Changing finder/folder icons

What kind of file does an icon have to be?
I found some threads that said I had to copy and paste from the get info menus, but I have a jpg I want to use and these options aren't hilighted.
Do I have to download a specific file type to be able to paste it as an icon?
Thanks
John

I'm gonna go ahead and ask you to treat me like an idiot!
I opened the file in preview and copied it (from the edit menu)
I have the get info window open on the folder's whos icon I want to change. But the paste option is always greyed out. Do I have to access something from the get info menus?
Again I am sorry if I am lame in this subject. I am usually better than this.
John

Similar Messages

Changing the folder icon

I'm trying to change the folder icon for the Pictures folder. But, when I do, the Pictures icon on the left of the window also changes and becomes the same as the Pictures folder icon. I want the two of them to be different but can't seem to figure it out.

http://www.panic.com/candybar/
If you really want to get into it, changing application icons, most of them are separate .icns files within the application package.
For example, the Finder icon is
/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/Finder.icns
When you select Finder.app-Ctrl-click and choose show package contents to dig further down.
Most of the other standard icons used by the Finder are in the same Resources folder.
If you install the Developer Tools package from the MacOS X Install DVD, you can use the Icon Composer to apply and save your own icons to pretty much anything.
!!< Just be sure to back up before and Repair Permissions afterwards >!!
http://iconfactory.com/freeware/icontainer

How can I change a folder icon. Or at least change the background color. Folders are great for organization but the are SO ugly!!!!

Want to be able to change my folder icon to a different icon image or at least change the background from dismal grey to a different color!

You cannot.
http://www.apple.com/feedback

Change the folder icon "properly"! not by "Get Info." window.

Hello everyone, I was wondering what is the way of changing the folder's icon "properly"? I don't mean the copy/paste of the icon in the "Get Info." window. Because whan I do that, the icon changes but the problem is when I press the Space Bar for "Quick View" it doesn't show an icon. So that's is why I thought there was another method.
p.s. System folders and drives show their custom icons with "Quick View"
Thanks, this is one of the small (pointless) bugs that tick me off...
Regards

Sorry to tell you, but all that is totally unnecessary. Just do what Baltwo said but I'm sure that instead of "Open the app" he meant to write:
• "Quit from the app, Control-click (right-click) its icon" and choose "Show Package Contents". (That's what Baltwo really meant by "open"! )
• In "Resources" find the .icns that the app is currently using and - keeping the same name - replace it with yours (saved as an icns of course).
You can leave the app's original icns in the "Resources" folder (just in case you ever need it) as long as you change its name, e.g. add "BAK" to the name. It will do no harm sitting there.
Andreas

Changing Default Folder Icon

How is the default folder icon changed within the system? I have a folder icon I want to use to replace the original blue folder.

Hi, Kirk -
There's a couple of ways to do that.
The easy way is to use Kaleidoscope - with it you can make customize the GUI's appearance a little or a lot.
The more difficult way is to use Apple ResEdit to alter the resources that Finder uses for that item, which can be found in the System file, the icl4 and icl8 resources.
Using Kaleidoscope has some advantages - changes won't disappear when the software is updated; and the changes are not made to the OS's files. They are superimposed externally, meaning it is easy to undo them - just turn Kaleidoscope off.
If you use ResEdit to do it, be sure to work on a copy of the System file, not on the original. Hang onto the original in case you evern want to revert back.
There is a third way, easier in principle than the previous two, but very tedious - change the icon for each folder you want to have the new icon individually. This is done via Copy and Paste in the Get Info window for an item. In the Get Info window, click on the pocture of the icon - a black box will appear around it, indicating the icon has been selected. You can then do a Copy or a Paste operation of the icon.

Finder folder icon - duplicated

In finder the folder icon for Mobile Documents appears in my side bar; and under Movies. How do I get rid of the folder display under Movie. I do not want to run the risk of deleting my Mobile Documents?

Balouta wrote: ... I do not want to remove the folder: but want to remove the view of it in Movies (not the side bar) ...
There are two simple ways to remove the view of a folder (in your case "Mobile Docs") that is in your Movies folder. There is also third party software that can hide folders, but, because some of them can damage your file system if used improperly, I suggest you not use that approach until you have more Mac OS X experience.
Here are the explanations for the two safe and simple possibilities represented in the image below:
(1) With your Finder View Options for the iMovie folder set so Finder does NOT arrange or sort your icons:
drag the Mobile Docs folder iCon just off the edge of the Movies folder window but keep the mouse pointer INSIDE the Movies folder window frame. Now use the slider bar at the bottom of the folder window to slide the window farther, drag the Mobile Docs folder iCon a bit further, and continue repeating until the Mobile Docs iCon is out of your normal Movies folder window view. Slide the window back to normal and resize the window if necessary to prevent any part of your Mobile Docs folder iCon from being visible. Here is my best try at a picture of how this works:
(2) Here is the second simple method of hiding a folder.
Drag the folder you do NOT want to see into a different folder. This will hide the first folder by making it a sub-folder of a folder you do not need to hide. In the case of my example here, I have created an empty folder with the made-up name "Completed Movie Projects". Here is my best try at a picture of how this works:
Balouta wrote:... Mobile Docs is in my side bar (in Finder) which is fine; but the folder is also sitting in Movies...
See the previous part of this response if you want to hide the folder.
Balouta wrote:...When Movies is highlighted Mobile Docs appears as a folder to the right. If I control click mobile docs under movies I have the option of moving the folder to the trash....
You can control whether you delete the folder or the sidebar iCon by selecting the proper item before control-click as shown in the images below :
Balouta wrote:... I am afraid that if I move it to the trash I will actually be deleting the folder and contents not just the icon displaying the folder.
There is no need to fear as long as you pay attention to the prompts while you are deleting items. Moverover, even it you do move something to the Trash, you can retrieve it from the Trash folder so long as you have not already "emptied" the Trash.
Message was edited by: EZ Jim
Mac OSX 10.8.4

Change multiple folder icons

Is there an apple script to change all my folder icons at once? I like the folder icons available for download from Apple's website, but don't want to go through the process of pasting the new icons in for every single folder.
Thanks

Hi RevChris, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Hopefully someone will drop in with script or Automator ides, I think it's likely, but I use CandyBar...
https://www.panic.com/candybar/

Where can I find folder icon

I am looking to display a folder icon in a table.
Where can I find the folder icon

Presuming you want to stay with metal l&fimport javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.metal.*;
public class Test extends JFrame
     private MetalIconFactory.FolderIcon16 folderIcon;;
   public Test()
          super("Parent");
      setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      setSize(400,300);
          folderIcon = new MetalIconFactory.FolderIcon16();
          JLabel l = new JLabel("Pom-Pom Girls", folderIcon, SwingConstants.LEFT);
          JPanel p = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
          p.add(l);
          setContentPane(p);
   public static void main(String[] args)
          new Test().setVisible(true);
}

Won't boot from anything and shows flashing ? and Finder/Folder icon

What do I do to fix this? Thank you guys!

I'm trying to help but your answers and the information you've given isn't clear at all. If the answers to these questions weren't necessary I wouldn't ask them. If you're trying to boot with an older OS it won't work and that's not a hardware issue.
Yes, you have a hardware issue but since you don't want to supply any information neither I or anyone else can help you troubleshoot it.
Good luck.
John

Folder icons on Finder windows

I tried to change a folder icon by pasting an icon from a file over the folder icon in the folder's information window and something strange happened. The file icon (it was from an application file) now appears to the right gear (action?) pulldown on the top of the folder window for every folder I open from my account. When this icon is double clicked, the folder whose icon I was originally trying to change opens in the finder window which was double clicked. Did I damage something? How can I get rid of this behavior?
I tried going back to the original folder and deleting the changed icon from its information window, which restored the generic folder icon. Now, instead of the new icon, the generic folder icon appears to the right of the gear pulldown on the top of every finder window. When this generic folder icon is double clicked the folder I was trying to change still opens in the finder window.
Thanks for any help.
Message was edited by: Thomas Camilleri
Message was edited by: Thomas Camilleri

The action (gear) toolbar button can be placed anywhere on the toolbar, so something 'to the right' can be confusing (I don't even use the gear button) - but if I understand you correctly, the folder (whatever it's icon is) is now on the Finder's toolbar. You can add files, folders, and scripts to the Finder's toolbar just like any of the other buttons, although I'm not sure how you accidentally did that (it has nothing to do with icons or the 'Get Info') - go to the View > Customize Toolbar… menu, drag the folder off of the toolbar, and poof!, it's gone from the toolbar (just like the dock).

Change Folder Icon in Functions Palette

Hey, have two questions. I'm writing an instrument driver for an instrument I have here at work, and I have the VI's working. I have the VIs organized and inserted into a library, which is in a project including that library and an examples folder (so basically the way Labview downloaded instrument drivers are set up). I put all this in the instr.lib folder, and the VIs show up in the functions palette just fine. So, based on that setup, my questions are:
1) How do I change the folder icons (not the VI Icons - already did that) in the functions palette?
2) How do LV instrument drivers hide the "Examples" folder and simply display the VIs from the "Public" Folder? (they don't appear to be marked private)
Thanks!
TG

I think the secret is in having an mnu file, which defines what will appear in the palettes. You can create one by editing the palettes (under Tools>>Advanced) and there you should be able to remove items and to edit the palette icon by right clicking it. You should probably also make sure that the mnu file is saved in the same folder, so that you can have it in other PCs. Note that the palette editor has this annoying confirmation dialog which tends to hide under other windows and which you need to get to finish editing, so move it to somewhere you can find it before you start editing.
Another option is using VIPM to install the driver, and that will also allow you to edit a palette.

Adobe Portfolio - Changing Folder Icon

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro 9
Is there any way to use a customized graphic/jpg for the Folders icon?
When I have my portfolio grouped in folders, I want to be able to visually show something about that folder (insert JPG), not just a picture of a folder...

Here's another discussion:
http://bbs.applescript.net/viewtopic.php?id=10591
This discussion sets forth two approaches, and I have made both of them work in their own way. So my question is more or less answered -- more or less, because the approach that is most satisfactory is the one that you outline in that discussion, but it seems only able to set a custom icon to a new folder ("Target").
Please enlighten me if I'm missing something, but is there a way of making the "target" folder a pre-existing folder with another custom icon? What I really want to do is to change a folder icon, not create a new folder with a custom icon.
What's so frustrating is that I can open two folders with different custom icons and drag their invisible icon files back and forth (changing the icons), but I haven't found a way to do that with a script.
Thanks very much for your help.
2.7G5 AND OTHERS Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Script / folder icon question

Would there be a script I can run in Apple Script Editor that changes several folder icons inside another folder all at once?

The easiest way to do this would be to create a Service Workflow using Automator, then you can select the desired items in a Finder window, and right-click to bring up a contextual menu where you can choose the service. Unfortunately, dealing with Automator is a bit of a pain sometimes, but Lion's Open Finder Items action (which doesn't want to cooperate with multiple items) can be worked around with an AppleScript action. I've tested the following workflow and it works for me (the Get Value of Variable action can be left out if you don't want the selected folders themselves to be changed). I've also updated my Set Icon application with dialogs that work better and included a progress indicator (for those 'tons of folders') - the application also uses a different bundle identifier, so you'll want to get the new version since that is what the Automator workflow looks for. The application can still be used on its own by double-clicking or dropping items on it (it won't decend into folders, though).
The workflow:
The Script (paste into the Run AppleScript action):
property bundleID : "com.Menace-Enterprises.Cocoa-AppleScript.Set-Icon"
on run {input, parameters}
try -- use Spotlight to find the Set Icon application, wherever it may be
    set appPath to first paragraph of (do shell script "mdfind " & quote & "kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier == " & quoted form of bundleID & quote)
on error errmess number errnum -- oops, not found
    activate me -- bring dialog to front
    display alert "Error " & errnum message "Application 'Set Icon' was not found."
    error number -128 -- cancel
end try
tell application "Finder" to open input using (appPath as POSIX file)
return input
end run

Dock Folder icons

How do you change the folder icons that are included in the Dock?
Thanks
john

if a stack is set to display as a folder it will use the finder icon for that folder. you can change finder icons of folders as follows:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2493?viewlocale=en_US
If a stack is set to display as a stack it will display superimposed icons of its contents.

Folder icon command line

Hi,
setting a custom item for a folder is easy with the copy/paste method. But I would like to script it.
As far as I have seen, if a custom icon is set for a folder, inside that folder an Icon file is created and the data (the icon itself) is saved in the "resource fork" (0KB for the file in the terminal, but on a smb-server, the file is split into 2 files and the ._Icon file has some 100KB).
But just copying that Icon file over (from a folder, where it is set to the folder, where I want it to show up) with cp or ditto -rsrc doesn't help. The Icon for the folder doesn't change.
Do you know how to change the folder icon in a script (be it bash or Apple script)?
What would be the commands to set a custom icon for a folder?
thanks, kind regards, Herlind

Hello Herlind,
I think you need not only to copy the 'Icon\r' file to the destination folder but also to set the custom icon flag of destination folder.
Try something like this. It uses SetFile command of Developer Tools.
--SCRIPT (not tested)
set src to POSIX path of (choose folder with prompt "Choose source folder.")
set dst to POSIX path of (choose folder with prompt "Choose target folder.")
copyCustomIcon(src, dst)
on copyCustomIcon(src, dst)
string src, dst : POSIX path of source and destination folders
set srcicon_ to quoted form of (src & "Icon" & return)
set dst_ to quoted form of dst
set sh1 to "ditto --rsrc --extattr " & srcicon_ & " " & dst_ -- copy icon file to dst
set sh2 to "/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a C " & dst_ -- set custom icon flag of dst
do shell script (sh1 & " && " & sh2)
end copyCustomIcon
--END OF SCRIPT
cf.
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/SetFile. 1.html
Hope this may help,
H

Changing finder/folder icons

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