How to change folder appearance

f.furter · Mar 28, 2010

Hiya, I tried to put a picture on a folder to make it easier to find, and followed a couple of sets of instructions on the net. It changed the appearance, but not to the actual image I wanted, just a bland thing that said png or jpeg. Can anyone explain how to do it?

By the way, in the process I accidently copied a large programme to the desktop and then sent it back, does that matter at all?

Doug b · Mar 28, 2010

Very easy. Open both the image you want to use as well as the folder you want to change using :

CMD+I (that's info) On the top right hand side of the info panel you'll see a very small ....

Wait a second. Ok, this is very strange. It used to be that when you did CMD+I, the icon on the top left would be a jpg (or maybe png) representation of the actual icon, and not just a blank white layer which says jpg. I don't know what happened, but it is no longer the way it used to be, which is pretty disturbing to me. I've done this trick in the past on folders in my external HD and it was very easy.

Not sure of what's going on, but it may be something Apple did to mess it up (intentionally ?) in an update. Don't like this at all. I'll keep trying and see what I can come up with.

Doug

toMACsh · Mar 28, 2010

f.furter said:
...sent it back,

What?

f.furter · Mar 29, 2010

hiya, this is weird, later on yesterday the file had changed to how I wanted it. My imac seemed to just delay the action for quite a while!

What I mean by sent it back was copied it back into finder. When I accidently copied it to desktop it showed the little box which shows something is being copied, so may MB etc. Then I copied it back to Finder, to Applications. This just happened in an instant as if it just changed something minor.

I had some problems with this application later that day, it wouldnt open properly, even though it had been fine all day, but then it was ok later on. Had me worried for a bit, the application cost a lot of money and has hours of work in it.

toMACsh · Mar 29, 2010

Ok, just in case there's some fuzziness about the difference between copy and move...

If something is being copied, you will see a green dot with a '+' sign inside it, and the original is left behind. If you drag something and do not see that, it is being moved, and nothing is left behind. Perhaps obviously, a move sometimes takes noticeably less time, depending on the size of the item.

Generally, things are moved when they are staying on the same drive. If you have two folders in Documents, one called His and the other Hers, and you drag a file from His to Hers, it will be moved. You can force it to copy when dragging it by holding down the command key. If you tried to drag the same file to a flash drive that is appearing on your screen, it will copy it. You can force it to move instead by holding down that command key. If you play with the command key while dragging something, you'll see the green + dot appear and disappear.

If you have more trouble with that application, I'd suggest starting a new thread with that identified in your subject line. Good luck!

f.furter · Mar 30, 2010

cheers for that, it seems to be working ok anyway now.

f.furter · Apr 2, 2010

Doug b said:
Very easy. Open both the image you want to use as well as the folder you want to change using :

CMD+I (that's info) On the top right hand side of the info panel you'll see a very small ....

Wait a second. Ok, this is very strange. It used to be that when you did CMD+I, the icon on the top left would be a jpg (or maybe png) representation of the actual icon, and not just a blank white layer which says jpg. I don't know what happened, but it is no longer the way it used to be, which is pretty disturbing to me. I've done this trick in the past on folders in my external HD and it was very easy.

Not sure of what's going on, but it may be something Apple did to mess it up (intentionally ?) in an update. Don't like this at all. I'll keep trying and see what I can come up with.

Doug

Thats what happens to me sometimes, and one time it did that and several hours later the picture appeared on the folder!

Doug b · Apr 2, 2010

f.furter said:
Thats what happens to me sometimes, and one time it did that and several hours later the picture appeared on the folder!

Very strange indeed. Thanks for the info, because I couldn't find diddly squat about the issue.

Doug