# Extract colors from a selection or an image > Read the fills, text and stroke colors of the layers you select, or sample the palette of any image with movable dots. ## Goal Turn a finished screen or a mood picture into a color list you can clean up, name and export. ## Before you start - Color Extractly open in Figma. - Layers on the canvas to read, or an image file or an image on your clipboard. ## Steps 1. **Open the Colors start screen** Click Design Token in the sidebar, then Colors (the palette icon) next to it. The start screen asks How to Start Your Journey? and shows the sources as icons; hover an icon to see its name. ![Colors start screen: How to Start Your Journey? with five source icons; the second shows its tooltip From Text / Code.](https://raiken.io/assets/kb/colorextractly/colorextractly-extract-selection-image/colors-start.png) 2. **From a selection: choose what to read** Select the layers in Figma, then click the From Selection icon. Switch on Fill, Text and Stroke as you need them; only Fill is on at first. Selected Elements lists what you selected. ![From Selection: Fill on, Text and Stroke off, four selected frames listed, such as Trail card and Checkout flow.](https://raiken.io/assets/kb/colorextractly/colorextractly-extract-selection-image/source-selection.png) 3. **Extract from the selection** Click Extract Colors. Color Extractly reads solid colors and gradients from each selected layer and every layer inside it. A layer you selected directly that has an image fill also adds up to 6 colors from that image. 4. **From an image: add the picture** Click the From Image icon. Drop an image on Drop an image here, click Browse image, or paste an image from your clipboard. 5. **Place the sampling dots** Color Extractly puts 5 dots on the image's most dominant colors and shows their colors in a bar under the image. Drag a dot to sample another spot, click an empty spot to add a dot, and double-click a dot to remove it. Scroll to move the image, and hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) while scrolling to zoom. Drag a color in the bar to change the order. ![From Image: a mountain poster with five dots, each on its own color, and a bar of sky, blue, green, orange and sand.](https://raiken.io/assets/kb/colorextractly/colorextractly-extract-selection-image/source-image.png) 6. **Extract from the image** Click Extract Colors. Each dot becomes one color, named --color-1, --color-2 and so on in the order of the bar. ## Tips - Place a dot on every color you want to keep before you extract: the image gives exactly one color per dot. - In Figma's Quick Actions, 🎯 Extract colors from Selection & Images opens Color Extractly and extracts from the selection straight away. ## Result The colors are in the color list, ready for Magic Clean, Rename and export. ## If something goes wrong - **'No colors found. Tip: Select elements with fills, strokes, or text colors.'** -> The selected layers have no visible color in the properties you switched on. Switch on Text or Stroke, or select other layers. - **'Tip: To extract image palette, select the image-filled layer directly.'** -> Image palettes are read only from a layer you selected yourself, not from images inside a frame you selected. Select the image layer and extract again. - **Pasting an image does nothing.** -> A paste into a text field stays in that field. Click an empty part of the plugin first, then paste. - **You want a different image.** -> Click Remove on the image to drop it and add another. Esc removes it and returns to the start screen. ## Common questions ### What happens if nothing is selected? From Selection then reads every layer on the current page. ### Are gradients extracted? Yes. Linear, radial, angular and diamond gradient fills are listed as gradients, next to the solid colors. ## Related guides - [Extract colors from CSS, code or text](https://raiken.io/kb/colorextractly/colorextractly-extract-css): Paste CSS, SCSS, LESS or any text that holds color values and turn them into a color list. - [Import a token file or this file's styles and variables](https://raiken.io/kb/colorextractly/colorextractly-import-tokens-and-styles): Load the colors of a JSON, CSS, SCSS or LESS token file, or of the color styles and variables already in your Figma file, into the color list. - [Combine similar colors and name them](https://raiken.io/kb/colorextractly/colorextractly-clean-up-and-name): Use Magic Clean to reduce duplicates and Rename to give every color a consistent name. --- Source: https://raiken.io/kb/colorextractly/colorextractly-extract-selection-image (Color Extractly help centre). Reviewed: 2026-10-30.