Add or Change Folder Icons to Stacks

A problem both in Tiger and Leopard is that if you have too many folders occupying the right end of the Dock, things get confusing, since most folders just have the default stack or folder view. Also, Apple made the terrible decision of making each stack adapt its icon to the first file or folder in the folder the stack refers to. This causes a problem with folders like Applications and user folders, since they adopt images you probably do not want there. I decided to go about fixing this.

First of all, choose the image that you want to appear for the given stack. Drag that image into the stack or the folder the stack refers to. Rename the image in a way that makes it appear first when alphabetized. (The best way to do this is add spaces to the beginning.) Now, the Stack should take that image for its own icon.
Technically, you do not have to use an image file. You could just set another folder or application that has just the default icon or a specific icon that you want and follow the same process.

I’m not sure if this works in Tiger or not, but I think it should work as well, applying to any folders on the right-hand side of the Dock.

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Written by Omer Zach on November 1, 2007 at 5:34 pm - Add or Change Folder Icons to Stacks has 7 comments - Categorized in Intermediate Tips, Leopard Tips, OS X Tips

7 Responses to “Add or Change Folder Icons to Stacks”

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Iphone | Apple | Mac Blog » Add or Change Folder Icons to Stacks
[...] Leopard Tips & Leopard Tricks - iPhone Tips & iTouch Tips - iPod Tips - MacTips: OS X Tips &… placed an observative post today on Add or Change Folder Icons to StacksHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
November 1st, 2007 at 5:46 pm
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Popular Post Roundup: 10/30/07 - 11/5/07 - MacTips: OS X Tips & Tricks
[...] 1: Add or Change Folder Icons to Stacks November 3: New & Improved MacTips Dashboard Widget November 3: Enable Safari Debug Menu [...]
November 5th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Mike Smith

Thanks a lot for that tip. The awful folders on the right hand side of the dock were driving me mad but now they are a lot easier to see.
. I hope that screen shot can be seen.!!
/Users/mikesmith/Desktop/Dock-1.jpg November 11th, 2007 at 4:24 am
chuck

Awesome! Thanks, that's such an easy trick to make right side look great. I've created shortcuts for all my programs & organized them into stacking folders on right (makes my dock look really clean) and now I added "1" to beginning of important apps for those shortcuts. Looks great. Thanks! November 15th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Suzanne

Hi, I thought this was a way to have a photo appear in place of the ugly solid blue cover. But I cannot seem to get it to work that way. Some time ago, the leopard tricks widget had a way to replace the blue folder cover with an actual picture. Is this what you are describing. Anyone know about this? January 2nd, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Omer Zach

@Suzanne: This is what I'm explaining...if you want a photo to appear there simply give it a name so that it appears first alphabetically. This won't actually replace the icon, but fix its appearance in Stacks.

If you would like to actually change the icon, I recommend taking a look at Panic's CandyBar (http://www.panic.com/candybar/). January 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
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Stacks Icons that Work - MacTips: OS X Tips and Tricks
[...] of the list as your Stacks icon. It looks ugly and it’s not very informative either. I tried using Omer’s method but it still looked a littlelooked tacky to me (no offense). That’s why I was enthralled when I [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 12:01 am