Custom folder icons are blurry

tylertc04 wrote:

This. With Sierra, one could change the preview icon for any folder.

... except now in Mojave they don't even display the icons - just black screens?

If by "black screens" you mean the folder icon is represented as black—then no, this is not the default normal behavior for Mojave.

I suspect it is the wrong file type you have pasted on the icon or some other oddity.

If you via command i open the info pane— you can delete, or control Z (undo last action)— one of those keys will take you back to the default folder color blue icon.

From there you can try again, selecting all, copying and pasting your custom icon onto the icon place holder—that is highlighted in the information pane (command i.) Both .jpg and .png are easiest enough to use cropped square (or pasted onto a a square background.) as mentioned above.

I was having a similar issue, although I have only tried it on one folder.

Initial Method -

I wanted to add a client/company logo to the folder containing all their files. At first, I found a .PNG of their logo with a transparent background, followed the steps found in all the YouTube vids I watched to copy the existing folder's icon and import it into Photoshop. After finalizing the image in Photoshop, I copied it (single layer, still transparent background) directly from PS, and tried pasting it to the desired folder within the "Get Info" inspector. Next stop, Blurrysville...

Corrective Method -

After a little research, and the typical non-solutions offered by Apple, I exported the image file from PS as a .PNG. I then opened the saved file with Apple's PREVIEW application. After using the marquee to select the whole image, and copying it from within Preview, (as opposed to Photoshop), I was then able to paste it with no blurriness, although the export did affect the colors a bit.

Note - I exported as an 8-bit .PNG only because the file size for the original at 1024x1024 felt a little big to be tacked on to a folder just to be a custom icon. I honestly have no idea if it will work with the full resolution image, and at this point, I'm too afraid to try.

Let me know if this helps!

~M1K0

this works for me - I don't like it and I resent it - Mojave changed it for me too. ALL my old folders are clear but making the new icons/folders are all blurry. Using all the same way of doing it.

Make a square in photoshop that is 7" x 7" and 90 resolution. Paste your picture on this square and stretch to have 1" on either side be white or transparent, does not matter. Save jpg and paste as usual. The white "wings" on the sides keeps the image from being a square.

Looking for a faster, simpler way and will post when I do,

In every blurry icon instance, I have found its because the image being pasted into the icon box is not square. That doenst mean you must have a square icon. Here's the fix:

1. Make a square document in Photoshop (or similar) containing the icon you want. You can have a transparent background (so the image itself doesnt have to be square, just the document canvas).
2. Save the file, and also save a PNG
3. Open the PNG up in PREVIEW app.
4. Select all (making a square selection)
5. Copy the selection (this also contains the transparent areas)
6. Paste into the file's Get Info icon box.

This is different to just copying from Photoshop. For some reason Photoshop does not copy the transparent information, just the visible pixels. So if the visible pixels are not a square selection then the system must resample the copied pixels very badly, and thus, a blurry icon.

Hope that helps!

@micoDigital The first time I did this, it did not seem to work... Then I looked closer and figured out why...

First time fail: I copied out of my favorite pixel editor (Pixelmator) and opened Preview. Preview dutifully created a new document from my clipboard. Then I copied from Preview and pasted, got the Moblurry icon.

Second time success: I exported the icon from Pixelmator to a PNG on the desktop. Then I opened that PNG in Preview, did a command-a to select all, copied, flipped to Finder, clicked on the GetInfo file icon well, pasted, and it worked.

Examination & Analysis: What I found was that the image canvas was being cropped to the boundaries of the image data by Pixelmator when traveling through the clipboard. By contrast, when saving the file, the original canvas bounds are maintained.

This makes sense as it is a common best practice to trim the clipboard data to the image bounds to avoid transferring egregious amounts of transparent pixels. For example imaging an image that is 10,240 by10,240 with the actual image in the middle fitting in only 512 by 512 and the rest being transparent pixel around it. Why transfer anything but the actual data in the clipboard... especially using Continuity / Handoff to an iPhone... but I digress.

The Test: I have a 1024 x 1024 image in Pixelmator with alpha channel transparency and some shadow at the sides, top and bottom. The transparent area around the image data occupies the 1024 x 1024 and when I save as a PNG, those boundaries are honored as shown when I open it in Preview. But when I select-all and copy from Pixelmator, which is selecting the full 1024 by 1024, Pixelmator trims the clipboard content to the rectangular boundary of the actual pixel data which results in 993 × 922 pixels being transferred

Now instead of the Mojave Finder simply centering that 993 × 922 pixels data in a transparent 1024 x 1024 canvas as the Finder has done before, Mojave Finder is pixelating the image in a faulty attempt to resize the image for the icon. (bad math?) This results in MoBlurry icons.

Visually... Original image in Pixelmator:

That image copied with selection marquee as shown above, then pasted into Preview showing the clipboard data conservation applied by Pixelmator:

Then selecting all and copying from Preview...

The image at 993 × 922 pixels copied from Preview and pasted into the Mojave Finder icon well will show a MoBlurry distorted icon.

Using the same actions, the same image in macOS Sierra 10.12.6, pasting in the 993 × 922 pixels data on the clipboard works fine:

The Conclusion: Mojave Finder has problem. It is not properly placing an image on a square transparent canvas that encompasses the image to produce an icon based upon whatever was pasted regardless of dimensions of the original clipboard image. Instead MoFinder poorly scales and down samples the image to make it MoBlurry.

Secondarily, Preview does not practice conservation on the clipboard. While not conforming to a best practice is not a bug... some consider it poor engineering. By coincidence, this issue in Preview clipboard content handling provides a mechanism for us to work around the MoBlurry bug (say that fast) in Mojave.

Mojave Hadrurus arizonensis; there be scorpions in that desert!

I figured it out! It's an odd little bug, when you have the image you want to copy open in Preview you have to make sure your selection is bigger than the image on all sides. If it's smaller than the image (only selecting part of the image) or if the selection is on the edge of the image on any side it'll come out blurry when you paste the image as an icon. But if the selection is bigger than the image on all sides it'll paste clearly.

You can make a nice template in photoshop that is square with white "wings" to make it work. When your image is copied into the black area that is what will paste onto the folder. Then just create a photoshop action and wham! you make a new cover in a second. Then just go to info and paste.

pink just shows the white area - otherwise it just looks like a black rectangle

tylertc04 wrote:

Hello,

Now when trying to change folders icons to custom images, they come out blurry, yet some come out correct?

Customizing folder icons goes back to the beginning of time. Every macOS comes with its own idiosyncratic nuances.

It seems the operative resolve is a "square" format—the exact resolution is not critical—for example it can just as well be 450px x 450px. If the resolution is too small, it will come out pixelated of course, however not 'blurred."

This problem has been there for over a year now and it's starting to seem like they're never going to fix it.

What's way more annoying is that if you have video files on an external hard drive that use custom icons, they now take about a minute to load each thumbnail/icon. This problem started happening in High Sierra, then they fixed it in 10.13.2, and now it's back again with Mojave and seemingly worse than ever. Just so awful and annoying.

I was having the same issue.

In my case what solved it was making an image with 512x512px and 144dpi
(which is the same as 1028px at 72dpi 🙂)

Then, (as you probably know) open image in Preview.app, cmd+a, cmd+c, cmd+i in Folder , cmd+v on the window's top left icon)

I hope it helps.

Good luck

In Mojave on Mac desktop, I locate only images to use for icons on top of folders that are more around 512 x 512, a little under, a little over ordinarily will work and produce clear images on folder. Right click-copy image. Command-i to access dialog box. Click once on the folder in dialog box to activate/highlight. Command-v will paste image over the blue folder you created. If it comes up blurry, Command-z to undo and try again on another image until it works. I have not tried adjusting the image in a software program to see if that can be used. This method reduces your options to finding an image to use that doesn't blur, but it is a workaround.

New way to customize folder icon with Mojave.  The new way is when you pick an image, e.g. from Google images, and paste it into the top left box in when you open “Get Info” it MUST be EXACTLY a square of any dimension.

So copy any image

Open Preview

In Edit on menu select, “New from Clipboard”

Use selection tool and open it until you have the part of the image you want, careful to watch X by Y coordinates that appear as active numbers, and select when they are the same.

If you want the image and it is not square then use part of it OR use preview tools to make a square box around it. Use any color any line width but select only a square, X=Y. Just before you copy it and paste it into the info box of your target folder select your square and again using the preview tools, make the line invisible, that is the “color” with the red diagonal line on the template border image.

Somebody can make it a cleaner explanation or find a short cut.