Change the Default Icons for Folders on Mac

Have you ever thought of changing the icon for a file or folder on your Mac? Some users want to add a bit of personal style, and some just don’t like to waste time in hovering mouse over the generic blue icons to identify which folder they want to open in Dock. Well, if you are in the same situation or have the same need for other reasons, read this post to know how to change the default icon for any file or folder on your Mac.

First of all, you should know that you can use any picture as icon, or more professionally, you can also choose to download the .icns format file from big icon libraries to replace the universal blue icons.

After deciding which picture or icon you want to use, do the following:

• Open up the picture or icon in the built-in Preview app
• Choose Edit > Select All from the Preview’s menu bar, and then choose Edit > Copy (alternatively, you can press Command + A first and then Command + C)
• Head to locate the file or folder whose icon you want to change
• Right click on it and choose Get Info from the contextual menu

• Click to select the icon in the top left corner of the Info panel
• Choose Edit > Paste from the menu bar ( or press Command + V)

After copying and pasting the select picture or icon by this way, you can close the Info panel, and the icon of the file/folder has been replaced to your preferred one.

If afterwards you want to restore the original icon for the file/folder, just select the custom icon in the item’s Get Info window, and choose Edit > Cut from the menu bar.

So, that’s how to personalize your folder’s icon. Isn’t is quite fun and handy? What other tricks do you want to share with us? Let us know in comments.