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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac OS X > how do i change an icon for an application?

how do i change an icon for an application?
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Jan 21, 2003, 12:17 AM
 
i downloaded some osX icons off the internet but i dont know how to link them to apps. how do i go about replacing an existing icon with a downloaded one?
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 12:30 AM
 
Originally posted by lAwrencex:
i downloaded some osX icons off the internet but i dont know how to link them to apps. how do i go about replacing an existing icon with a downloaded one?
Either right click on the new icon you want and select "Get info" or just key combo "command I" after clicking on the icon to select it and you should see the icon in the upper left of the info window. Click on the icon in the window and it should now have a blue halo around it.
Now just copy it by either key combo "command c" or copy in the edit menu at the top of the screen.
Open the same info window for the app you want the new icon on and halo the icon in it's Info window and key combo "command v" to paste or use the edit menu to select paste.

That's all there is but if you have the app in the dock when you do this it may not updtate in the dock icon right away.

-Jerry C
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 01:43 AM
 
It will depend on what App you are planning to paste over. Most Cocoa App require you to convert the icon to .icns format then put it inside App>Package Content>Resources. There are several App on VersionTracker.com that will be able to convert any icon to .icns. I used Iconographer to do that.

That way it will be permanent. Pasting the icon using Get Info is good for most Carbon App.
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 02:02 AM
 
Most Cocoa App require you to convert the icon to .icns format then put it inside App>Package Content>Resources.
Huh? I can paste icons on Cocoa apps via the Get Info method. Just tried it with two of my apps, Pacifist and Silverware, which are both Cocoa apps. Works just fine.

Ticking sound coming from a .pkg package? Don't let the .bom go off! Inspect it first with Pacifist. Macworld - five mice!
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 02:20 AM
 
Originally posted by CharlesS:
Huh? I can paste icons on Cocoa apps via the Get Info method. Just tried it with two of my apps, Pacifist and Silverware, which are both Cocoa apps. Works just fine.
Some softwares such as OmniWeb and several other kept reseting the icon if you pasted over it.

Most cocoa softwares accept Get Info>Paste but after restarting, it will be lost. I think the safest way to change icon permanently is replacing the .icns file.

If I'm wrong, please correct me. I haven't tried the GetInfo>Paste method for pretty long time.
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 02:30 AM
 
Originally posted by CharlesS:
Huh? I can paste icons on Cocoa apps via the Get Info method. Just tried it with two of my apps, Pacifist and Silverware, which are both Cocoa apps. Works just fine.
By the way, what is Silverware? I never heard of it before. VersionTracker Search showed up nothing.
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 03:37 AM
 
Some softwares such as OmniWeb and several other kept reseting the icon if you pasted over it.

Most cocoa softwares accept Get Info>Paste but after restarting, it will be lost. I think the safest way to change icon permanently is replacing the .icns file.

If I'm wrong, please correct me. I haven't tried the GetInfo>Paste method for pretty long time.
Okay, I'll have to give that a try. I'm going to paste an icon on one of my apps, and I'll see if it's still there tomorrow.

By the way, what is Silverware? I never heard of it before. VersionTracker Search showed up nothing.
Oops, you're not supposed to know about that yet...

Ticking sound coming from a .pkg package? Don't let the .bom go off! Inspect it first with Pacifist. Macworld - five mice!
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 01:05 PM
 
Okay, Adam, it's the next day, and I rebooted, and Pacifist is still wearing Safari's icon. I'm deleting the custom icon now, because I think I like yours better but this at least establishes that custom icons work correctly for Cocoa apps on my machine at least...

Ticking sound coming from a .pkg package? Don't let the .bom go off! Inspect it first with Pacifist. Macworld - five mice!
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 01:37 PM
 
Originally posted by CharlesS:
Okay, Adam, it's the next day, and I rebooted, and Pacifist is still wearing Safari's icon. I'm deleting the custom icon now, because I think I like yours better but this at least establishes that custom icons work correctly for Cocoa apps on my machine at least...
Yeah true, I just checked and you're right, it didn't lose icon paste info after restarting, etc. I guess Apple added an ability to paste an icon over cocoa app somewhere in 10.1 or 10.2. If they did then I'm glad that they're making it easier for people with no icon replacing experiences

Why not post a teaser of what Silverware is? I'm looking forward to see more high-quality softwares from you!
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 01:48 PM
 
Actually it's not a cocoa/carbon thing.

Icon's wont stick to applications which use dynamic dock icons unless they are replaced in the more elaborate way described above.

This is why replacing OW's icon isn't so simple, and attempts at doing the same for Print Center or Mail would also be difficult.
cpac
     
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Jan 21, 2003, 01:56 PM
 
Originally posted by Adam Betts:
Why not post a teaser of what Silverware is? I'm looking forward to see more high-quality softwares from you!
If you define "teaser" as something which teases the reader, from your responses I think I've already done that.

Seriously, the reason I don't put a "coming soon" spiel on my web site for all my in-development projects is that if I did that, I'd get a billion "hurry up and release it already!" e-mails. Better to just surprise them when it's ready. Besides, Silverware, by nature of what it needs to do, is a project that's probably going to take quite a while to complete...

Ticking sound coming from a .pkg package? Don't let the .bom go off! Inspect it first with Pacifist. Macworld - five mice!
     
   
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