27 08:12:10.mp4 (1.73 MB, video/mp4)
2025-08-27 06:48 UTC, pigeonskiller
Details
Schermata_20250903_170054.jpg (15.21 KB, image/jpeg)
2025-09-03 15:06 UTC, pigeonskiller
Details

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description pigeonskiller 2025-08-06 09:48:32 UTC
Created attachment 183823 [details]
Bug sample

**SUMMARY**
When using the *"Select Color" → "Pick a color from the screen"* feature in Spectacle, a grey overlay is applied to the entire screen. This alters the appearance of the colors, making it impossible to select the true color under the cursor. This defeats the purpose of the feature.

**STEPS TO REPRODUCE**

1. Open Spectacle
2. Take a screenshot (or load an existing one)
3. Click on **"Tools" → "Select Color" → "Pick a color from the screen"**
4. Observe that a grey overlay is applied over the image
5. Try to pick a specific color from the screen/image

**OBSERVED RESULT**
The overlay darkens or modifies the real color, so the picked color is not accurate.

**EXPECTED RESULT**
The screen should remain unaltered during color picking, or at least the color under the cursor should be sampled from the original content, not from the overlay.

**WORKAROUNDS**

* Use external tools like **KColorChooser**, which do not apply an overlay.
* Take the screenshot first, then pick the color from an external app.
* Disable compositing (e.g. `Shift+Alt+F12`) to avoid overlay in some setups.

**SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS**

* KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.4
* KDE Frameworks Version: 6.16.0
* Qt Version: 6.9.1
* Spectacle Version: 6.4.4
* OS: Arch Linux

**ADDITIONAL INFORMATION**
This might be caused by the semi-transparent fullscreen widget used to capture input, but the color picker should ideally bypass the overlay or access the framebuffer underneath.
Comment 1 TraceyC 2025-08-18 23:08:25 UTC
I'm not seeing this with Spectacle 6.4.4 with Plasma built from git-master, or with Fedora 42 and Plasma 4.2.2

Can I ask you for a screen recording, to make sure I'm doing the same thing as you are? Thanks.
Comment 2 pigeonskiller 2025-08-27 06:48:32 UTC
Created attachment 184492 [details]
Screencast 2025-08-27 08:12:10.mp4

Hi, see the attached video clip for the example of the bug.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Il 19/08/25 01:08, TraceyC ha scritto:
> https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=507932
>
> TraceyC<kdedev@tlcnet.info> changed:
>
>             What    |Removed                     |Added
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                   CC|                            |kdedev@tlcnet.info
>               Status|REPORTED                    |NEEDSINFO
>           Resolution|---                         |WAITINGFORINFO
>
> --- Comment #1 from TraceyC<kdedev@tlcnet.info> ---
> I'm not seeing this with Spectacle 6.4.4 with Plasma built from git-master, or
> with Fedora 42 and Plasma 4.2.2
>
> Can I ask you for a screen recording, to make sure I'm doing the same thing as
> you are? Thanks.
>
Comment 3 TraceyC 2025-08-29 20:50:34 UTC
Thank you for attaching the screen recording. I see exactly what's happening in it.
- Spectacle is opened, "Fai click e transcina per definire una selezione" appears (Click and drag to define a selection - rectangle mode)
- Click the pencil tool
- Click the color swatch and then Select Color
- Click Pick Screen Color

On my 6.4.4 system, and a Neon Testing VM, this is what I see:
- In Spectacle, editing a screenshot, I click on the color indicator, which brings up "Select Color" and adds a dark overlay on the screenshot (when taking a screenshot, and editing it, I see no overlay inside the screenshot area
When taking a rectangle screenshot, before selecting the rectangle, the overlay covers the whole screen)
- As soon as I click the "Pick Screen Color" button, the overlay is removed and I see the actual colors (when taking a screenshot, the overlay remains, but it is outside the screenshot). I can select the color.

In the video, using those same steps, the overlay does *not* get removed after clicking the button
No matter where the cursor is placed in the image, it picked up the grey overlay color, rather than the actual image colors.

I'll let the Spectacle developers take a closer look
Comment 4 TraceyC 2025-09-02 15:28:59 UTC
Out of curiosity, does this happen on only X11, only Wayland, or both?
Comment 5 pigeonskiller 2025-09-03 07:43:02 UTC
This happen on X11. I don't know on Wayland.

--------------------------------------------

Il martedì 02 settembre 2025, 17:28:59 (+02:00), TraceyC ha scritto:

> https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=507932
> 
> TraceyC <kdedev@tlcnet.info> changed:
> 
>            What    |Removed                     |Added
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>          Resolution|---                         |WAITINGFORINFO
>              Status|REPORTED                    |NEEDSINFO
> 
> --- Comment #4 from TraceyC <kdedev@tlcnet.info> ---
> Out of curiosity, does this happen on only X11, only Wayland, or both?
>
Comment 6 TraceyC 2025-09-03 14:46:13 UTC
Could you check and see if this happens on Wayland?
Comment 7 pigeonskiller 2025-09-03 15:06:28 UTC
Created attachment 184677 [details]
Schermata_20250903_170054.jpg

Yes, it also happens on Wayland.
And even with standard kernels.

Il mercoledì 03 settembre 2025, 16:46:13 (+02:00), TraceyC ha scritto:

> https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=507932
> 
> --- Comment #6 from TraceyC <kdedev@tlcnet.info> ---
> Could you check and see if this happens on Wayland?
>
Comment 8 TraceyC 2025-09-03 15:46:42 UTC
Thanks for confirming.