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Changing icons in Mavericks

R

redkamel

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 29, 2006
437
34
Candybar is no longer supported, and I really enjoy changing icons in OSX. Does anyone out there know if candybar still works in Mavericks? Or even better, know a better way/program to change app icons? I would prefer to avoid anything too crazy such as Terminal commands or things in that vein, but if I must, I must.

Some of the icons I just cannot stand, such as the itunes and launchpad icons, as well as certain enterprise icons work makes me use. I also like to differentiate some of my folders.
 
redkamel said:
Candybar is no longer supported, and I really enjoy changing icons in OSX. Does anyone out there know if candybar still works in Mavericks? Or even better, know a better way/program to change app icons? I would prefer to avoid anything too crazy such as Terminal commands or things in that vein, but if I must, I must.

Some of the icons I just cannot stand, such as the itunes and launchpad icons, as well as certain enterprise icons work makes me use. I also like to differentiate some of my folders.
Click to expand...

This is the way I do it, no terminal/3rd party app required...

1. Find the icon you want (preferably PNG)

2. Open it in preview, press CMD-A and CMD-C to copy it.

3. Find the app whose icon you want to change and highlight it.

4. Press CMD-I, and on the top left corner there should be the app's current icon. CMD-P to paste the new one.

5. Quit the app and reopen.
 
I've found candybar to be pretty useless Under Mavericks.

You can select an icon within candy bar, copy it, then paste it into the get info box of an app or drive though.

I think it's because most applications need admin privileges to change an app, due to app signing, and candybar just doesn't work with the new procedure yet.
 
Just change them manually.

1, Select app
2, Get info
3, Drag new icon over.

I only used Candybar to change the Finder icon.
 

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Last edited:
lovememac said:
Yes. When you click on "get info" drag the large icon to your desktop and make a folder with all the ones you change as a back up :)
Click to expand...

how do you change the finder and trash (full / empty) icons? thank you in advance :)
 
Last edited:
bushido said:
how do you change the finder and trash (full / empty) icons? thank you in advance :)
Click to expand...

Go to your Mac HD. System, Library, Core Services, Right Click Dock, Show Package Contents, Contents, Resources then just look for the icons you want to change.

Change the png and the @2xpng for each icon.

Don't forget to back up the ones you change incase you want to go back.:)

----------
cammykool said:
i cant figure out how to change it
Click to expand...

Sorry didn't explain properly.

Drag the icon you want to use on to the small icon in the top left. It will ask you for your password.

Type password.

Done. :)
 
lovememac said:
Go to your Mac HD. System, Library, Core Services, Right Click Dock, Show Package Contents, Contents, Resources then just look for the icons you want to change.

Change the png and the @2xpng for each icon.

Don't forget to back up the ones you change incase you want to go back.:)

----------



Sorry didn't explain properly.

Drag the icon you want to use on to the small icon in the top left. It will ask you for your password.

Type password.

Done. :)
Click to expand...

but those are pngs and the one of deviantart posted here are "icns"
 
pieterv said:
Check https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1626098/

As for icns to png. I don't know if this comes with XCode or with any OS X install, but there's an Application called "Icon Composer in my Applications/Utilities folder. Open the icns with that, copy the size you want, open Preview and do File>New From Clipboard and save it.
Click to expand...

i got it thank you. something strange just happened not sure if it relates to the finder icon being changed but all of the sudden most of my icons in the dock have disappeared and finder kept freezing. rebooting fixed it eventually and the icons are back in the dock phew
 
lovememac said:
Go to your Mac HD. System, Library, Core Services, Right Click Dock, Show Package Contents, Contents, Resources then just look for the icons you want to change.

Change the png and the @2xpng for each icon.
Click to expand...

I found this fine, and I have changed most of my important icons using the paste method in Get Info. However the one that I really want to change is the generic folder as I don't want to change every folder one-by-one and I would like new folders to automatically use my different icon.

Do you know where that is located? I tried looking in the Finder App inside its resources, but wasn't able to identify it. If you could help me find that I would be very grateful.
 
Nunyabinez said:
I found this fine, and I have changed most of my important icons using the paste method in Get Info. However the one that I really want to change is the generic folder as I don't want to change every folder one-by-one and I would like new folders to automatically use my different icon.

Do you know where that is located? I tried looking in the Finder App inside its resources, but wasn't able to identify it. If you could help me find that I would be very grateful.
Click to expand...

/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources :)
 
So for anyone who stumbles across this thread, changing system icons is not particularly difficult, although slightly time consuming. Thanks to Lovememac for pointing out the location.

To change system icons all you need to do is navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources. The icons are in .icns format. Simply replace the icon with your icon using the same name.

It would probably be smart to copy the default icons somewhere first. Once you copy them restart your machine (log out and in didn't seem to be enough for me) and you have new icons.

BTW, this is also where the sidebar icons are located if you want to get some color back on your Mac.
 
lovememac said:
Yes. When you click on "get info" drag the large icon to your desktop and make a folder with all the ones you change as a back up :)
Click to expand...
But the large icon drag to desktop and put in the back-up folder is still the .app file not an icns file. Question: how do I attain a copy of the xxx.icns file of the app? Thanks
 
I know this is slightly off topic, But does anyone know how to change the login screen background image and the notification center background. I've managed to change the dashboard grid background and the apple logo on the login screen, but have no idea how to change the others. I've tried the lion technique of replacing the relevant images which also worked in ML, but cannot get it to work under mavericks. If anyone can help I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance
 
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