Support Center

Chrome Extension: Works with Articulate Rise, Figma, Canva, Adobe Express, Webflow, Framer, Miro, Notion, Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Spline, and Penpot.

Mac App: Works in any application on your Mac - Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Affinity, Sketch, Procreate, Microsoft Office, Keynote, and literally any other app.

Windows App: Works in any application on your PC - Photoshop, Illustrator, Affinity, Microsoft Office, Visual Studio, Figma Desktop, and any other app.

The Chrome extension auto-positions for each supported site. The desktop apps work system-wide.

Chrome Extension:

1. Visit the Chrome Web Store
2. Click "Add to Chrome"
3. Open any supported site (Figma, Canva, Rise, etc.)
4. BuddyBar appears automatically

Mac App:

1. Download from our website
2. Move to your Applications folder
3. Open the app - it will appear in your menu bar
4. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted (for the keyboard shortcut)

Windows App:

1. Download the installer from our website
2. Run the setup file
3. BuddyBar will appear in your system tray

All versions sync automatically on the same computer!

Unlimited! Since version 2.0, you can add as many colors as you need to each palette.

The first 6 colors are always visible. Click the expand button to see additional colors, or drag to reorder them however you like.

You can also create as many palettes as you like, to organize colors by brand, project, or client.

The Chrome extension shows a short welcome page the first time you install it, introducing BuddyBar and listing the design tools it works with.

It also opens if you click the toolbar icon on a site BuddyBar doesn't support — jumping straight to the section that explains where it works. Previously that click did nothing at all, which made it look like the extension was broken.

Right-click any color swatch to open the color editor. You can:

• Use the visual color picker
• Type a hex code directly (e.g., #FF5733)
• Paste RGB or HSL values (e.g., rgb(255, 87, 51) or hsl(14, 100%, 60%)) - they convert automatically
• Click the preview square to open your system color picker

Changes save automatically, and your last copied colors sit in the editor under Recent.

Right-click any color swatch and you'll see the color editor popup. There's a name field where you can give each color a custom name (like "Brand Blue" or "CTA Orange").

BuddyBar also shows smart color names automatically - so even without a custom name, you'll see something like "Coral" instead of just "#FFA69E".

To rename a palette, click the palette's name on BuddyBar and choose Rename….

When you right-click a color to edit it, you'll see a Text Preview section that shows how your color looks as text on light and dark backgrounds.

Each preview shows a label:

• Readable - Good contrast, works for any text
• OK for headings - Works for large text only
• Hard to read - Avoid for text

This helps you choose colors that are accessible and easy to read in your designs.

For every pair at once, open Check on BuddyBar and click Details: a grid of every text and background pair, each with its contrast ratio and a ✓ or !.

Yes! Choose your copy format: HEX, HEX (no #), RGB, HSL, a CSS Variable named after the color (like --coral: #FFA69E), or Tailwind (bg-[#FFA69E]).

In Chrome and on Windows, open Settings (the gear icon) and pick your default under Copy Format. On Mac, it's Copy Colors As in the menu bar menu. Every swatch click uses that format.

The eye is a lens. Pick Red-green (most common), Red-green (less common) or Blue-yellow, and BuddyBar redraws your palette the way someone with that kind of color vision sees it. Copying still copies the real color. Pick Off to go back. It works the same in Chrome, on Mac and on Windows.

If two of your colors look the same to someone with color blindness, Check tells you and offers a fix.

Right-click any swatch to open the color editor and you'll see your last 8 copied colors under Recent. Click one to use it.

This works across palettes, so a color you copied from another palette five minutes ago is still one click away.

The Chrome extension now has an eyedropper: click it and pick any color straight from the page using the browser's built-in picker. It's available from the toolbar and inside the color editor.

Grab this page's colors goes one step further — one click extracts the current page's main colors into a brand-new palette. It's a fast way to capture a site's palette for reference or inspiration.

Shade ladders show 10 tonal variations of any color, from very light to very dark. They replace the old Variations view from v5.0.

Open the edit color popup and look for the Shades section. Click any shade to copy its hex code. The info button explains what shades are for.

Check runs every test at once. It finds text colors that won't read on your backgrounds, and colors that look alike to someone with color blindness, and lists the few worth fixing in plain words, each with a Fix.

The icon on BuddyBar is a green check when there's nothing to fix and an amber exclamation when there is. Click Details for every text and background pair with its contrast ratio.

For text that won't read, Fix darkens the color until it passes on your lightest background, keeping its hue so it still looks like your color. For colors that look alike, it moves one of them lighter or darker until everyone can tell them apart.

Every Fix leaves a receipt with the colors before and after, and Undo. Fix never changes a locked color.

It lets AI coding assistants read your palette directly, so you can ask for "the brand blue" instead of hunting down a hex code. Open Settings → Connect Your AI Tools on Mac, choose which palette they should use, and tick the tools you have installed — BuddyBar handles the setup.

BuddyBar also passes along which color pairs are readable as text, so what the tool builds respects your contrast rules without you having to explain them.

It's read-only: a tool can look at your colors but can never change them. Nothing is uploaded — the connection is entirely between apps on your own Mac. Untick a tool at any time to disconnect it.

Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Zed, Gemini, and Codex. The panel only lists the ones it finds on your Mac, so it stays short.

Using something else? There's a Copy setup snippet button that puts the details on your clipboard to paste into any tool that accepts them.

Each row shows when that tool last read your colors, so you can tell the connection is working.

Everything happens in the palette list: click the palette's name on BuddyBar.

To make a new palette: Choose New palette…, then a blank one, Generate a scheme…, Dark version of this one…, or Open a file…. You can also drop an image onto BuddyBar to pull its colors into a new palette.

To switch: Click any palette in the list.

To rename: Choose Rename….

To delete: Click the trash can on that palette's row (you always keep at least one).

As a link: Click Share palette on BuddyBar. The link holds the whole palette, its groups and its color names, so nothing is uploaded. Whoever opens it sees the colors and can add them to their own BuddyBar, which asks first.

As a file: Click Save as file to save a .buddybar file. Anyone can drop it onto BuddyBar, or choose New palette… → Open a file….

No account needed either way.

In the palette list choose New palette… → Dark version of this one… and BuddyBar makes a dark-background counterpart of your current palette as a new palette. Your original is never touched.

Readability is fixed automatically, so text and accent colors that worked on light backgrounds are adjusted to stay readable on dark ones.

To lock a single color, open the edit color popup and click the lock icon next to the title. Locked colors show a small lock badge on their swatch and cannot be edited, deleted, or dragged.

To lock a whole palette, click the lock on BuddyBar. You can still copy colors, but nothing can be added, moved, edited, regrouped, renamed or deleted until you unlock it, and BuddyBar says which lock to open.

Click Groups on BuddyBar, make a group, name it, and drag colors into it. Each group starts with a line on BuddyBar; hover over the line and the group lifts, so you can see what's in it. If a group runs past the sixth color, the rest of it peeks open below.

Groups travel with the palette in links and files.

In the Chrome extension press Ctrl+Shift+B (⌃⇧B on Mac) while you're on a supported site. The Mac app uses the same combination as a global shortcut, system-wide in any application (this needs Accessibility permission).

The Windows app uses Ctrl+Shift+Alt+B, so it doesn't take Ctrl+Shift+B away from the Chrome extension on the same machine. If another program has already claimed it, BuddyBar falls back to Ctrl+Alt+B and the tray menu shows which combination is active.

This is useful when you need more screen space or want to capture a clean screenshot.

Chrome Extension: Works with Articulate Rise, Figma, Canva, Adobe Express, Webflow, Framer, Miro, Notion, Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Spline, and Penpot. Want support for a new browser-based tool? Let me know using the contact form!

Mac App: Works in any application on your Mac! Since it lives in the menu bar, you can access your colors in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Affinity, Sketch, Procreate, Microsoft Office, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, or anywhere else.

Windows App: Works in any application on your PC! Runs from the system tray, so you can access your colors in Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Affinity, Blender, Microsoft Office, or anywhere else.

Chrome Extension: BuddyBar auto-positions itself optimally for each design tool. You can drag it anywhere, and your position is remembered per-site.

Mac App: The color bar floats on screen and you can drag it anywhere. Your position is saved automatically.

Yes! If you have the Chrome extension and a desktop app (Mac or Windows) on the same computer, your colors sync automatically via native messaging.

Changes made in Chrome appear in the desktop app, and vice versa. No account needed - it all happens locally on your computer.

Colors also sync across all browser tabs in real-time.

Have multiple devices? Both the Mac and Windows apps support cloud sync. Go to Settings and choose a sync folder in iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or any folder you prefer. All your devices will stay in sync automatically.

Dropbox and OneDrive are recommended for the best cross-platform experience. They work reliably on both Mac and Windows, so your palettes stay in sync no matter which device you're on.

Google Drive also works well if you already use it.

iCloud is Mac-only. It works great for syncing between multiple Macs, but it won't sync with a Windows PC. If you use both Mac and Windows, choose Dropbox or OneDrive instead.

To set up cloud sync, open BuddyBar Settings and select your preferred sync folder. Any cloud-synced folder on your computer will work — BuddyBar just needs a folder path.

Yes! This is mainly a Chrome extension feature - your palettes are shared across all supported browser-based tools (Figma, Canva, Rise, etc.).

If you have the Chrome extension and a desktop app (Mac or Windows) on the same computer, they sync locally too. So a palette created in Figma will also appear in your desktop app.

Notion moved to a new address, app.notion.com, and Chrome lets you choose whether BuddyBar works there. On any Notion page, click BuddyBar's icon in Chrome's toolbar once and choose Allow. BuddyBar appears right away, and on every Notion page from then on.

Don't see BuddyBar's icon? Click the puzzle piece in Chrome's toolbar. BuddyBar is listed there, and you can pin it so it's always visible.

Chrome Extension:

1. Make sure you're on a supported site (Figma, Canva, Rise, etc.). On Notion, click BuddyBar's icon once to turn it on there
2. Refresh the page (⌘R or Ctrl+R)
3. Try the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+B (⌃⇧B on Mac)
4. Check that the extension is enabled in Chrome's extension manager
5. Try disabling and re-enabling the extension

Mac App:

1. Check the menu bar - click the BuddyBar icon
2. Try the global keyboard shortcut: ⌃⇧B (Ctrl+Shift+B)
3. If the shortcut doesn't work, check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and ensure BuddyBar is enabled
4. Try quitting and reopening the app
5. If the menu bar icon is hidden (too many icons), you can also quit BuddyBar by clicking the ⓘ info button on the floating bar - there's a "Quit BuddyBar" option at the bottom

If it still doesn't work, please contact support!

The Chrome extension works with Google Chrome and Chromium-based browsers (like Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Opera).

For Firefox or Safari users, the Mac or Windows desktop app is the perfect solution - it works system-wide in any browser or application.

Yes. Turn on Only show when I open it — in the Chrome extension's settings, or in Settings on the Mac app. Every page then starts without the bar, and when you do open it, it stays open only for that page.

It's built for people who move through a lot of decks and documents they're only reading. One thing to know in Chrome: the browser doesn't let an extension pin its own toolbar icon, so if yours isn't pinned, BuddyBar shows you how to pin it — otherwise the keyboard shortcut would be the only way to bring the bar back.

Open settings (gear icon) and find Copy Format. Choose from HEX, HEX (no #), RGB, HSL, or CSS variable.

Every time you click a swatch, the color is copied in your chosen format. For example, selecting RGB will copy colors as rgb(255, 87, 51) instead of #FF5733.

To get the latest version of BuddyBar for Mac, download the installer from the website and drag it into your Applications folder to replace the old version. All your palettes and settings are kept automatically.

There was a bug in version 5.0 and earlier that prevented the in-app update from working. Once you're on the latest version, future updates will work automatically.

The Accessibility permission allows BuddyBar to listen for the global keyboard shortcut (⌃⇧B) even when the app isn't focused.

Without this permission, you'd need to click on BuddyBar first before using the shortcut. The permission is only used for the keyboard shortcut - BuddyBar doesn't access any other data.

To enable: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → Enable BuddyBar

Mac App: Click the BuddyBar icon in your menu bar, then select Appearance.

Chrome Extension: Click the info button (ⓘ) on the color bar, then find the Appearance option in the settings menu.

Both versions offer three options:

• System - Follows your computer's appearance setting (default)
• Light - Always use light mode
• Dark - Always use dark mode

Your choice is saved automatically.

Right-click the BuddyBar icon in your menu bar, then check "Launch at Login".

BuddyBar will now start automatically whenever you log in to your Mac.

Look for the BuddyBar icon (three colored swatches) in your menu bar at the top of the screen, usually near the right side with other app icons.

If you have many menu bar apps, it might be hidden. Try using a tool like Bartender or holding ⌘ while dragging menu bar items to rearrange them.

BuddyBar requires macOS 14.6 (Sonoma) or later.

This is needed for the modern SwiftUI features and Launch at Login functionality.

To get the latest version of BuddyBar for Windows, download the installer from the website and run it. The new version installs right over the old one — all your palettes and settings are kept automatically.

The current version is 6.3. If you're on 6.2, BuddyBar will offer the update from inside the app — you don't need to do anything. If you're on an older version, grab the installer from the website and run it over your current version. Your palettes are saved automatically either way.

Download the installer from the download page and run the setup file. BuddyBar will install and appear in your system tray.

If you have the Chrome extension installed, BuddyBar will automatically set up native messaging so your colors sync between Chrome and the desktop app.

BuddyBar requires Windows 10 or later (64-bit).

Sync is automatic! If you have both the Chrome extension and the Windows app installed on the same computer, your colors sync via native messaging.

The Windows app registers itself with Chrome on first launch. If sync isn't working, try restarting both Chrome and the BuddyBar app.

Look for the BuddyBar icon in the system tray area at the bottom-right of your screen. If you don't see it, click the up arrow (^) to show hidden tray icons.

Right-click the tray icon for Show or Hide BuddyBar, Always on Top, Start with Windows, Check for Updates… and Quit BuddyBar. A left click shows or hides BuddyBar.

The Windows app has a global shortcut: press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+B in any application to show or hide the bar.

It's deliberately not Ctrl+Shift+B, which stays with the Chrome extension so both can work on the same machine. If another program has already claimed Ctrl+Shift+Alt+B, BuddyBar falls back to Ctrl+Alt+B — the tray menu always shows which combination is actually active.

Yes! BuddyBar is completely free to use. No hidden fees, no subscriptions, no account required.

I built it as a gift to the design and creative community to help make everyone's workflow a little easier.

Down the road, we may introduce optional Pro features for teams and power users. But the core BuddyBar experience will always be free.