How to Change a Folder Icon in Windows

Didn't you ever want to make folder icons visually reflect the status of documents inside? Imagine, you look at the folder icon and immediately see if it holds important documents, files requiring urgent editing or high priority work.

You can change the folder icon using the standard Windows features, but this is not so easy. Here is the default way:

  1. Right-click onto the folder you want to change and then choose "Properties"
  2. In the properties window, select the "Customize" tab
  3. Then click the "Change Icon" button
  4. In the opened window you can browse for the built-in icons or select your own in the ICO format.

With this method you need to make many actions and already have your own folder icons in specified format. Using built-in Windows icons may be confusing to use, because folders will look in a different way.

Here is a much simpler and flexible alternative:

With FolderIco you can change folder icons in a few seconds. After you download and install the application, it embeds to your Windows Explorer providing the quickest way to access folder icon adjustments via the right-click menu. Here is how it looks:

Make right click on folder (The FolderIco menu is fully customizable and you can add your own icons to it.)

Changing a folder icon is a matter of two clicks now. FolderIco provides standard high-res icons for multiple statuses and conditions: approved, rejected, urgent and private file icons are easily available and can be quickly applied to any folder. Every icon naturally blends with the default folder icon, so the entire look retains the original style and spirit of the OS.

Make folders icons look different

Aside from instant assigning icons to folders you can change folder colors the same way! Just right-click a folder you would like to colorize and select a color. Red could denote critically important folders, orange could indicate close deadline files, green - for those documents that can wait and so on.

Easily sort out documents and folders

Combination of color marks and assigned icons easily puts your folders in order allowing for more efficient and productive work. Mark folders with music files, or folders you are going to transfer to a USB stick, or folders containing files downloaded from the Internet with appropriate icons and never spend more than a few seconds on scouting for a given file or folder again!