Replace the stock Finder toolbar icons

Nov 17, '01 09:57:55AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

This was compiled in the Macworld OS X Forum, and I thought it may be of some use to everyone. If you'd like to replace the stock Apple toolbar icons with your own, here's how to do it.

  1. Find the icon you want and then launch Icongrapher, use the Open Icon command to open the icon and then pick "Save as" a .icns file.

  2. Log in as the root user [Editor: You could also use the Terminal to work around having to login as root]. In the Finder, navigate to /System/Library/Core Services/ and then control-click on the Finder icon and select "Show Package Contents".

  3. Navigate through the "Contents" folder to the "Resources" folder. You will see all the icons easily named (computer.icns, delete.icns, etc).

  4. Remove the file of the icon you want to change [Editor: A better suggestion may be to rename the original file in case you want it back!], and replace it with the one made by Icongrapher.

  5. Log out and login, and VOILA, new toolbar icons! [Editor: You could also force quit the Finder to make it restart and read your new icon files, although logging out and in is certainly a cleaner way to do this!]
Editor's caution: Any time you're mucking around in the system applications as root, you can potentially do great damage to your machine. Be careful and always have a backup! Consider yourself cautioned!

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