Images for Mac Users

[joelsgirl]

Did you guys see the post at The Daily Digi about changing folders to icons? She referenced a program called img2icns that you can download for free. In literally two steps you can get your image to show up on your folder.

And, yes. I might have spent my afternoon going through my stash, which now has beautiful images instead of ugly blue folders. : )

The Daily Digi post is actually about using WINDOWS, but since we've talked about how to get our images visible on our Macs before, I thought I'd make sure everyone had the chance to enjoy.

[suladesign]

With all the digi stuff on my computer, it the HD always is hopelessly overloaded, but I might consider getting that. Have thought about it before. Thanks for linking us up, Kellie.

[Nettio]

I saw it but to be honest, I was confused by their suggestion for the Mac because you don't need to use imgtoicons to create the previews. You just need to open the full size preview in Preview, hit Cmd+A, then Cmd+C to copy and select the image. Then open the folder info panel (Cmd+I) and paste (Cmd+V) the image to the folder icon. With shortcut keys it's pretty quick.

I kind of wish they explained why they made that suggestion because it makes it seem you need an extra program to make icons when you don't. I've used imgtoicon in the past and didn't find it to be faster for me but maybe if you're doing a bunch of previews at once or not using shortcut keys it is? I don't know.

[Megan Turnidge]

I can't seem to get it to work. hmmmmm

[Leah]

Originally Posted by Nettio

I saw it but to be honest, I was confused by their suggestion because you don't need to use imgtoicons to create the previews. You just need to open the full size preview in Preview, hit Cmd+A, then Cmd+C to copy and select the image. Then open the folder info panel (Cmd+I) and paste (Cmd+V) the image to the folder icon. With shortcut keys it's pretty quick.

I kind of wish they explained why they made that suggestion because it makes it seem you need an extra program to make icons when you don't. I've used imgtoicon in the past and didn't find it to be faster for me but maybe if you're doing a bunch of previews at once or not using shortcut keys it is? I don't know.

I tried this Lynnette, but can't figure out how to select and copy the full size preview. I hit copy, but then when I go to the folder properties, I can't change the icon because it's not an icon file. I'm on a PC.

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by paperboutique

I tried this Lynnette, but can't figure out how to select and copy the full size preview. I hit copy, but then when I go to the folder properties, I can't change the icon because it's not an icon file. I'm on a PC.

Oops, sorry, I should have specified. Those directions are Mac only. Follow The Daily Digi directions for the PC.

Oh and I reead through their post again and I do understand some of the points they were making, I'm just not sure I agree they all apply to a Mac.

[Lauramarie]

i use this and all I do is drag the pvw to it and than drag folder and its done! All my folders have images now.

[origami]

Originally Posted by Nettio

I saw it but to be honest, I was confused by their suggestion for the Mac because you don't need to use imgtoicons to create the previews. You just need to open the full size preview in Preview, hit Cmd+A, then Cmd+C to copy and select the image. Then open the folder info panel (Cmd+I) and paste (Cmd+V) the image to the folder icon. With shortcut keys it's pretty quick.

I kind of wish they explained why they made that suggestion because it makes it seem you need an extra program to make icons when you don't. I've used imgtoicon in the past and didn't find it to be faster for me but maybe if you're doing a bunch of previews at once or not using shortcut keys it is? I don't know.

This is what I do. No need for extra software. My Mac is smart enough to do this all by itself.

[joelsgirl]

I think it's way faster. And the Mac totally doesn't do this by itself. I find the process of doing it myself annoying, so this little shortcut totally made my day. If I'm just doing it for new kits, it's not a big deal, but I went through my HUGE Zoe collection yesterday and added icons for all of them, and it was quick and easy.

[Julie Billingsley]

Wow! That img2icns program is super easy to use! Wow, just drag the preview over, drag the file over and done! LOVE it! Thanks for the post Kellie! My hard drive is looking GOOD!

[scrapsuzy]

I just cannot get this to work. I drag and drop the preview, then get a screen that has the preview plus four little boxes. I try to drag my kit folder onto the preview, and nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?

[Lyd]

Originally Posted by scrapsuzy

I just cannot get this to work. I drag and drop the preview, then get a screen that has the preview plus four little boxes. I try to drag my kit folder onto the preview, and nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?

img2icns really is super easy. But, I remember that it took me a couple tries before I had it figured out.

Open the program. It should look like this:


Drag and drop the preview jpeg file onto that window. Now, it will look like this:


Now drag the blank folder over on top of the preview image. That SHOULD do it.

If it doesn't work, you might have to do things the long way as shown in the tutorial that Traci linked to. That method is pretty easy too, especially once you get in a rhythm with it. But, img2icns is definitely faster.

[Traci Reed]

Try this instead:

https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/t...o-little-time/

[scrapsuzy]

Lydia, that's exactly what I think I'm doing. But it doesn't do anything! I know how to do it the regular way, without the app, but this sounded faster. With almost a thousand kits to do, I'm all about the faster.

[Nettio]

Two things:
1) Make sure when you drag the folder over the preview that you get a green circle with a + before dropping the folder.

2) Are you by chance on a Mac with a Retina display? Because if so, you have to open img2icns in Low Resolution mode or it won't work. To do that, go to your Applications folder and find Image2Icon. Right click on Image2Icons and select Get Info and then select the checkbox labeled "Open in Low Resolution." It should work then.

[Lyd]

Originally Posted by Nettio

2) Are you by chance on a Mac with a Retina display? Because if so, you have to open img2icns in Low Resolution mode or it won't work. To do that, go to your Applications folder and find Image2Icon. Right click on Image2Icons and select Get Info and then select the checkbox labeled "Open in Low Resolution." It should work then.

Oooh - that is good to know for when I upgrade next.

[aly321]

I am having the same problems... I can't get it to work for me!

[DaniW]

This is amazing - it drives me crazy to look at the folders! Thank you so much!! I'm using Windows - is there a quicker way to change the folder properties to display the icon? I downloaded ToYcon to make the icons and it is awesome and fast but it took a long time to choose to display the folder as an icon and then navigate to proper folder. I can't imagine doing that one by one for all of my kits!!

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by DaniW

This is amazing - it drives me crazy to look at the folders! Thank you so much!! I'm using Windows - is there a quicker way to change the folder properties to display the icon? I downloaded ToYcon to make the icons and it is awesome and fast but it took a long time to choose to display the folder as an icon and then navigate to proper folder. I can't imagine doing that one by one for all of my kits!!

If you're on a Windows machine, you should be able to just rename the preview image itself to "folder.jpg" and it'll display as the folder icon automatically. Most designers even include the file in the download for you. Does that not work for you?

[DaniW]

Originally Posted by Nettio

If you're on a Windows machine, you should be able to just rename the preview image itself to "folder.jpg" and it'll display as the folder icon automatically. Most designers even include the file in the download for you. Does that not work for you?

Hi! Thank you for your reply - I actually meant the process to change the format of the folder to display as an icon rather than a yellow folder. I downloaded the ToYcon program and it is amazing so I have all the icons ready to go. I'm trying to find a quick way to change each folder from the yellow folder to the icon. Does that make sense? I think I'm making it more confusing by using the word "folder" to mean both the directory and the image displayed on my screen!!

[Nettio]

Well and this is a Mac specific thread so if you're a Windows user, you may want to start a new thread so other Windows users can help you out. They most likely won't see your question in here.

[DaniW]

Originally Posted by Nettio

Well and this is a Mac specific thread so if you're a Windows user, you may want to start a new thread so other Windows users can help you out. They most likely won't see your question in here.

Okay, Lynnette, sorry about that! The original link provided above was about Windows so I thought it was okay to talk about both. This post has been tremendously helpful and I appreciate your help!

[DaniW]

Oh wait, I think I understand what you meant! So if the preview image is called "folder.jpg", it will automatically show up as the image on the little folder graphic? I actually never knew that and it has always frustrated me when the preview of a kit was called folder instead of something with the designer and kit name!! I believe that what you're talking about is how my folders displayed in an older version of Windows and I had all of my kits set up so the preview image showed up on the folder graphic. But when we had a computer crash and I moved everything to a new computer with a newer version of Windows, all I can see is just generic yellow folders with a teeny peek at documents inside.

I think I may have made the process a bit quicker by following the suggestion above to have a folder of just kit previews, which is a great idea for finding a kit quickly. At least when I browse to find the icon file, it will immediately take me to the same folder (versus searching for the particular kit folder) and I can just choose the icon.

Sorry for the long reply - I truly appreciate your help!!

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by DaniW

Oh wait, I think I understand what you meant! So if the preview image is called "folder.jpg", it will automatically show up as the image on the little folder graphic?

Yep, it should automatically turn the thumbnail icon into the image labeled folder. That doesn't work for Mac users, hence this thread about previews for Macs. It's been awhile since I've used Windows so if you have other questions, you probably should ask those in a new thread so the right people see them. Most of us in this thread have no idea.

[sastampink]

I really appreciate you sharing this. I tried the short cut method and couldn't get it to work. This was so incredibly easy, I am about half way done putting images on my folders. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I have so many files, I completely forget what I have This is going to be such a huge timesaver for me.

[Julie Billingsley]

Hey Brook, here is a thread you'll want to read. I'm still using img2icns app for the Mac. There might be better solutions these days, but I like this.

[YepBrook]

Originally Posted by Julie Billingsley

Hey Brook, here is a thread you'll want to read. I'm still using img2icns app for the Mac. There might be better solutions these days, but I like this.

Thank you SO much for bumping this, Julie!!!

[Neverland Scraps]

I just got a mac and will be looking this up to play around on my computer!
Thank you!

[cherrygutz]

I don't use what the blog suggested. what I do is double click on the kit preview, then command + a and then command + c. Then I will go to the folder of that kit and right click it then go to "get info, once the kit info opens, I will click on the small folder icon at the very top, and then click command + v.