Custom folder icons are blurry
Hello,
Now when trying to change folders icons to custom images, they come out blurry, yet some come out correct?
Perhaps, but what about the price of eggs?
Question marked as
@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!
40 replies
Well Sterling I suggest you start a new discussion with all your griefs, and leave this one to the cretins.
What is it?
Just updated to Mojave 10.14.4 and the problem is still there :((
Strangely enough I've been able to change some folder icon thumbnails with photos that are not those dimensions. Additionally, movie file thumbnail previews do not show at all, instead the preview still of the actual file (a black blank screen) takes place? I don't know why Apple is going backwards with the customization capabilities. Originally in Sierra, we could change the icon to whatever image and it's dimensions possible, to now having to find specific dimensions for folders, despite the fact that other files thumbnail previews maintain that freedom.
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.
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.
Still an issue after Mojave update #2 - After reading all the responses on this and other like postings, here's my simple work around to avoid the blurred folder icons - especially for those who never have done this before.
1) Select potential icon picture & open it in the Preview app (JPG, PNG and TIF work well)
2) Hover mouse cursor over the open Preview window of the selected pic
3) index finger mouse click and hold while moving the mouse in expanding the crop frame
4) Crop the picture to a square frame having the same exact number of pixels on both sides - Preview will show a tiny "X by Y" pixel counter next to the crop frame - so no need to guess. Any square crop with sides up to 1600 pixels have worked for me...
5) Release the index finger button on the mouse to stop the crop once the right square dimensions are reached
6) Hover back over the crop area (cursor will change to a hand) - index finger mouse click and hold to position the crop area to 'taste', then release the mouse button
7) With the Preview crop window still active - Use "CMD" "C" keys together to copy the cropped area to the clipboard
8) Select/highlight the folder in Finder or Desktop that the picture icon is to be copied to clicking the index finger mouse button
9) Use "CMD" "I" keys together to open up the 'Get Info' window for the selected folder
10) At the very top of the selected folders' 'Get Info' window will be a tiny folder icon - index finger mouse button click on this folder and it will select it and highlight - do not click on the larger preview icon further down the window it will not do anything
11) With the "Get Info' window still active and the top folder icon highlighted, use "CMD" "V" keys together to paste the cropped area from the clipboard and replace the folder icon with it. The preview window and folder icon should change to reflect the non-blurred paste if you followed the above directions.
12) If you have multiple folders that require the same cropped image simply repeat steps 8-11 on the required folders one at a time as the original cropped image is retained on the clipboard until replaced by another or the computer is shut down.
I was able to draw something in illustrator and drag the graphic I created to the icon in get info without even coming out of Illustrator. In fact with each upgrade it's getting worse. Come on Apple tell us how to fix this!!!! It has to be a setting, because it started happening when I tried to put an icon in one that worked well on my old MAC but caused this problem on the new MAC.
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.
Custom folder icons are blurry