Written by
Amanda Wong
We often copy files/folders using the Command-C keyboard shortcut on Macs, sometimes copy text from PDFs, and sometimes copy text from videos. In certain situations, you may want to copy an app/file icon on a Mac. But what if you need to copy a file icon or an app icon on your Mac?
This post answers, read on to learn how to copy file and app icons with macOS Preview.
Copy file and app icons with macOS Preview
When you need to copy the file/app icons on Mac, the macOS built-in Preview app can help. Preview is a preinstalled application on macOS that helps you view and edit a variety of image and PDF formats. The conventional Command-C and Command-V can't copy-paste the app/file icon. Follow the steps below to copy file/app icons with macOS Preview.
Directly copy the file/app and paste it into Preview
For most file types, you can copy the file/app icon with the steps below.
- Locate the item with the icon you want to copy, right-click the target file/app and choose Copy, or select the file/app and press Command-V.
- Instead of pasting the copied content to the target place, you should open Preview on your Mac.
- From the app menu bar, choose File > New from Clipboard.
- Then, Preview makes large, clean, perfect images from the copies.
- Click the one you want, and tap File > Save to save it as an image.
Copy the file/app icon with Get Info and paste it into Preview
For some file types (such as PDF, alias, and other documents), the method above only makes a duplicate instead of copying the icon, then, try the following steps to get the app/fill icon with Preview.
- Right-click the item whose icon you want to copy, and choose Get Info.
- Click Select the little icon in the upper-left corner of the Info window and press Command-C.
- Head to Preview, and choose File > New from Clipboard.
- Save the copied image on your Mac.
Let others know how to copy file and app icons with macOS Preview!
