- Find an Item
- Create a New Folder
- Rename a Folder or Document
- Make an Alias (Shortcut)
- Change an Icon
- Set a Color Label
- Move, Copy, or Delete a Document or Folder
- Burn a CD/DVD
- Add a Newly Installed Hard Disk to the System
- Partition a Hard Disk
- Set Up Software RAID
- Assign a Folder Action
- Add a Second Display
- Set the Time and Date
- Enable Automatic Time Synchronization (NTP)
Change an Icon
Before You Begin
Create a New Folder
Rename a Folder or Document
See Also
Set a Color Label
One of the convenient and unique features of the Mac OS is that you can apply your own custom icons to individual documents, folders, and volumes (disks). You can copy an icon from one item to another, create your own icons from picture files, or remove custom icons from items to return them to their generic appearance.
-
Locate the Source Image
-
Copy Source Image to Clipboard
-
Get Info on Item to Be Changed
-
Paste Image into Icon
An icon can come from either of two places: a picture file copied to the Clipboard, or an existing icon copied from another document or folder. Decide where the icon is going to come from; open a Finder window and navigate to where that source item is.
To create an icon from a picture file, first open the picture in Preview (or any other picture-viewing application that allows you to copy image data to the Clipboard). Copy the picture to the Clipboard by choosing Edit, Copy or pressing Command + C.
To copy an existing icon from another item, select that item and then choose File, Get Info (or press Command + I). Use the mouse to select the icon in the top-left corner of the General pane of the Info palette, and choose Edit, Copy or press Command + C to copy the icon to the Clipboard.
TIP
You can view the contents of the Clipboard by switching to the Finder and then choosing Edit, Show Clipboard. If the picture has been successfully copied to the Clipboard, it will appear in the Clipboard window that opens.
Select the document or folder whose icon you want to change. Choose File, Get Info or press Command + I. Click the icon in the top-left corner of the General pane of the Info palette.
Press Command + V to paste the Clipboard's contents onto the item as its new icon.
In Mac OS X, icons can contain 32-bit picture datared, green, blue, and alpha (transparency) channels. If a part of the icon image is transparent (the alpha channel is at maximum), that part of the icon will not be clickableclicking that region does not select the icon. If you apply a custom icon that's got a weird shape and not much non-transparent image data, it will be difficult to click the icon in the Finder. For icons in the Dock, the whole square region of an icon responds to a click, whether it's transparent or not.