How to Change Folder Color on Your Mac

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Select a custom icon or color for your desktop folders with these easy-to-use tips

Co-authored by Megaera Lorenz, PhD Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: September 16, 2024 Fact Checked

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Using Preview

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Adding a Custom Icon in Get Info

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Using Tags

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Changing a Folder’s Background Color

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Using Third-Party Apps

Since all the folders on Mac are light blue, it's pretty easy to get overwhelmed with blue folders and forget where to find information. Fortunately, there are a few different ways that you can change the color of folders so you can keep all your files organized! This wikiHow article shows you a few ways you can change the folder color on a Mac.

Quick Steps

Select your folder and click File > Get Info.
Select the folder icon at the top of the Get Info window and copy it.
Open Preview and select File > New from Clipboard.
Select the Markup tool, then the Adjust Color icon.
Use the Tint slider to change the color, then copy the adjusted folder image.
Select the old folder icon in the Get Info window and paste in the new image.

Section 1 of 5:

Using Preview

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This method allows you to do a simple color adjustment to a folder icon using the Get Info menu and you Mac’s built-in Preview app. While this may seem like a lot of steps, it’s actually a pretty simple process. To start, Ctrl-click the folder to open a pop-out menu.
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Click Get Info. A new window with the folder's "Info" will open.
- You can also just click File > Get Info after selecting the folder.
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All you need to do is click the folder icon in the top left corner of the window to select it; it'll highlight in a blue box to indicate that it's selected.
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Press ⌘ Cmd+C. This copies the image to your clipboard.
- Alternatively, go to Edit > Copy.
You can either click the app icon in your Dock or you can press Cmd + Spacebar to open Spotlight and enter "Preview" to search for the program.
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Press ⌘ Cmd+N. This will open a new window in Preview with the contents of your clipboard.
- Alternatively, go to File > New from Clipboard.
- The folder image will open in Preview.
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Click the Markup tool
. It looks like a close-up of a pencil tip, and you'll find it near the top of your work area in Preview, to the left of the search bar or icon.
- If you don’t see this button, go to View > Show Toolbar. The toolbar containing the Markup icon should appear at the top of the Preview window.
If you are running a newer update, this icon looks like three sliders. For Catalina and prior it looks like a prism.
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Use the Tint slider to change colors. The Tint slider should give you many color options as you drag it left and right. You can also use the other sliders to adjust the color.
- If you can't get the exact color you want in Preview, you can use different editing software to fine-tune your color options.
- Once you find the color that you want, click X to close that window.
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Select the newly colored folder and press ⌘ Cmd+C. Use your mouse to highlight the folder image in the Preview sidebar menu and it'll be selected. Press Cmd + C to copy it to your clipboard.
- Alternatively, go to Edit > Copy to copy the image.
If you already closed the "Info" window when you opened Preview, simply ctrl-click the folder that you want to edit and select Get Info again.
It's the same blue folder icon that you selected earlier.
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Press ⌘ Cmd+V. This will paste the copied image from Preview to your folder icon in "Info."
- You'll no longer see a blue folder icon, but will instead see the color that you selected in Preview! You'll also notice the folder's color change in Finder or on your desktop!
- Repeat this process for any other folders you'd like to customize.
- If you ever want the folder to return to the default blue, just right-click the folder, select Get Info, click the folder icon in the "Info" window, and press Cmd + X.

Section 2 of 5:

Adding a Custom Icon in Get Info

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Copy an image from your desktop. This method lets you replace your folder’s icon with a custom image in just a few steps. You can use any image for this method, including photographs, colorful custom folder icons that you downloaded from the web, or even an icon from a different folder or file on your Mac. To get started, open the image you want to use and copy it to your clipboard.^{[1]
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- If you want to use an icon from a different file or folder, click that file or folder and go to File > Get Info. Click the icon at the top left corner of the Get Info menu and press Cmd + C to copy it.
Locate the folder in Finder or on your desktop and click on it.
You can also Ctrl-click the folder and select Get Info.
It’s at the top left corner of the Get Info window. Make sure you don’t skip this step, or the process won’t work!
Go to Edit > Paste in the menu bar at the top of the screen, or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd + V. The folder’s icon will be replaced with the image you copied.

Section 3 of 5:

Using Tags

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Control-click a folder you want to tag. You can control-click a folder on the desktop or in Finder.
- This method will not change the entire color of your folder. Instead, it will add a small colored tag to your folder so it’s easier to find. This looks like a colored dot next to your folder name.
- This is best if you have tags already set up or plan on using one of the default tags, but adding custom tags will take you less than 30 seconds!
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Pick a color. In the menu that pops up, you’ll see a series of colored dots. Click one of these to assign a tag by color. This tag will now be applied to that folder. You can even choose multiple tags, if you like!^{[2]
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- To create a custom tag, click Tags… under the row of tag colors. Type in a name for your custom tag (for example, “School” or “Urgent”) and click a color to assign a color to that tag. Click Create new tag “[your tag name]”.
- To find folders tagged with your chosen color(s), you can click on the tag color in the Finder sidebar, or tap the
  Search icon at the top of the Finder window and enter the tag color or name.

Section 4 of 5:

Changing a Folder’s Background Color

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This option changes the background color you see in the folder window when the folder is open. It won’t change the folder’s icon color, but it’s still a fun way to customize the look of a folder.
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Open the View menu. It’s in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
- If as Icons isn’t already selected at the top of the View menu, select it now. You won’t be able to see the custom color in any other view.
It’s near the bottom of the menu.
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Select Color. This is one of several options under the Background header. Click the radio button next to it to select it.
- You can also click the button next to Picture if you want to set an image as the folder background instead.
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Click the color icon and select a color. Next to Color, you’ll see a square tile that’s set to white by default. Click it to open a color menu.
- There are several options you can use to select your color, including a color wheel, a color spectrum, and pre-set swatches.
- Once you’ve chosen a color, it will be instantly applied to the folder background. Click the x in the top left corner of the color menu to close it.

Section 5 of 5:

Using Third-Party Apps

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Use third-party apps that claim to change the colors of your folders. Apps like Folder Color, Folder Colorizer, and Color Folder Master are all popular and highly downloaded apps that claim to make color-changing an automatic process.
- Most of these apps are paid, not free, so doing it yourself is usually the cheapest option.