FolderLooks / Guide

How to Change Folder Icons on a Mac (2 Easy Ways)

A custom folder icon makes it easier to spot the right folder at a glance, and it's one of the simplest ways to personalize your Mac. Here are two ways to do it — the manual macOS way, and the fast way with FolderLooks.

Method 1: Change a folder icon manually (built into macOS)

macOS lets you set a custom folder icon without installing anything, using the Get Info panel. It works, but it's a few manual steps for every folder.

1. 1. Open the image you want to use as an icon (a square PNG with a transparent background works best).
2. 2. Select the whole image and copy it with Cmd+C.
3. 3. Select the folder you want to change and press Cmd+I to open Get Info.
4. 4. Click the small folder icon in the top-left corner of the Get Info window to select it.
5. 5. Press Cmd+V to paste your image onto the folder icon.
6. 6. Close the window — Finder updates the folder icon immediately.

The downside: you need a properly cropped, square image for every icon, there's no way to reposition or resize it after pasting, and doing this for more than a folder or two gets tedious fast.

Method 2: Change folder icons instantly with FolderLooks

FolderLooks skips the image prep entirely. Pick a folder, pick a look, done.

1. 1. Download and open FolderLooks.
2. 2. Select one folder — or several at once — right in the app.
3. 3. Pick a template from the built-in gallery, or upload your own photo and fit it to the folder shape (or keep it as-is).
4. 4. Click Apply. The new icon shows up in Finder instantly.

No image editing, no cropping to a square, and you can apply the same look to a batch of folders in one go.

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