Let’s face it. Windows lags behind when it comes to looks. It’s the ugly child compared to Apple and Linux. But it’s getting better all the time. While we wait for it to catch up, let me show you how to customize folders in Windows to make it look a lot better, help you organise easier and make it simpler to find what you are looking for.
To customize folders in Windows, I’m going to use GIMP. Which is an amazing Photoshop alternative. It’s open source, completely free and has been around for years. Grab your free copy here.
Go ahead and install GIMP and we will get started. Don’t worry, it’s not difficult and we will be done in just a few steps.
- First we need to search google for relevant images. To do this, let’s say for this explanation we are looking for movie folders. So that’s what we would search, “movie folder icons” to be precise. Click the images tab to show results. At this point I would recommend clicking the tools tab at the top of the page, click size and then icon. This will save you having to resize the folders later.
- Right click and save the image to your computer.
- Open GIMP and drag your downloaded image across. If you followed the advice above, you shouldn’t even have to resize the folder. If not, go ahead and make the folder either 512 x 512 or 256 x 256. Then click file, export to and name your file. The important part is the file extension at the end. Change it from .png / .jpg etc to .ico.
- Now to change the folder look. Right click the folder you want to change. Choose properties, customize – change icon. Click browse and navigate to where you stored your folder icons. The click apply. It sometimes takes a reboot for the changes to show up, just in case you’re wondering why it’s not altered.
Customize Folders In Windows: Infographic
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