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nuno1959 Author

Level 1

36 points

customise my folder icons in Mountain Lion

hi guys !

in what seems to be a trend started in Lion, after installing Mountain Lion some of my system folder icons retained my custom icons, others didn't !?

CandyBar won't work, changing them one by one works with SOME but not all ( what's THAT all about ??.. ) & Mountain Lion tweaks apparently is still not ready

also my Finder sidebar - which i went to great lengths in Lion to have in color... - is back to dull, detestable & boring, ''it all looks the same'' grey :

call me crazy but i DO indentify stuff by color & shape MUCH FASTER rather than by text or position !

does anyone need to actually read the word ''Stop'' in a traffic stop sign to positively & unequivocally identify it ? i would think that catching a glimpse of it's shape & color does it for most people - & THAT'S what i call REALLY simplyfying people's lifes !

moving on...

has anyone PLEASE figured out how to get around whatever ''clever'' obstacle implemented - i can only guess deliberately... - to stop users customize their computer to suit their preference/needs ?

i know i sound sour over what seems like a small, petty little annoyance in what is otherwise a GREAT OS but it TRULY strikes me as plain old contradictory ( to refrain qualifying it otherwise.. ) to waste resources doing something apparently SO useless or is there actually a reason for it but no one can be bothered inform/explain ?....

if grey is SO brilliant, maybe we should just start using grey traffic lights ? after all if color ISN'T important & position says it all.....

any suggestions will be greatly appreciated, many thanks

2009 27'' iMac i7, 16GB Ram -OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7), 2 X 1TB + 2 X 2TB W.Digital USB

Posted on Jul 26, 2012 3:40 PM

31 replies

nuno1959 Author

Level 1

36 points

Aug 12, 2012 2:43 AM in response to whattheheckisthis

Hi whattheheck

to be honest i didn't try ! :-b but in theory it SHOULD allow it !?...

Aug 30, 2012 10:26 PM in response to nuno1959

With 10.8, I can't change a folder's icon (not system icons) to an image of my choosing. The old way of cutting and pasting in an Info panel doesn't work. Help!

anjikn

Level 1

5 points

Aug 31, 2012 12:11 AM in response to buravirgil

Hi buravirgil, I just tried pasting a folder icon in the Get Info view of a folder in FInder and it worked perfectly. Anji....

Aug 31, 2012 12:19 AM in response to anjikn

Thanks for your reply, anjikn. My machine is a macbookpro/retina, but I doubt that's the issue. What I am doing:

1) Choosing a .jpg of my liking-- copying it to the clipboard;

2) Control/Object clicking a newly created folder and choosing Get Info;

3) Looking to the upper-left corner and clicking on the little folder icon;

4) Pasting

The result is the icon changes to the generic .jpg icon instead of the image copied onto the clipboard.

Aug 31, 2012 7:15 AM in response to buravirgil

Hi.

Try this...

• Open the .jpg file with Preview

• Click Edit > Select All

• Click Edit > Copy

Now go to Finder..

• select the folder icon you wish to change and Get Info.

• click the folder icon in the top left corner of the info window

• Paste

That should do it. 🙂

I hope this is helpful.

Aug 31, 2012 8:50 AM in response to nuno1959

D.I. Johnson, Thank You!

nuno1959 Author

Level 1

36 points

Aug 31, 2012 9:04 AM in response to buravirgil

Hi guys

most probably you have already done this but this is how i do it & it works fine !

select whatever image one wants to use, open in Preview > in ''Tools'' on the Menu Bar select ''Adjust Size'' to resize it to an apropriate size ( i use like 450 x 450 + or - something in width or height ) > select Instant Alpha :

then select the whole image with it :

press cmd + c to copy it, then right click your folder > get info > select the folder icon on top left corner :

a blue ''frame'' will appear, do cmd + v to paste the image :

the image by now should appear there & when you close the ''Get Info'' box your folder should look like this :

i hope i'm not simply repeating what you guys have been saying w/ different wording !...LOL...

also have you tried CandyBar lately ? for me it worked like a charm for everything i needed changing as far as system icons

cheers

Eric.

Level 6

12,260 points

Aug 31, 2012 9:25 AM in response to nuno1959

nuno1959 wrote:

however i would LOVE to get my Apple Mail sidebar icons & folders in color as i used to have them - call me crazy but to me color icons are EXACTLY like traffic lights :

red = stop & green = go, IMPOSSIBLE to mix THAT up - someone could shuffle them 3 times a day & i still WOULDN'T confound them

cheers

Stop using the sidebar and use the "Go" menu instead, its icons are still in color. 😉

nuno1959 Author

Level 1

36 points

Aug 31, 2012 10:11 AM in response to Eric.

hi Eric

& thanks for your input but i think someone is a bit absent minded today ? ;-)

just before the part of my post you quote, i wrote i HAVE managed to get my sidebar icons in color again !

don't worry, i do that all the time, cheers

all i need now is my Apple Mail sidebar icons in color - THAT would be HUGE for making it REAL easy to use

here's a pic of a Finder window over the Mail one showing both sidebars, maybe i'm a nut case but i find the colored icons MUCH EASIER to identify almost WITHOUT having to llok at them - a glance is all it takes

the grey ones, yes IN TIME i WILL kinda memorize were they are & start to get to them instinctively if not at first try at least at the second - still slower... :-b

i don't even BOTHER to have folders ( smart mailboxes ?.. ) in Mail w/ my client's names on them anymore because since i have DOZENS of them, it's faster to type their name & Mail will display all emails with that name on

it's even worse because i have like 3 Johns, 4 José, maybe 5 Antonios, etc, etc....sifting through them is just a VERY boring, slow little process...

now ...a custom folder w/ an image that clearly identifies each one of them ? like a motorcycle on the folder of one of them who is a motorcyclist, a tennis racket on the one i play tennis with, so on so forth ?

i'm sure it ISN'T everybody's cup of tea but for me ? oh YES PLEASE !....

i glance at them from the corner of my eye & recognise them instantly, BAM ! done !

i know this whole color/no color thing is getting old & maybe even boring to some BUT why on earth should one be given eyes capable to put to shame the very best photographic cameras costing many thousands of dollars only to be REDUCED to use them to READ the names of drab grey, indistinguishable folders in order to know what they are - to me this is simply SURREAL

you'll never catch me alive !!...LOL...

Eric.

Level 6

12,260 points

Aug 31, 2012 10:16 AM in response to nuno1959

nuno1959 wrote:

hi Eric

& thanks for your input but i think someone is a bit absent minded today ? ;-)

just before the part of my post you quote, i wrote i HAVE managed to get my sidebar icons in color again !

don't worry, i do that all the time, cheers

No, just not reading carefully, and not writing entirely what's going on in my head. 😀

I was thinking that *if* one doesn't want to resort to 3d party hacks and haxies to see icons in color, they're still there in the Finder under a menu and not a sidebar.

Play close attention to those haxies particularly when OS updates come out. Wait for someone else to determine whether the OS tanks with the haxies.

nuno1959 Author

Level 1

36 points

Aug 31, 2012 10:24 AM in response to Eric.

i know what you mean & you're right

usually i AM VERY reticent to use anything like that BUT in this case IT DOES speed up considerably my use of my computer AND increases exponentially the pleasure i derive from using it so... after reading a bit about it, i decided it was worth risking it

as i said, i'm sure it's NOT everybody's cup of tea & don't prescribe it as a ''must have'' to others but thank goodness after a clean install of Mountain Lion, it works as smoothly as i possibly could hope for

cheers

Sass

Level 2

343 points

Jun 11, 2013 6:43 AM in response to Kappy

Kappy, You USED to be helpful; what's happened?

Sass

Level 2

343 points

Jun 11, 2013 6:56 AM in response to nuno1959

I'm still terribly confused why we need to resort to third party apps (that can easily be broken in ansystem upgrade) to obtain features that used to be standard on a Mac. Having been a Mac user for nearly 25 years, I hear, feel, smel, . . . Big Brother hovering over us!

Jun 11, 2013 7:18 AM in response to Kappy

That is a great idea. Report it to Apple Feedback... and then repost it again right here just like she did!

Apple is a great black box. The way to get change is to share your complaints as far and wide as possible. She did right. Stop trolling her.

Tuttle

Level 7

29,541 points

Jun 11, 2013 9:22 AM in response to Sass

Maybe I'm missing something, but I always thought that the availability of--and the ability to create--third-party solutions to perceived shortcomings of the Mac OS was a strength, and not a weakness, of the platform.

customise my folder icons in Mountain Lion