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How do I change the icons in the dock on a Mac?

R

rogercorke

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 9, 2011
58
5
I've got two identical icons that look like folders in the dock of my Mac - one for Dropbox and OneDrive - and it's very confusing. I've looked at all these supposed ways of changing them and none of them work. Who said Apple macs were easy and intuitive? Please can someone give me a simple, easy way of changing these two icons. I'd be happy to replace theboring folder icons with the Dropbox and the OneDrive icons. Then at least I'd know what each one is.

thanks (in frustration!)
 
If the icons are on the left side of the Dock's main divider, they're probably being taken from the app's icon as it appears in the Applications folder. It's usually possible to replace those by opening that folder, selecting the application, choosing "File > Get Info", selecting the icon at the upper-left of the Info window, and pasting the new image.

(Update: it looks like this question is in the "iOS 10" subforum – I hope I've understood correctly that you're asking about macOS.)
 
Starfia said:
If the icons are on the left side of the Dock's main divider, they're probably being taken from the app's icon as it appears in the Applications folder. It's usually possible to replace those by opening that folder, selecting the application, choosing "File > Get Info", selecting the icon at the upper-left of the Info window, and pasting the new image.

(Update: it looks like this question is in the "iOS 10" subforum – I hope I've understood correctly that you're asking about macOS.)
Click to expand...
Starfia said:
If the icons are on the left side of the Dock's main divider, they're probably being taken from the app's icon as it appears in the Applications folder. It's usually possible to replace those by opening that folder, selecting the application, choosing "File > Get Info", selecting the icon at the upper-left of the Info window, and pasting the new image.

(Update: it looks like this question is in the "iOS 10" subforum – I hope I've understood correctly that you're asking about macOS.)
Click to expand...
They're on the right hand side of the divider. Is it possible to change those?
 
rogercorke said:
They're on the right hand side of the divider. Is it possible to change those?
Click to expand...

Oh, I see. Then the icons look like folders because they are folders.

There are two things you can do to change the appearance of those. One is identical to what I described earlier: locate the folder using the Finder, "Get Info" on it, and paste a new image to replace the folder's icon.

Two: right-click (or control-click) the folder's icon in the Dock to summon a contextual menu with options about how it's displayed there. Choose "Display as > Stack" from that menu. The icon is replaced with a "stack" of files that reflect the folder's contents.
 
I tried cutting and pasting a new icon in the info window of Dropbox. It replaced it OK but the icon in the dock didn't change. Then I restarted the computer in case that was the problem and the Dropbox icon in the dock had reverted to the boring folder window. Dammit!
 
Certain folder icons on the right side of the divider are locked by the system and can not be changed. But I'm not sure I understand why you have both the Dropbox and OneDrive folder icons on the Dock? They should appear in your side menu when you open the Finder. No need for them to be on the Dock.
 
chscag said:
Certain folder icons on the right side of the divider are locked by the system and can not be changed. But I'm not sure I understand why you have both the Dropbox and OneDrive folder icons on the Dock? They should appear in your side menu when you open the Finder. No need for them to be on the Dock.
Click to expand...

I know but I like them there. It’s quicker than clicking on Finder first and then getting the file I want that way. I just don’t like the fact that both icons are identical!
 
I've cracked it. On my Mac, the style of the icons to the right of the divider, such as the ones for Download, Documents, Dropbox etc are dictated by the first file in the list in Finder. If it's a Word document, then a blue file icon will appear. If it's a picture, then a small version of that picture will appear. So I went onto the web, downloaded a jpg of the Dropbox icon, renamed it so it's the first file to appear in the Finder list (I renamed mine aaDropboxicon.jpg) and then put it into Dropbox. It goes to the top of the list.

Right click on the existing Dropbox icon, go to Options and remove it from the dock and then go to Finder and drag it back in the dock again and you'll find you now have a Dropbox icon sitting there!
 
Nice solution, thanks for the update. I may try the same thing with my Application folder that sits to the right of the dock separator.
 
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