; it's okay to leave lotsa line-breaks (CRLF) between entries, and comments, too, like this line is
; by the way, to create line-breaks inside an entry, insert a UNIX "\n"

When you first run the color pickin chooser there are no color groups, but the instant you add a color, you create a new group called 'empty', containing that color.\n\nOr you might create another group first, with a better name.

That "empty" group might be worth keeping around; if you ever need another empty group, you can duplicate it.\n\nTo duplicate a group, type in some word other than "empty", and hit the "+" (add) button. Now you have a second group, containing the exact same color(s) as the first.

The SHIFT key is significant. For instance, if a color well is selected, SHIFT-Clicking it will delete that color from the group, or; if a new color has been picked since the well was selected; replace the color well with the newly picked color.\n\nIn corz color pickin chooser, the SHIFT key has many uses.

Hold down the SHIFT key when you pick a color from any of the color picking areas, and that color will be automatically added to your current color group. You can fill 'em up fast like this!\n\nIf you have a name in the input box before you begin, the colors will each inherit that name. I find this handy with a Capital H.

All changes to the color wells and color groups take effect, and are saved, immediately.

Right-click the tray icon!

The name from your last color will remain live when you save the next color. This makes it quick and easy to create groups of colors with similar names, flesh 1, flesh 2, etc.

When you create a new group, it inherits the current group of colors; so you can easily create a duplicate a set of basic colors by simply typing a new name, and clicking '+'.\n\nYou can quickly create a dozen or more sets this way, in fact. 

You can save a color to your current color group by a) clicking an empty color well, b) clicking the big 'my color' box, or c) using the save HotKey (F2/Enter)\n\nThe last three methods of saving colors also enable you to bypass the 64 color limit. You can only see the first 64, of course, but if you delete any of them, the 65th will pop into view, and so on. This is sometimes handy when you are on a roll.

If, on your roll, you added more than 64 colors to a group (with the HotKey, or by clicking the 'my color' box), and want to keep them all; simply duplicate the group, and then delete the *first* 64 colors of the new group (shift-click on the first color repeatedly, or select the first color well hit the delete key 25 times); the other extra colors will pop into view at the end of the color wells.\n\nCheck the next tip for a *much* quicker way to do this.

Let's say we "accidentally" put 256 colors in our group. Rather than create three duplicate groups and delete the unwanted 192 other colors from each group, BY HAND, try this..\n\nExport the group as a palette file.  Delete the group.  Drag in the palette file.\n\nNow you have four new groups of 64 colors, all conveniently named and ready-to-go; job done in three seconds, tops.

If you delete a color by mistake; it's still the selected color; just click an empty color well (or hit F2) and the color will return, added to the end of your color wells. Its name will still be there, too.

You can pick colors from the main color picker image (obviously), the gradient bar (hold it down when live and watch that gradient slide!), or the mag area. You can also magnify the mag area, to really hone in on that color.\n\nYou can also magnify areas of the gradient bar, should you ever wish to do that. As soon as you pick something, the live mag will snap back off again. Live or not, you can always mag and pick from all three areas with a click.

To see a color's name without selecting it, hover your mouse over it.\n\nThat's assuming it has a name.

To name colors, simply type something in the name input before you save them.\n\nTo rename a color, or add a name to an unnamed color, simply...\n\nClick it\nType in a new name\nClick it again.

When renaming colors, if you forget exactly which color you selected, worry not; clicking an empty color does exactly the same thing, as does clicking the big "my color" box, or using the add color HotKey (F2), or simply hitting <Enter>.

If you right-click any of the color group controls, you can access the color menu.\n\nFrom here you can export your colors as either color pickin chooser color groups (ini files), JASC compatible color palettes (.pal files, ready to use in any JASC palette-capable application; Paint Shop Pro, MicroAngelo, MMJ, or whatever), and Gimp (.gpl) palettes; probably the best palette format on planet earth. Some basic color sorting is in that menu, too.

When sorting colors (Ctrl+Keypad 0-6), repeating the same sort reverses the order of the colors.\n\nWhen sorting by HSL, each additional sort will present slightly different variations within the secondary values, so if you don't get the desired order immediately, it's sometimes worth hitting the same key combo a few times, or another (e.g. hue, then red). They will cycle back to the beginning sooner or later. 

Right-click the picker image for a menu of available picker images and other goodies. From here you can get to the picker images folder, choose a new picker images folder, refresh the menu (F8), and also access the system chooser, should you ever wish to do that (F9).

To delete an image from the picker images folder, simply select it from the menu whilst holding down the SHIFT key. It will be sent to your trash.\n\nNote: You do not need to select it first.

The picker image area is 150x150 pixels. You can create square images especially for the color pickin chooser, or simply import any sized images; they will be stretched or squeezed automatically to fit.\n\nYou can use this functionality to create some interesting picker images. Check out the example "stretchies", which are only two or three pixels wide. 

You can make your own stretchie gradients very easily, with, of all things, Microsoft Paint! Launch it, hit Ctrl+E, change the size to 2x1 (or whatever) pixels <ok>, then View >> Zoom >> Custom, and select 800% <ok>.\n\nPaint the two pixels with two different colors (double-click the color wells to select custom colors with the *eew* microsoft system color picker) and save as a 24-bit bitmap (.bmp) file.\n\nDrag the saved .bmp file into color pickin chooser. En-joy.

Hold down the Ctrl key when you select an image from the context menu, and color pickin chooser will NOT clear the old image first. If you are using transparent gif files, you can create some temporarily interesting pickers like this!

If you make subfolders inside the picker images folder, they will be grouped that way in the context menu.\n\nBy the way, color pickin chooser recognises JPEG, GIF and BMP format images.

You can drag and drop images from Explorer onto the picker image, even directly from web pages (those forum avatars are handy!). They will be copied to your picker images folder, and immediately selected and ready for use.\n\nNote: You need a good browser to drag and drop images from web pages. It works great in Firefox. For non-compliant browsers, simply drag the images onto your desktop, first.

Click the luminance gradient bar at any upper point, and set a lighter version of the same color. Keep clicking that same spot, and you will select progressively lighter and lighter versions, same for darkness; real handy for making schemes quickly. \n\nSave your colors along the way with the HotKey, or for ultimate work-flow; pick your colors with SHIFT-Click.

You can move a color to the end of the boxes; click it (its name will drop into the name input box, and becomes the current color) then delete it (SHIFT-click it, or hit <Delete>), then click any empty color well; it will be re-saved to the end of the color group, with its old name still intact.\n\nWhy you would want to do this however, is another matter.

If you really must delete the name of a color, rename it with a single space character. It's better to rename it to something else, though.\n\nNote: Two or more space characters will also work, but clearly takes longer to type than just one!

Click the 'auto' button to the left of the 'copy hex' button to have the hex value of every selected color sent straight to the clipboard. When you need a color value quickly...\n\nLaunch\nClick\nEsc\n\nYou're done.

The hex display is always standard RGB web hex. But if you right-click the "Hex" label, you will find a selection of various clipboard output formats, so you can drop colours straight into your project, whatever it is; AutoIt, Web Pages, Visual C++, and so on.\n\nBonus tip: If you hold down the SHIFT key while the live hex ToolTip is enabled, you can preview the current converted format (also hover over the "Hex" label)

Some of the output formats can use a prefix. Web Hex is a good example; inside HTML it has a "#" in front of it. Delphi also has a prefix. CMYK does not.\n\nHOWEVER, if you enable the prefix with CMYK output, you will get the output "normalized", that is, rescaled to percentage values; a common CMYK format, which you may prefer.

Normally the luminance gradient and magnifier only update when you click a picker area (both) or create a new color (gradient bar), but you can also make these useful gadgets 'live' by clicking the wee buttons to the right of the big color selector boxes (HotKeys, F5, F6, and F7). Handy.\n\nYou will notice they also update if you hold down the mouse button.

Most operations have a HotKey..\n\nF1: Help (you're reading it)	F6: Toggle Live Mag\nF2/Enter: Add Color		F7: Toggle Live Hex Display\nF3: Toggle Auto-Copy hex	F8: Refresh Image Menu\nF4: Copy Hex		F9: System Color Chooser\nF5: Toggle Live Luminance	F10: Open Data Folder\nCtrl+F1: Toggle Main window (always live while cpc running)\nCtrl+Keypad Num:	Sort colors by.. (try and see!)

If you disable the live mag manually, it will remain that way when you restart, however, if it was off simply because you clicked an area, color pickin chooser will assume you like it live, and re-enable it for you at the next startup.\n\nRemember too, you can get the live mag effect at any time by simply holding down your mouse button.

You can use the mag outside the main chooser window, too. Hold down the SHIFT key (surprise surprise) when you click the live mag button (regardless of whether it was previously enabled, or not), and you will enable 'Super Mag', which keeps on working anywhere on your desktop. \n\nClick the area you want to capture, and when you return to the chooser, it will be there in the mag box. \n\nNow you can use those external colors. 

When using Super-Mag, if thing you are clicking on is an active thing (for instance, a desktop icon), and you don't want to activate it, simply use a right-click instead. Super-Mag will work fine with either; grabbing the (10x10) pixel group around that point.

The sliders, color inputs, and hex inputs, are also outputs, and update themselves dynamically, in other words; they are 'live'; if you alter the red, the hex will change, and if you alter the hex, the red will change, along with all the other colors, sliders, etc.\n\nIt all makes perfect sense when you are using it.

The live color box (middle one) will usually revert back to your picked color (aka. "my color") when the mouse leaves the valid picker areas, but, if you click it, you toggle its behaviour.. Alternatively, it will stick at the most recent active color (so if you moved the mouse out the top of a landscape, for instance, it might be sky blue). \n\nIf you have live luminance enabled, the luminance gradient will also follow this behaviour setting, holding or reverting on the mouse exiting the picker areas.

To delete lots of colors quickly, hold down the SHIFT key and click the first color repeatedly. Technically you are replacing, but the effect will be the same (when you SHIFT-Click the last color, you will delete it. Job done) and it's probably easier than SHIFT-Click, Click <repeat>.\n\nEVEN QUICKER.. select the first color well, and then hit <Delete> on your keyboard as often as you like. The latter method is also less likely to produce RSI.

You can easily import color groups, just drag and drop. As well as standard color pickin chooser color groups, you can chuck any old ini file, and the color pickin chooser will scan all the ini sections for viable colors. If it finds any, it will create color groups out of them.\n\nThe section name from the original ini, and the color name, if available, will be retained in the new group. Try chucking in the schemes.ini file from corz clock. Voila!

You can import whole folders of ini files, too. Just drag a folder onto the control (actually, you can drag inis and folders of inis onto the picker image, too, for ease of operation - cpc will work it all out automatically).\n\nWhy not drop your Program Files folder onto the color pickin chooser and see what color prefs you have hidden away in there!\n\nNote: cpc will scan all the folders inside it, and all the folders inside them, and so on, and so on, all the way down, so don't expect this to happen instantly!

The color import facility is, of course, primarily designed to make it easy to share color schemes. The any-old-ini stuff is just a fun bonus. 

As well as color pickin chooser groups, and common-or-garden ini files, you can import GIMP and JASC compatible palettes. Simply drag and drop a .gpl/.pal file, and the palette will be converted into a color group, ready to use.\n\nNote: If the palette contains more than 64 colors (quite possible) it will be split into multiple groups (but see next tip), which is why you can't drop whole folders of palettes; that could easily get outta hand.

If you hold down the SHIFT key while importing palettes (drag & drop), all the colors will be forced into a single group, even if there are more than 64 colors.\n\nThis is useful if, among other things, you are using color pickin chooser as a palette converter (exporting a color pickin group always exports *all* the colors, even the unseen colors, so while you may only see 64 colors, your exported palette could contain 256 colors, or more).

If you have extra "hidden" colors in your color group, sorting the colors is one way to pop them into view. Note: Sorting 256 colors will take longer than sorting 25! For actually working with colors (as opposed to simply converting palettes) it's usually best to stick with groups of 64 or less colors.

If you import an ini file with multiple color groups in it, they will all be imported. If any of the groups already exist, they will be merged (see the next tip).

If you import a color group with the same name as an existing group, the two will be merged; overwriting existing color names with the imported names, and tagging any new colors onto the end of the group.\n\nIf an imported color name is set to "-" (and only then, no quotes, of course), that color will be removed from the group (setting it to an empty value removes the name, only).\n\nThis makes it easy to share and distribute color group "updates".

You can copy colors from one group to another easily enough; simply select the color, switch groups, and then click any empty color well (or use the HotKey, etc). It will even retain its original name.

To check out all your colors quickly, click in the group input (combo box) and use the UP/DOWN arrow keys to flip effortlessly through the groups (UP/DOWN arrows move the drop-down's selection, as does the mouse wheel, usually).\n\nWhen you delete a group, the focus cleverly flips back to the combo box, and the previously selected group, so if you need to delete a few groups, this same trick will save you time messing around with the mouse.

The groups selector will remember your last 500 selections, so if you need to delete a few groups, scroll through *just* those groups, and when you hit delete, the selection will return to the previous selected group, and so on, and so on, all the way back to the first.

With the previous two tips in mind.. When importing palettes that have split into multiple groups, you can immediately use the DOWN arrow to check out your all new groups, in order.\n\nAfter seeing the last, if you don't want to keep them, you can remove them all, in reverse order, by just clicking the remove button ("-") a few times. You can check out lots of palettes very quickly this way.

You can select groups quickly with the keyboard (if the group selector is in focus) by simply beginning to type the name of the group. If there's only one group beginning with that letter, the first letter will be enough. Once you have enough letters, hit the DOWN arrow.\n\nUsually two keystrokes gets you your group.\nPageUP/PageDOWN will also take you to the first/last groups. Handy.

If you delete a group by mistake, you can recover a backup by SHIFT-Clicking the remove button ("-"). It's advisable to do this immediately, before you make any more changes, though it's not the end of the world if you don't..\n\nThe backup is recovered using the standard import facility, so those rules apply; any colors you have since deleted will be added back, and names you have changed will be reverted. You will NOT lose newly created colors.\n\nIt's best to recover right away, though, or pay more attention in future! ;o)

If you make any manual changes to your picker images folder, toggle color pickin chooser's main window one time, and your changes will be automatically incorporated. There's also a "refresh menu" item, which does the same thing (F8).

When importing colors, if you move the mouse outside color picking chooser before the import is complete, the funky information tooltip will disappear almost instantly. I could have trapped the mouse for the duration, but you may actually prefer to lose the tooltip! Your call.

You can move the window around by clicking the information area (to the left of the 'done!' button), as well as the title bar (of course).

That's all the tips for now. I'll just loop through and hope you don't notice.\n\nNote: If you disable the startup tips, you can re-enable them by holding down the SHIFT key while launching corz color pickin chooser, or if you want to see the tips again before that, just hit F1. 
