# Can I create my own desktop icons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676 "2002-11-30T21:31:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676/1 "2002-11-30T21:31:25Z")
Can I use an existing file to create my own icons? I’d like to customize the appearance of my desktop, but when I selected the option to change icons, it searched for: files of type-icon. I have photoshop, so I could modify size, color and other characteristics. Is there a way to export files as icons? If so, how? For those folks who can tackle this sort of thing, I’ll mention that I’m running Windows ME on a Sony VAIO. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676/2 "2002-11-30T21:59:21Z")
You can create your own icon files, and I would imagine Photoshop has the necessary support. Icon files are 16x16 or 32x32 bitmap graphics. You can create such an image using MS Paint but you will have to change the extension from bmp to ico after you save it. You can probably export to a bmp file from Photoshop, although I think you will have to scale the image way down to be one of the above sizes. I have not tried other sizes so I’m not sure what would happen. I don’t know if the internal format of an ico file is different than a bmp file. I have a freeware icon editor that allows you to easily identify and edit individual pixels (I think the latest versions of MS Paint might do the same thing). I have used MS Paint to create icons from scratch, and I have used Thumbs Plus, a shareware graphics program to convert existing graphics to icon files (which it does very nicely). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676/3 "2002-11-30T22:03:14Z")
BTW you can also select icons from .exe files, and maybe some other files types, but those contain more than just icon data and it sounds like you just want a bare icon file, but it’s interesting to know you can borrow an icon from some other program if you want. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676/4 "2002-11-30T23:04:50Z")
There are many tiny little pieces of software such as [this](http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Multimedia_and_Graphics/Misc__Graphics_Tools/bmp2ico.html) that will do the trick for you. ---
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676/5 "2002-11-30T23:25:01Z")
What does 16X16 or 32X32 mean? Pixels? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676/6 "2002-12-01T02:25:42Z")
Yes. Pixel width and height. ---
**Author:** ![Madhat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Madhat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madhat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676/7 "2002-12-01T04:41:36Z")
A really good way to do this is with a program called Microangelo from [www.impactsoftware.com](http://www.impactsoftware.com) It has so many functions you will think you have a neat new toy for Christmas. 30-day evaluation is free. (Actually, it works for about 60 days if you don’t mind nag messages every time you do a save.) (And I guess you can reinstall it to repeat the trial, but I just ended up buying it because I felt I got my money’s worth easy) ---
**Author:** ![Madhat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Madhat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madhat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-create-my-own-desktop-icons/139676/8 "2002-12-01T04:45:33Z")
Forgot to mention - it also has a couple of great features: A Librarian will find all the icons already in the various .dll files on your system, many of which are very clever and fun. Also, it has a module called On Display that will let you change even the system icons, like what a folder looks like, or the icons on the Start menu.