Big Sur and CANDYBAR

[Lukeit]

Dear All, I'm a Candybar user since 10.2 and have been happily using it to organise and manage my icons since a long time.
Yesterday I updated to Mac OS 11 and Candybar, to my disbelief, stopped working...
I cannot understand... on Catalina it was flawless and on Big Sur it's the only, ONLY app that does not work properly.

Anyone there, Candybar user like me, can provide some suggestions or support? I have already written to Panic, hoping in a feedback!

Too sad to see Candybar going also because I don't see any alternative ... any suggestion?

Many thanks to you all!

 

[fisherking]

candybar? hasn't been supported in years (thru many mac oses). there's liteicon, which has been updated thru catalina, and will hopefully be updated (by someone) for big sur (altho there's much discussion that system files are no longer changeable, or easily changed)...

if you were using candybar in catalina, were you able to change icons? or were they simply unchanged from earlier oses?

 

[Lukeit]

candybar? hasn't been supported in years (thru many mac oses). there's liteicon, which has been updated thru catalina, and will hopefully be updated (by someone) for big sur (altho there's much discussion that system files are no longer changeable, or easily changed)...

if you were using candybar in catalina, were you able to change icons? or were they simply unchanged from earlier oses?

I was using Candybar just to store, manage and view my icons collections: it's years now that system icons are difficult to change; Liteicon allowed to change folder system icon all around the system. Usually I change my icons manually one by one to customise single folders or app, but Candybar was wonderful to view and catalogue your icons, tag, search and find them. So sad Candybar, though unsupported, was working flawlessly in Catalina and now, boom, gone with Big Sur!

 

[KenBotwinick]

Lukeit, looks like you and I are in the same boat. I've loved CandyBar for years. My plan is to continue using it in a Mojave VM that I've set up for old 32bit apps I still want to run. It'll be a hack, but I imagine it will at least work. I never could find a better substitute for CandyBar and I've always been surprised there aren't more people like you and I who still swear by it. Please reply back here if you do ever find a fix.

 

[KenBotwinick]

IconJar • Your icon organizer for macOS

Say goodbye to scattered icons and hello to simple organization one click away!.

geticonjar.com

 

[flowrider]

I remember this Candy Bar:

Candy Barr - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Lou

 

[Lukeit]

IconJar • Your icon organizer for macOS

Say goodbye to scattered icons and hello to simple organization one click away!.

geticonjar.com

Hi Ken, exactly same boat as you say! I have tried Iconjar, but it's just a fraction of what Candybar is... it took hours for me to export all Candybar icons into png format and re-import them in Iconjar... just a pain in the neck! All my tags, all my folders ... gone... In icon jar it's not even possible to rearrange icons once imported... it really is annoying...

I have been in contact with Iconjar support and have let them know some additional functionalities that would be really welcome to have ... who knows if they will incorporate them in future builds... At the moment I will keep using and treasuring Candybar on my older machines while on my MacBook Pro with BigSur I'll try using Iconjar... too bad!
Thanks for sharing your opinions on Candybar, it's nice not to be the only one !!!
Take care

 

[Paulo Freitas Valvator]

this worked for me,
see instructions for Big Sur

ThemeEngine/README.md at v3 · jslegendre/ThemeEngine

OS X App to edit compiled .car files. Contribute to jslegendre/ThemeEngine development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[guzhogi]

I used CandyBar for a bit, but then they folded when Apple changed how/where system icons are stored & changed. Fun app. I also remember pre-OS X days with apps like Kaleidoscope, and the failed built-in Appearance changer in Mac OS 8.5(?). Both allowed you to change the entire appearance of MacOS like windows, menus, etc. as well as icons. Really wish Apple would allow stuff like that again.

 

[KenBotwinick]

Wow. Lots of activity from yesterday.

First to discuss two different purposes of CandyBar. Paulo/Guzhogi, yes CandyBar can be used for automatically theming the default icons but that's not really why I use it and so that's not the functionality I need replaced (and I have a feeling that's true for Lukeit, too). Instead, I just use it to catalog my "icons", which I really use anywhere and everywhere as clipart. I'm a very visual person. Some examples. I use BusyCal because as far as I know it's the only calendar app that lets you paste graphics in. I don't want to look at my month view and see the word "Thanksgiving" or "Christmas" in the bottom right corner of a day's box. I want to see a pic of a turkey or Christmas tree. I actually also have a goal of picking one icon for each day as kind of a visual journal so I can look back at a previous month view and get a much better and faster feel for what's been going on. (I fail at this goal epically.) I also use PathFinder instead of Finder, and it lets me increase the size of the folder icons in list view. I use tons of custom folder icons and CandyBar makes it so easy to drag and drop a folder onto the app and have a custom icon applied instead of having to copy and paste it into the Info dialog. I do GTD and all my project folders have custom icons. Using this method I can scroll through my folder of project folders and it kind of turns into a vision board because I choose icons which visualize my desired outcomes for those projects (and when I change the icons I have an automation that stores this history of what the icons were and when they were changed). I also do mind mapping and it's great to have tons of icons to paste onto branches. My goto mind mapping app is still MyThoughts and I was actually working with the developer where I had an automation that would parse my GTD project folders and generate an .xml that MyThoughts would automatically turn into a mind map with the correct icons for the branches. It was some pretty cool stuff. Too bad that developer gave up on it. Anyways, CandyBar is just the perfect solution for all of this, especially considering it's tagging abilities to help organize.

But I did also love theming way back when and have fantastic memories of using Kaleidoscope. That might still be fun if it were ever possible again, but I am kind of digging the look and feel convergence with iOS.

Lukeit, I agree with you about IconJar. It might be the best modern option, but it's still lacking. I posted about it Thursday before really playing with it more. And when I started to play with it, I realized I had already looked into it years earlier and decided against it. The fact that there isn't some form of easy import to bring over my CandyBar collection as-is was kind of a deal breaker. I don't want to redo all that work. I'm still trying to get CandyBar to work well in my VM of Mojave. I have shared the ~/Library/Application Support/CandyBar folder from my "real" mac (hackintosh) to the VM. Then I use the prefs in CandyBar to point to that for the library. This way I don't need to duplicate all the icon files within the VM. CandyBar loads and seems to see my library but none of the icons show. They are all replaced by the generic CandyBar PXICON image. And my keywords seem to be there, but search isn't returning any results because Spotlight probably isn't indexing this shared folder. So after all I might need to move all of the icons into the VM but then I think it will just work.

It's too bad Panic or IconFactory or whoever "owns" CandyBar now won't release it as open source. I mean if they're not going to develop it and they give away the serial for free so everyone can keep using it, why not release it as open source and maybe someone out there could fix it.

Cheers

 

[KenBotwinick]

Copying the entire Application Support/CandyBar folder into the VM did fix the keyword search, because now Spotlight is indexing them. Makes perfect sense.

But all of the icons still just look like the generic CandyBar icon. But I've come to find out they look like that at the OS level too. Does not make perfect sense.

Originals in Big Sur:

Copied to Mojave VM:

 

[Lukeit]

Ken, you couldn't say it better... the way you use Candybar it is EXACTLY the same way I use it and that's right the reason why Iconjar is not a true and real alternative for me, but just a minor, annoying "replacement" for Big Sur.

I have imagined too to use Candybar on a VM, but that seems too cumbersome for my usual work routine and I would use a Mojave or Catalina VM only for that specific program (Candybar) and maybe the one and only real Vox music player (not the one available now, but the very first version of the program by Alessio Nonni Alenofx which in my humble opinion is one of the best, lightweight, simple-no frills, yet very effective piece of software to play all kind of music files).

As far as my icons, I have preferred to take some time to export and catalogue my Candybar icons and import them back into Iconjar, but yet it's not the same feel and definitely it doesn't have the flexibility and freedom to play, move and review, you get in Candybar.

I have also hoped that Panic/iconfactory would let other continue on their steps, and I have even asked and pushed them to reveal if is there any workaround to have Candybar work on BigSur... they simply stated it is its final demise considering current Apple policy on security ... too bad!
Since then I have been searching for other alternative, but Iconjar is the only one I have found... should you happen to discover other apps that can do the trick, I would be more than happy to hear it!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts; it's nice to find people thinking likewise!
Have a good one!
Luke

 

[KenBotwinick]

Hi Lukeit, I haven't looked into IconJar too much (juggling too many things at once right now). Can you detail your method for transferring out of Candybar? For instance, how do you retain all your keywords? Do you need to manually recreate your folder structure? Is there a preferred way to export out of CandyBar to simplify things? Would love to benefit from your experience here. Thanks.

 

[Lukeit]

Hi Ken, I have tried several ways to avoid importing "one by one" but to no avail... iconjar and Candybar have incompatible libraries and unfortunately the only way is to manually export from Candybar and import back to Iconjar.
As I have Candybar on a Mojave Machine, I have installed Iconjar on the same machine and once imported everything into IconJar I have copied Iconjar library to the BigSur machine and imported into Iconjar app on BigSur.
In Candybar I had several folders which I had manually created according to theme, color, function etc.. I have exported icons in those folders as png (as I have discovered it is the only format in Iconjar that I can copy and paste on whatever folder and change its icon) and have added them to Iconjar.
As there is not way to rearrange positions of icons in iconjar, icons will appear in iconjar in a different order from Candybar and that is a major pain in the neck, but there's no other way I could find.
So basically I have exported the content of each and every folder I have on Candybar and have imported and made a new folder with the same name in Iconjar.
For all those icons I haven't arranged into folders, but I have straight imported into Candybar without adding them to any particular folder, I have, in my case, exported all the last 5000 icons and reimported back to Iconjar into a "Misc folder"... of course there will be copies and doubles, but at least I will be sure not to leave any icon behind.

As you might have already realised, it's a mess and moving from Candybar to Iconjar is not painless.
What I have devised is the only way I have found to recreate my library in Iconjar, but seeinf all my icons "scrambled" in a random order is a truly annoying.

What I miss is being able to rearrange icons to my heart's content and to be able to copy their mask, whatever the type of file I have imported and being able to use it straightaway to change the look of any icon or app I want.

I don't know if I have been of any help, let me know if you want more details or other info.. I'll be pleased to help.
Take care.
Luke

 

[paulanichols]

Is there a way to retrieve all my icons from my old iContainers? I have tons of icons locked inside iContainers and can find no way to extract them now.

Thanks!

Paula

 

[Mitchismo]

Add me to the group that used iContainers to store all of my icons—including those I made myself—but am locked out due to Big Sur.

I don't need replacement—although drag and drop replacement was nice. I don't even need the storage at this point. I'd settle just for getting the icons out of there in Big Sur. Any solutions for that?

 

[Kevcom]

As a long-time icon collector (from System 8!), I had the same problem - after upgrading to Big Sur, CandyBar stopped working. Opening CandyBar in a virtual machine showed all my icons as generic images. But after some experimentation, I figured it out! The basic idea is to compress (zip) your CandyBar library/files before transferring them to a virtual machine.

1. Get an old version of OS X (10.6 to 10.13) running in a VM. I used 10.13 running in Parallels. In theory any version up to Catalina (10.15) should work, though I haven't tried it.
2. In Big Sur, compress the entire ~/Library/Application Support/CandyBar folder to CandyBar.zip and copy that file to your VM's desktop
3. In Big Sur, copy ~/Library/Preferences/com.panic.CandyBar3.plist to the VM's desktop
4. In the VM, uncompress CandyBar.zip and move the uncompressed folder to ~/Library/Application Support
5. In the VM, move the file com.panic.CandyBar3.plist to ~/Library/Preferences
6. In Big Sur, download "CandyBar 3.3.4.zip" from https://panic.com/blog/candybar-mountain-lion-and-beyond/ and copy it to your VM. On that Web page, copy the CandyBar serial number.
7. In the VM, uncompress "CandyBar 3.3.4.zip" and move the uncompressed application to /Applications
8. In the VM, launch the CandyBar app. All of your icons and collections should be there and look as expected!
9. In CandyBar, make sure you enter the serial number, or the ability to export icons may be limited.

Now, to export everything to Big Sur from the VM:

1. For every icon collection/folder of icons you want to export, create a separate folder on the VM desktop.
2. In CandyBar, right-click (or control-click) the collection/folder you want to export and select "Export... -> ICNS..." from the menu that appears. Select the folder to export the icons to.
3. You can then copy the folder directly to Big Sur. This folder will be full of icon files, each of which has the icon of an exported icon. You can open up any of these files in Preview and you'll see that the various icons sizes, masks, etc. have all been preserved.
4. For pre-OS X and older Windows icons you may find that the icons have a two-color black and white preview. You may want to export these from CandyBar as "Icons" instead of "ICNS", which will create folders whose icons are the exported icons and will appear more as expected in the Finder. If you export as "Icons" you must compress the folder before you copy it to Big Sur.
5. In CandyBar, you can also right-click on one or more icons to save them as image files (such as a PNGs), but it only saves one size (with only a maximum size of 512x512 pixels) and upscales/downscales each icon to that size. Exporting as Icons or ICNS preserves all of the image sizes and masks in icons as-is without changing anything.

Now all of your icons should be preserved and future compatible! I hope this works for you.

 

[allan.nyholm]

Is there a way to retrieve all my icons from my old iContainers? I have tons of icons locked inside iContainers and can find no way to extract them now.

Thanks!

Paula

Use Icon Slate to open and inspect iContainers from CandyBar - then export as .icns and/or .ico or .png even - IconSlate is available on the Mac App Store via link on the author's website here kodlian's Icon Slate

I can't find a good reasonable solution to keeping my icons in an application that provides just an overview.

The competitor to CandyBar isn't around anymore either. Forget the name.. blueish and white icon I think. IconStore or something.. It was slow as heck and wasn't a viable option anyway.

I don't have any .icontainers anymore myself since leaving CandyBar behind. I went and downloaded most of my icon collection as DMG where possible. Most were from IconFactory. I believe that what sold me about Icon Slate was that it was also able to at least open and do something with .icontainers at the time should I stumble across any.

 

[allan.nyholm]

btw. I think Pixave could help some on here:

I bought it long ago and just now tried importing one of my own .icns files. I know why I didn't use it that much.
It wasn't reliable when restoring from iCloud that it can sync to. I might try and have duplicate Libraries of it to keep me from not being able to restore its library in the future if I personally decide to go along with Pixave for icons and my other images.

Could be a thing going forward. See images

 

[Lukeit]

CANDYBAR is opening right on my Macbook pro.

I have just created a new account on my Macbook Pro (MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018) 2.9 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i9 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4) and to my surprise Candybar is opening without any error message. Of course Candybar library is empty as this new account doesn't share data from my main account, but it is working!!! I went back immediately to my main account to see if by any chance Candybar (maybe due to new Big Sur version) were working too, but no joy: Candybar shuts down as always.
Why, why, why Candybar is working on this brand new account and shuts down on my main account on the same machine?
Will try to add icons and some other experiments and let you know.

 

[Lukeit]

No joy guys: unfortunately as soon as you try to add a single icon to the library, the app crashes! 😭

 

[Paulo Freitas Valvator]

Good news, on April 30, IconChamp differentiates itself from other Icon theming apps because it's the only app on the market that lets you theme system items on Big Sur. It also lets you theme System Items while keeping System Integrity Protection enabled and works all the way back to Mavericks!

IconChamp - macEnhance

macOS Icon theming done right.

www.macenhance.com

 

[Lukeit]

Fantastic! that's a great piece of news!

 

[Lukeit]

Good news, on April 30, IconChamp differentiates itself from other Icon theming apps because it's the only app on the market that lets you theme system items on Big Sur. It also lets you theme System Items while keeping System Integrity Protection enabled and works all the way back to Mavericks!

IconChamp - macEnhance

macOS Icon theming done right.

www.macenhance.com

Thanks Paulo! great news!

 

[Paulo Freitas Valvator]

Iconchamp, the paid version works very well, without code and just drag and drop:

macEnhance

The tools you need to enhance your macOS experience.

www.macenhance.com