Changing Basic Icons: The Copy'n'Paste Method

This is where it all starts. You've downloaded a set of icons, and you're eager to get rid of those ugly default folder and application icons. Well, that's easy enough.

Also, if you've already tried the copy'n'paste method on a particular icon and it seems to work but constantly changes back to the original, you'll need to see the next step in the Guide: Changing Persistent Application Icons.


Copy'n'Paste
For most of the icons in Mac OS X (those that you'll see on a daily basis, anyway), the Copy'n'Paste method will suffice. It involves no use of the Terminal or sudo commands, can't possibly screw anything up in a permanent sense, and has only two steps: the aforementioned 'copy' and the subsequent 'paste.'

This will work on anything in your Home folder or subfolders (this includes your Library, Desktop, Documents, Movies, Public, Music, Pictures, and Sites folders), your individual files, most Application icons (as well as the way these show up in the Dock or on the desktop), and several of the 'Macintosh HD' icons like the User, Library, and Applications folders.

Note: if you're having any trouble so far, or don't understand what I mean by the 'Home' folder or its contents, check out this site, which will explain the basics of the OS X folder hierarchy.

Let's Get It On
Alright, I'm assuming that you've already downloaded an icon or set of icons, or you wouldn't be here. Well, maybe you would, but it'd be a very preemptive move on your part. Overachiever, are we? Anyway, if you haven't found some cool icons yet, try InterfaceLift, Apple's Download Site, or IconFactory. Go ahead and save your downloaded icons to a folder or series of folders in your home directory, so that they're accessible.

Now comes the easy/hard/only part. Without going into too much detail, icons which are OS X-ready have two components - the icon file itself (usually a .png or 'Mac OS Icon' format, which has no extension) and an applicable 'layer' called a resource fork which allows it to be pasted over other icons - think of it, in this case, as visual metadata. Icons which aren't properly prepared will give you various problems, which I'll address shortly. Unless you care enough to Google it, you needn't really worry about how these work.

The File Types:
When downloading, you'll usually encounter 3 icon types:
.png's, which may or may not include both metadata-style resource forks,
.icns files, which usually don't include both resource forks, but are meant to replace persistent application icons,
and 'Mac OS Icon Files, which have both resource forks and are perfect for the copy'n'paste technique.

Changing Yer Average Icon
Here we go. Find the new icon that you want to apply to, say, iTunes, and select it with the mouse or keyboard. Then (are you ready for this?)...hit Command+C to copy it.

Whew.

Now we're ready to paste. Go to your Applications folder, select the iTunes application, and hit Command+i to bring up its Get Info menu.


See that icon at the top left of the iTunes Info window? Select it with your mouse (a faint blue outline will appear around it - it may be hard to spot at first). Once it's selected, press Command+V to paste the new icon over the old. If nothing happens, you may need to press it an extra time or two - it's finicky sometimes.

For most icons, that'll do it! There are only a couple of situations in which this might not work, and I'll address those now. Whichever problem you're facing, there's a solution:

The Damned Icon Keeps Changing Back!
This is what I'm calling a persistent application icon, and is addressed in the next part of the guide. You'll find this to be the case with Mail, System Preferences, other Apple apps and even some 3rd-party programs like the ineffable newsreader Vienna. This is also the case with the Applications folder in the Finder's sidebar, which is addressed in the final section on Changing System Icons.

Nothing Will Happen At All!
If you try and try to copy'n'paste a particular folder or application icon and it refuses to change at all (the top-level System folder is a good example of this), this is because you don't have the necessary privileges to change its resource fork. For situation like this, you'll need to gather your inner fortitude and jump to this Guide's 3rd section which, again, discusses Changing System Icons.

I Did Everything Right, But It Shows a Blank 'PNG' or 'ICNS' Document!
This is where the aforementioned resource forks come into play. Sometimes, icons which are incorrectly prepared (or are in .icns format because they're meant to replace persistent application icons) lack the copyable metadata information that the copy'n'paste method uses to replace icons. Luckily, there's a great (and free!) fix for this! It's called Pic2Icon, and you'll love it from the first time you use it!

To use Pic2Icon, you'll simply start the program and drag your .png or .icns icons into the drop box (in my picture, it's got a 'recycle' symbol - that's custom, so you'll see something a little different) and release! Pic2Icon will process your file(s), adding the necessary resource forks automatically.

Nothing will appear to change, but if you choose a processed file and open its Get Info window, you'll see the correct icon at the top left. This means that it's ready for the copy'n'paste method!

Now that was easy enough, but suppose you want...more? Suppose you refuse to put up with those pesky persistent icons, or want to change Finder's? Well then it's time for the next step (which will in turn prepare you for the 3rd section): Changing Persistent Application Icons.