How to Arrange or Move Icons on the Desktop

Summary

This article describes how to arrange, move, and change icons on the desktop.

More Information

How to Arrange or Move Icons

To arrange icons by name, type, date, or size, right-click a blank area on the desktop, and then click Arrange Icons. Click the command that indicates how you want to arrange the icons (by Name, by Type, and so on). If you want the icons to be automatically arranged, click Auto Arrange. If you want to arrange the icons on your own, click Auto Arrange to remove the check mark.

How to Remove Icons

Some icons are shortcuts to programs on your computer. Shortcut icons usually have an arrow in the bottom-left corner. If you do not want a shortcut on your desktop, click the icon, and then drag it to the Recycle Bin. This action only removes the shortcut, not the program that it is pointing to. You can also right-click the icon, and then click Delete to remove a shortcut from your desktop.

Some icons such as My Network Places, Recycle Bin, and My Computer cannot be deleted.

How to Change Icon Pictures

Some icons have the option to change the picture that represents the icon. Not all icons have this option. To change the icon picture:

Right-click the icon and click Properties.

Click the Shortcut tab (if one is available), and then click Change Icon.

Click the icon that you want to use from the list, click OK, and then click OK.

If there are no icons available in the list, the manufacturer may not supply additional icons. To find other icons, follow the same procedure on a different icon, locate its source file (usually an .ico file), and then go back to the original icon that you want to change. Follow the same procedure, but when you click the Change Icon button, browse to the location of the source file from the different icon.

NOTE: Third-party tools are available that enable you to change icons.

For additional information about changing icon pictures, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

253689 Cannot Change the Default Folder Icons in Windows Explorer

TweakUI

NOTE: TweakUI is an unsupported tool. The following information is provided for informational purposes only. Microsoft Product Support Services is unable to answer questions about TweakUI.

If you are a Windows power-user, you can use TweakUI 1.33 to manipulate icons. However, this is an unsupported tool. Read the document that accompanies TweakUI carefully before you download and use the tool.

For additional information about finding more help with icons, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

262885 Desktop Icons Displayed Incorrectly When You Change Settings

132668 Icons Randomly Change to Different Icons

How to Change the Icon Size in Windows 10

By Melanie Pinola 29 April 2019

Wish the desktop icons in Windows 10 were bigger so you could stop squinting at them or they’d be easier to tap on a touch screen laptop? Or do you wish they were smaller so the shortcuts didn’t take up as much space on your laptop’s screen? Not to worry, we have a list of short steps on how to change the icon size in Windows 10.

How to Change the Size of Desktop Icons in Windows 10

1. Right-click on an empty space on the desktop.

2. Select View from the contextual menu.

3. Select either Large icons, Medium icons, or Small icons. The default is medium icons.

On my laptop with a native 1600 by 900 pixels display, the large option looks huge, the small size is too small, and the medium size looks just right (as Goldilocks would say). Your mileage might vary depending on your screen’s display resolution. Changing the size of the icons on the desktop doesn’t affect the size of the icons elsewhere in Windows 10, but there are ways you can change those too.

How to Change the Size of the Taskbar Icons

If you want to change the size of the icons in your taskbar, there’s a different setting for that, which will also change the size of text, apps, and other items across Windows 10.

1. Right-click on an empty space on the desktop.

2. Select Display settings from the contextual menu.

3. Move the slider under «Change the size of text, apps, and other items» to 100%, 125%, 150%, or 175%.

4. Hit Apply at the bottom of the settings window. Windows might ask you to log out and log back in for a more consistent experience.

This will not only make the icons in the taskbar a bit larger, but it will also make text bigger in apps like Microsoft Edge and Calendar, as well as in Windows 10 notification windows.

How to Change the Size of Icons in File Explorer

If you’d like larger or smaller icons or thumbnails in particular folders, you can change those on the fly in File Explorer.

Just head to your folder location and use your mouse’s scroll wheel to zoom in or out, effectively switching the view between Windows 10’s large icons, medium icons, small icons, list, details, tiles, and content views.

Although File Explorer will remember your last setting when you open this folder again, this is a folder-specific setting, so you’ll have to adjust each folder you’d want different icon and text sizes for.

How to Change Icons on Windows 10

It is a good way to customize your own Windows OS and improve the using experience by changing the icons on Windows 10. If you are bored with the default icons on your Windows 10 computer, you can use the following ways to change icons on Windows 10 easily.

1. Change Desktop Icons on Windows 10

Step 1: Click Start > select Settings > choose Personalization click Themes.

Step 2: Slide the left pane and locate to Related Settings. Then choose Desktop icon settings.

Step 3: In the Desktop Icon Settings window, select the desktop icon you want to change and click Change Icon.

Step 4: Choose a new icon from the list or click Browse to input an icon and tap OK.

Tip: The icon type can be exe, dll, or ico.

Step 5: Click OK to confirm the change.

2. Change Folder Icons on Windows 10

Step 1: Right-click the folder and select Properties in the context menu.

Step 2: Choose Customize and click Change Icon in the Properties window.

Step 3: You can replace the folder icon with a basic/personalized one. Then click OK to save the change.

Step 4: Hit OK to finish changing the folder icon.

3. Change a Type of File’s Icon on Windows 10

Different from personalizing desktop icons or folder icons, changing the icon of a type of file needs the help of the third-party tool like File Types Manager and here it will be used as the utility.

Step 1: Get File Types Manager on your Windows 10 PC.

Step 2: Find the file type that you want to change its icon. Then close the Find box.

Step 3: Right-click the file and choose Edit Selected File Type.

Step 4: Click the 3-dots button in the pop-out window.

Step 5: Pick one of the existing icons. You can also input your own icon by clicking Browse > click OK.

Step 6: At last, don’t forget to click OK to execute the operation.

How to change desktop icon size and view to Details and List view in Windows 10

On your Windows desktop, we place icon shortcuts to our oft-accessed programs, files and folders. While the default icons view is that they are displayed as icons in Medium size, there are other ways too, that icons can be displayed. Today, let us have a look at how we can change desktop icons size or view in Windows 10 to Large, Small, and even Details and List view – as they appear in File Explorer in Windows 10.

When you right-click on the Windows desktop, select View, you will see 3 options, Large icons, Medium icons and Small icons.

Change desktop icons size in Windows 10

Apart from there 3 view, you can also display the desktop icons in List & Details view, as we display our files and folders in File Explorer. Let us see each of these 5 views.

1] Medium icons view

This is the default setting as shown below, and what you see on your desktop.

2] Large icons view

To make the icons larger, display Large icons from the context menu.

3] Small icons view

To make the icons smaller, display Small icons from the context menu.

Bonus Tip: Hold down the Ctrl key and use your mouse scroll wheel to quickly resize the icons from Small to Extra large.

List view for Desktop icons

To display the icons as a List, press Ctrl+Shift+0+8 keys. To revert, right-click on desktop and select Medium icons view.

Display view for Desktop icons

To display the icons in Details view, press Ctrl+Shift+6 keys. You will see the same columns here which are displayed in your File Explorer.

Yoga Surya J adds in the comments: You can press Ctrl + Shift + (0 till 9) for more variations.

To revert, right-click on desktop and select Medium icons view.

If you want to add more columns here, you can change the folder details to display. You can open any folder, right-click near the column titles and select the other columns like Authors, categories, Tags, Titles, Date created, etc.

Date: August 27, 2019 Tags: Desktop, Icons

How To Change Desktop Icons In Windows 10

Last Updated on October 13, 2020 by admin 2 Comments

Are you bored with the default look of This PC, Recycle Bin, Network, User files folder and other icons on your Windows 10 desktop? In this guide, we will see how to change desktop icons as well as program shortcuts and app shortcuts on your Windows 10 desktop.

Changing the default look of desktop icons is easy in Windows 10. You can change desktop icons without editing system files or installing third-party icon packs.

Following are the three ways to change desktop icons in Windows 10.

Method 1 of 3

Change default desktop icons in Windows 10

Here is how to change This PC, Recycle Bin, Network, User folder, and other desktop icons in Windows 10.

Step 1: Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop and then click Personalize to Personalization category of Settings app.

Step 2: Click on Themes. You should now see all options and settings available for themes. Here, you can view all installed themes on your PC as well as options to delete installed themes.

Step 3: Here, in the Related settings section, click Desktop icon settings link to open Desktop Icon Settings dialog.

Step 4: Click on a desktop icon to select it. Click Change button, and then click Browse button to choose your icon for the selected desktop icon.

Please remember that you cannot select an image file for icon. You can choose only files that are in .ico format. If you have a picture file which you want to use for a desktop icon, convert the picture file to .ico format using one of the free online services first and then select it following the instructions mentioned above.

Browse to the .ico file, select the file, and then click the Open button. Click OK button. Finally, click Apply button to apply the new icon.

To restore original desktop icons

Step 1: Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop Icon Settings.

Step 2: Choose a desktop icon which you want to reset to default. Click Restore Default button.

Step 3: Click Apply button. Simple as that!

Method 2 of 3

Change program/app shortcut icons on desktop

If you have created shortcut icons for your favorite programs or shortcuts for favorite modern apps, you can change those icons as well. Here is how to do that.

Step 1: Right-click on the program or app shortcut on the desktop, click Properties.

Step 2: Switch to the Shortcut tab by clicking on the same. If you cannot see the Shortcut tab, it’s because you have not right-clicked on a program/app shortcut.

Step 3: Click Change Icon button, click Browse button to browse to the file, select the new icon, click the Open button, click OK, and finally, click Apply button.

Method 3 of 3

Use CustomizerGod To change icons

There is an after-market tool to change many of the icons in Windows operating system. CustomizerGod is a little utility that helps you change hundreds of icons on your Windows 10 operating system with a few clicks.

You can go through our download CustomizerGod article to read the review and download the utility from the developer’s page.