How can I make custom folder icons with ResEdit? (OS 9.2.2)

[Shymon184]

Just pasting the transparent icon from Photoshop replaces the transparent pixels with white pixels. When I open the Icon file inside the folder, there's only icns binary resource, with which I don't know what to do. When I create the finder icon group (icl8, icl4, etc., you know what I mean), it doesn't work either, even after rebuilding the Desktop File.

ResEdit manual didn't tell me much except for what said resources do and how to edit them.

How can I make the folder icons work?

 

[olePigeon]

@Shymon184  Try this app:  https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/iconographer-24

Make sure to scroll to the bottom, it has the now free serial number.

 

[Shymon184]

@Shymon184  Try this app:  https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/iconographer-24

Make sure to scroll to the bottom, it has the now free serial number.

Iconographer does the job. But I wonder why ResEdit can’t make the custom icons work? It seems like in order to make the icons appear, Finder wants additional resources not just the icon resources themselves...

 

[cheesestraws]

But I wonder why ResEdit can’t make the custom icons work?

There are multiple different kinds of icon resource for different colour depths and sizes.  ResEdit can edit the older ones but as far as I know cannot edit the larger or higher colour depth ones, because they postdate it.

 

[Shymon184]

There are multiple different kinds of icon resource for different colour depths and sizes.  ResEdit can edit the older ones but as far as I know cannot edit the larger or higher colour depth ones, because they postdate it.

Makes sense, since ResEdit development stopped in mid 90’s and Mac OS 9 is from 1999. Too bad there’s no Mac OS 9-ready version of ResEdit.

 

[LaPorta]

As a solution, why not find one of the invisible folder icon documents in a folder that does work (there were many, like in Photoshop itself), edit and save that, then move it where you want and make it invisible again?

 

[Shymon184]

As a solution, why not find one of the invisible folder icon documents in a folder that does work (there were many, like in Photoshop itself), edit and save that, then move it where you want and make it invisible again?

I tried creating a new Icon file in a different folder and it didn’t help, but Iconographer does the job well.

 

[LaPorta]

I meant instead of trying to make a new one, copy one that is already there and use that as a template.