Did you know that you can change the icon of files and folders in macOS? If you did not, in this article I will show you how it is done!
Out of the box, macOS uses a generic blue icon for folders. That’s perfectly fine as you can always identify the folder by its name. Well, not always, and that’s where the ability to change folder icons comes in handy.
Why change the default folder icon?
I added a couple of frequently used folders to the Dock, right next to the Trash can and the Downloads folder. The problem is, that without hovering over the folder with the mouse, I don’t see the name of it. True, the preview of the folder’s contents sometimes gives me a visual clue, but not always. As a result, when I try to drag and drop a file into my “Scans” folder, I have first to confirm which one the correct folder is. I figured it would be much easier if each folder had a unique icon that would relate to its name.
How to change the icon of files and folders
To change the icon of a folder, open Finder and select the folder you would like to change the icon of. Then press COMMAND + I or use File –> Get Info to bring up the Info Sheet. In the upper-left corner of the Info Sheet, you will see a smaller version of the folder icon.
- Open Finder and select folder
- Open Info Sheet (COMMAND + I)
- Drag and drop image file onto folder icon on Info Sheet
Next, pick an image file that you want to use as the new folder icon. I typically go to iconfinder.com to find free icons I can use. Then drag and drop the image file onto the folder icon on the Info Sheet to replace it. I have found that ICNS files work best, so make sure you select the correct file type when downloading the icon. The same principal applies to files, but I haven’t had the need to replace file icons yet.
According to Apple’s knowledge base, you can also open any image file in Preview, select the entire image (Edit –> Select All or COMMAND + A), copy it (Edit –> Copy or COMMAND + C) and then open the Info Sheet, select the current icon and paste the previously copied image into it (Edit –> Paste or COMMAND + V). The advantage of this approach is that you can use any image file type, such as PNG or JPG.
If you don’t see the icon of your folder change in the Dock, it’s because of folders in the Dock, by default, show a preview of the contents. To change that, just right-click on the folder in the Dock and choose “Folder” under “Display as.”
How to delete a custom folder icon
Deleting a custom folder icon and reverting to the standard is straightforward. Select the folder that you would like to reset the icon of, open the Info Sheet, select the custom icon and press DELETE on your keyboard. I have recorded a short video clip that demonstrates how to change the icon and how to revert it back.
The results
I have changed all the folder icons in my Dock with images that visually represent what the folder is for:
- Downloads
- Screenshots
- Scans
- Processed files
- Pinned*
The last one is a so-called “Saved Search” pseudo-folder, and even though I changed the icon in Finder, the icon in the Dock doesn’t change. Maybe that’s a bug in macOS, or it’s just how Apple intended it to work. Also, I have noticed that after my last macOS update, the icons of shared Dropbox folders (i.e. Scans) changed back to their original icons.
If you found this article useful, please spread the word and let me know by leaving a comment below.
I’m a healthy living and technology enthusiast.
On this blog, I share in-depth product reviews, actionable information and solutions to complex problems in plain and easy-to-understand language.
Hey !
I have tried this a million ways to Sunday, bit it only ever shows the generic “JPEG” icon. Nothing works(
I work across several Macs and MacBooks, with my desktop files synched across the cloud. I find that I have to assign the folder icon image for each folder on each of the computers. Is there a way of embedding the image for the folder icon so that it doesn’t disappear when copied across via cloud or even manually copied.
Hi Shaggy,
I’m not aware of such a possibility. Sorry!
Cheers,
Michael
hey, you wouldn’t happen to know if you can standardize/change all folder icons at once?
I’ve only recolored the default version and replacing every single one of them is getting really tedious
Hi Tracy,
I’m not aware of doing that for all icons in one shot…
Cheers,
Michael
In Finder – I can change the original folder but as soon as I add the folder to favourites, it turns back to default.
Any sugestion?
I’ve spent ages creating nice new icon pics to show in my dock.
The Airmail icon changed when following the instructions given here….
but Safari, LaunchPad {and probably more that I haven’t tried yet} will not change.
All I get is a ‘dink’ sound, and the icon refuses to change.
Hi Deena,
I’m guessing Apple doesn’t want users to change the icons of built-in apps…
Hi Michael, I appreciate the reply.
Surely there has to be a way the user can personalise all of the dock icons ?
I actually really dislike many of the icons.
There might be but I don’t know it :)
Plus, it wouldn’t surprise me if Apple prevents you from changing their icons. They usually don’t like people messing with their designs.
If I were more IT knowledgable I would see that as a challenge and would make that a project to find a way to beat Apple.
I might have a look on YouTube…. there are lots of tech people on there who I could ask. New update Big Sur has changed the flippin’ icons again ! ?
If I ever find the solution, I promise to come back and post it on here. Sharing is caring. ?? ?
I much appreciate that Deena!
I also used to be a sprinter.
I represented my county, Hampshire, for the juniors 100m.
I was addicted to many sports, and now I have terminal health conditions / disabled.
?
Its worked!! Thankyouuuuu !
Im not getting the actual picture, I’m just getting a PNG, JPEG or TIFF icon. This is new… I’ve never had this issue before. Appreciate your help.
I have noticed this issue in macOS Big Sure (Beta) that I’m currently using. Not sure what’s causing it but I’m guessing a bug in macOS.
Did you find a fix for this? I am currently having the same problem.
Thanks!
I/m cuurently having the same issue. Has anyone been able to resolve this ?
does anyone know how to fix this? I changed all the icons for multiple folder inside another folder, I moved all the folders to an external drive to make room for some new downloads and when I moved the folder back to the mac, all my folder icons/images are gone. All the folders are back to the default black blue folder icon. Can anyone help?
Hi, I have been able to change many icons in the finder windows and on the dock. System apps such as mail and itunes etc don’t appear to be changeable, but third parrty apps such as Chrome and Whatsapp are. However, I have found that when a third party app has an update, the icon reverts back to its original state. Is there any way to prevent this from happening? It’s becoming very annoying and I have become quite used to my altered and home made app icons.
Hi Steven,
I’m not aware of a permanent solution to this.
Cheers
Michael
Cheers for the quick response. If anything comes to mind, drop me a line.
Thanks! Although this article is focused on folders, I am having trouble changing the default icon for PDF files on my MacOS Mojave, after uninstalling Adobe Reader DC and installing Foxit Reader. I AM able to change the icon for a specific PDF file using File -> Get Info, highlighting the icon in upper left corner & pasting Foxit icon (from Preview). However, it does NOT change the default icon for any other PDF file (and, yes, I checked/verified that Foxit Reader is set as the default app for all PDF files; btw – there IS a FoxitReader.icns file in the app’s Resources folder, so why I’m even needing to do this I’m not sure.) So, I’m stymied…
Hi Jim!
Is it safe to assume that you see an Acrobat icon for all PDF files right now, instead of macOS’s generic “Preview” icon?
Hi Jim,
Have you tried resetting the icon cache – see https://mjtsai.com/blog/2019/02/01/clearing-the-icon-services-cache-in-mojave/
sudo rm -rfv /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store
sudo find /private/var/folders/ \( -name com.apple.dock.iconcache -or -name com.apple.iconservices \) -exec rm -rfv {} \;
I tried to change two icon in the desktop, Onedrive and Trash following your methods, step by step. It didn’t work for either…
There are special folders that might not support changing icons. OneDrive, for example, changes the icon back to its default at every reboot.
Any way to get around this? I can’t change the icon for Siri or Messages and I’ve created some EPIC new icons and sadly can’t use them. On Catalina now.
Not that I’m aware of…