Here’s how to change folder icon in Windows. The regular Folder icons in Windows are pretty standard and do the job pretty good. However, having the same icons for all your folders can make things a bit harder when you have a lot of folders and want to find a specific folder quickly. For instance, I use songs icon for my Songs folder, movies icon for my Movies folder, book icon for my Books folders, etc. These icons make the folder stand out from other regular folders. In fact, programs like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., use their own folder icons to differentiate themselves from other folders.
Moreover, Windows folder icons stayed almost the same throughout the years and seeing the same icons every day can be boring. This is especially true if you want to customize Windows to meet your needs. In case you are wondering, here’s how to change folder icon in Windows with just a few clicks.
Though I’m showing this in Windows 10, the same procedure is applicable to Windows 10 and 8.
Customize Folder Icon in Windows
Fortunately, it is very easy to change folder icon in Windows. By default, Windows provides some generic icons to help you customize the folder. However, these are pretty old and you may not find the icon of your choice. But, you can download icons in ICO format and use them as the folder icons.
There are many websites that provide you with great icons and IconArchive is one such website. While downloading, don’t forget to download icons in .ico format. If you already have icons in some other format like JPG or PNG then use this website to convert those icons to ICO format.
Once you have the icon in .ico format, store it somewhere on your hard drive and proceed to change folder icon in Windows.
Change Folder Icon in Windows
1. To change folder icon in Windows, right-click on the target folder and select the option “Properties“.
2. In the Folder Properties window, navigate to the folder “Customize“.
3. Here, click on the button “Change Icon” under the Folder Icons section appearing at the bottom of the window.
4. Now, you can either select one of the listed icons or you can set your custom icon. To set your custom icon as a folder icon, click on the “Browse” button.
5. In the Browse window, navigate to the folder where you’ve stored your downloaded .ico icon, select it, and click on the “Open” button.
6. Click on the “Ok” button to continue.
7. In the main window, click on the “Ok” button to save the changes.
That’s all there is to do and it is that simple to change folder icon in Windows.
Change Folder Icon in Windows to Default
If you ever want to change back to default folder icon then go through the process again until step 4. Here, click on the “Restore Defaults” button and the default icon will be restored.
Do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above method to change folder icon in Windows.