How to Add a Picture to a Folder on Mac

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Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: October 25, 2024

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This wikiHow guide teaches you how to replace any of your Mac's default folder icons with your own custom image.

Steps

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This opens the picture in Preview.
The picture is now copied to your clipboard.

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It's the two-toned smiley face icon on the Dock, which you'll find at the bottom of the screen.
4
Click the folder you want to change. This selects the folder.
- Make sure you just click the folder one time so you don't accidentally open it.
This opens some information about the folder.^{[1]
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It's in the upper-left area of the window.
7
Click the Edit menu and select Paste. Now you'll see the image you copied earlier replace the previous icon.
- If you want to restore a folder's original icon, just come back to this screen, select the current icon, and then select Edit > Cut.

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Question

What's the best scale of photo to use for folder icons?

Community Answer

Extra large icons: 256 x 256 pixels; large icons: 96 x 96 pixels (automatically rendered by Windows from 256 version); medium icons: 48 x 48 pixels.

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Question

Will it look like a folder or just as a square?

Fancyghost

Community Answer

It could be either, depending on what your preferences are set to. Either way, it'll work the same.

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Question

I've done all that, but I just get the JPEG icon. What else can I do to fix that?

Gavin Moore

Community Answer

Sometimes the preview does not appear, especially since it is no longer on your desktop. If you double click the file, it should appear.

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Tips

You may want to use an icon with a transparent background for a clean look.

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If you want to make a folder's icon the same as another folder or file's icon, select the other file or folder, go to File > Get Info, click the icon, and select Edit > Copy. Then you can paste that icon into the other file's "Get Info" screen.

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You can often find free icons available for download. Try searching the web for "free Mac icons" or "Mac folder icons" to see what's out there.

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