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How do I change font color of folder labels on my desktop (in El Capitan?)

How do I change the color of the font that labels folders on my desktop? I have to use a white background and the font is also white. Not good. I've looked everywhere, tried everything I know to do, and can't get an answer. I use El Capitan. My poor eyeballs. 😟

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 28, 2016 12:22 AM

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Aug 28, 2016 1:47 PM in response to 1artsyfartsy

This question has been asked online and in Apple discussions, for some years.


And the answer is, the folder text color is system-owned; seems it may also be

encrypted at some level not normally accessed. Anyway, there is a folder in the

system hidden that is not the usual thing one may suspect. Some, discussed in

few results https://www.google.com/#q=OS+X+change+text+color+in+Folders


User uploaded file

You can 'tag' the folder title, so a colored Spot will appear before the text.

Used to be, you could change more. By use of control + click (on highlighted

folder) a menu including colored dot 'tags' appears. If you choose to add one

& then find it worthless or color isn't you, click the same color to evaporate it.

{This did nothing for me.}


What I've done, is place a custom folder in the Dock, and put all the other 'items'

that I'd want accessible on the Desktop, into that folder. You can then arrange the

content to appear in several ways; as a list, icons, not Stacks, & so on.

User uploaded file

Before the Dock included 'documents' and 'downloads' folders, I had made my

own; in part to replace the missing pre-OS X menu that later appeared as Dock.


A sub-menu, is what you sort of create, by hopeful change of settings, to allow

a folder (original can be hidden in your user folder) and drag it into Dock, to

create something formerly known as a symbiotic link, to some. ~ Mine's a List.

In there are Aliases to applications, so as to not fill the Dock beyond capacity.


With your Folder in the Dock, the color of the folder text matters not. Any color

of the Desktop Finder background will not affect what isn't on there. Since I'm

using an older (shipped with Late 2012 Mini i7) Mavericks 10.9(.5) some feature

or the other may have changed. Am considering El Capitan on new partition,

so as to not inflict pain on the old Mav by rebranding to El Cap, or mO'Sierra.


Anyway you may be able to locate the internal files and change the system default

for folder title text color, especially when presented in Finder desktop. Other folders

are default Black; so the Finder default to White is something to look out for/change.


Not sure what kinds of troubles you can start by changing stuff via Command Line.

Be certain to have a pre-exploratory backup of your system; maybe even a Clone.


In any event...

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

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Aug 28, 2016 2:53 PM in response to 1artsyfartsy

The User (folder) is key to a desktop folder as a specific folder.

User uploaded file

The sidebar or the Apple Face icon in Dock can be helpful to arrive at

the User folder; you may have to change a few settings if the Similey

icon in Dock does not get you to your User folder. This is partially why

I chose to create a hold-all folder in the Dock... See, it's in User1 folder.


But I do not use all-white or single-color background; a very rare happening.


Good luck in any event! 🙂

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Aug 28, 2016 3:05 PM in response to 1artsyfartsy

In addition to what K Shaffer posted, you can set the Finder to open a specific folder when you open a new Finder Window.

User uploaded file

The "desktop" I'm referring to is the screen I see when I open my laptop. I have accumulated a bunch of files there, only because they are frequently accessed or more accurately, less easily forgotten(!)

I can never see my desktop as I've always got something open. So, I guess it is never an issue for me. I always open a Finder window to start looking for files.


I would start using the Documents folder to hold all of your stuff, and set Finder to open that in New Windows. Also, you can add the Documents folder to the Sidebar and Dock (I think they are already there by default).


Now that I understand the problem, I do remember this has been an issue essentially "forever." I don't imagine anything will change anytime soon, so maybe changing the way you work may be the best solution.

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Aug 28, 2016 2:10 PM in response to 1artsyfartsy

I was going round and round trying to replicate this. It finally dawned on me that you were using the actual Desktop. I never do, so was confused.

Which presents a workaround: stop using the actual desktop and use the Desktop folder.

Better still, don't use the desktop to store files.


Storing lots of files on the Desktop would cause system slowdowns. I don't believe there is still a problem when doing so, but I'm not certain.

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Aug 28, 2016 2:38 PM in response to Barney-15E

Mercy! Ok, it's going to take me a little while to go thru this process. Thank you for your in depth reply!

I'm not sure about the desktop vs desktop folder, but I'll poke around. The "desktop" I'm referring to is the screen I see when I open my laptop. I have accumulated a bunch of files there, only because they are frequently accessed or more accurately, less easily forgotten(!)

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Aug 28, 2016 2:49 PM in response to Barney-15E

I do think that El Capitan that is the culprit. Yes, I've tried the colored dot/flag thing, but as you know, it doesn't change the text color. Can't believe El Cap chose a white default and yet, has a white screen selection one can choose. I do a lot of photo editing so a white background helps even when tinkering with color in separate program. I suppose my only recourse is to change my background to a color and switch it out whenever I go into my editing. What a pain! Ugh.

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How do I change font color of folder labels on my desktop (in El Capitan?)

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