How to Copy an App Icon on a Mac

There are some instances where you might want to copy an app Icon on a Mac. But how?! This little trick will get you access to a high-resolution version of the icon to use how ever you need. We also found a site that someone has built with a bunch of free icons, at MacOSIcons.

Let’s say you’re writing documentation to help colleagues use Preview to edit images, sign PDFs, and convert graphics. (A worthy task for which they will thank you!) For this documentation, you want to include the Preview app’s icon so they know what to look for in the Applications folder and Dock. To copy a high-resolution version of any app icon that you can paste into a document or combine with other graphics do this:

Select the app in the Finder, choose File > Get Info.

Select the little icon in the upper-left corner of the Info window, and press Command-C.

Now you can then use Command-V to paste it wherever you want.

Or create a new file containing all sizes of the icon by switching to Preview and choosing File > New From Clipboard.

Want to change an icon for a folder? Simply pick your folder (or application) and get info from the File menu again. Find the image that you would like as the icon (best size is 1000 x 1000. Drag that image into the upper left hand corner to replace the icon with that image.

As always if you need help let us know make an appointment at MacEdge.