How to Customize File and Folder Icons on Mac

One of the most important aspects of a Mac computer is Finder. The Finder app is what you would use to access your files and folders besides perform tasks like formatting a drive or uninstalling an app. That said, the core functionality of Finder is to help you organize your files and folders.

Finder lets you group and segregate your files in different ways like using color-coded tags. Besides that, you can change the file and folder icons to make it easier to find and identify them. That’ll also help you keep things organized if you deal with a lot of new files daily. Here’s how to customize file and folder icons on Mac using Finder.

How to Customize the Color of File and Folder Icons on Mac

By default, all the folder icons on Mac are blue. As a result, it may get difficult to find the right folder when you have hundreds of folders lined up together. So, you can change the color of the important folders to distinguish them from the rest. Here’s how you can do it.

Step 1: Use Finder to navigate to the location where your folder is stored.

Step 2: Right-click on the folder whose icon color you want to change.

Step 3: Select the Get Info option.

You should now see all the data regarding that folder including the default folder icon.

Step 4: Click on the blue folder icon next to the name of the folder.

Step 5: After you select it, you will see a red outline around the icon. Press Command + C on your keyboard to copy the folder icon.

Step 6: Open a photo editing app of your choice on your Mac. We’re using the Preview app for reference.

Step 7: After you open Preview app, click on the File button at the top of the screen.

Step 8: Next, select New from Clipboard.

If you’re using a different photo editing app, you can press Command + V to paste the icon from your clipboard to the empty image area.

Step 9: The folder’s icon will now appear on Preview as a set of images.

Step 10: Select all the images by pressing Command + A on your keyboard.

Step 11: Click on the Markup toolbar option in the top-right corner.

Step 12: Now, click on Adjust Color.

Step 13: Play around with color sliders until you achieve a color that you’re satisfied with.

Once done, click on the ‘X’ button in the color adjustment window to close it.

Step 14: Click once on the folder icon you just created and press the Command + A keys on your keyboard. This will select the new  icon.

Step 15: Press the Command + C keys on your keyboard to copy the new icon image.

Step 16: Go back to the Get Info window of the folder whose icon you want to change and click on the folder icon once again.

Step 17: Press the Command + V keys on your keyboard to paste the edited icon.

That’ll change the folder’s color. You can repeat the process for as many folders as you wish. The same method can also be used to change the color of files and app icons.

If you wish to revert to the default icon for the folder, just select the folder icon in the Get Info window and press the Command + X keys on your keyboard.

How to Replace the Default File and Folder Icons With Custom Images

If you don’t want to just change the color of the icons but want to replace the icons entirely with your own images, that’s also possible. Here’s what you need to do.

Step 1: Download or copy an image that you want to use as the icon onto your MacBook.

Step 2: Open the image in Preview and press the Command + A keys on your keyboard to select it.

Step 3: Now, press the Command + C keys to copy the image.

Step 4: Use Finder to navigate to the location where your file/folder is stored.

Step 5: Right-click on the file/folder whose icon you want to change.

Step 6: Select the Get Info option.

You should now see all the data regarding that file/folder including the default icon.

Step 7: Click on the icon next to the name of the file/folder.

Step 8: After you select the icon, you will see a red outline around it.

Step 9: Press Command + V on your keyboard to paste the copied image as the new icon for the file or folder.

Your custom image will replce the old file or folder icon. If you wish to revert to the default icon for the file/folder, select the icon in the Get Info window and press the Command + X keys on your keyboard.

Customize Folders and Segregate Your Data

This is how you can groups of different types of folders using various color codes or custom icons. That’ll make it easier to spot your most important and frequently used files or folders whenever you need them without going through a long list of directories on your Mac.