How do I set a custom icon for a custom folder under $HOME (Thunar)?

Support Xfce
1

Hi.

I have a folder under $HOME, named Projects for which I’d like to set an icon, much like folders Music, Downloads et al. I’ve inspected $HOME/.config/user-dirs.dirs, which basically (so far) is a copy of /etc/xdg/user-dirs.defaults and it states the following:

# This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update
# If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're
# interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run.
# Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped
# homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an
# absolute path. No other format is supported.

So I’d like to precisely add my folder there, plus a specific icon. I ran xdg-user-dirs-update --set PROJECTS ~/Projects and it looks like the directory was added to $HOME/.config/user-dirs.dirs:

...
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Musique"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Images"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Vidéos"
XDG_PROJECTS_DIR="$HOME/Projects"

Now what?

I want that folder to use the specific PNG icon file $HOME/.icons/app-dev.png, for instance.

I tried copying that file, converted, as Folder.jpg into $HOME/Projects and restarted Thunar but it didn’t do anything.

I’ve read [SOLVED] User dirs directory icons in Thunar / Desktop / Xfce Forums but I don’t have a single clue as to what I’m supposed to do afterwards… I don’t want to update the icon with what it contains, I only want a static icon instead of the default “folder” icon, so unless I missed something, I fail to see what a script would do there (not to mention what to make it do). For short: I’m lost.

Note I want a custom icon, not an emblem.

Thanks in advance for any hint or suggestion.

2

Hi @RygelXVI,

Please see:

https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/tumbler/available_plugins#customized_thumbnailer_for_folders

1 Like
3

Well, I have indeed read that page but fail to understand what to do exactly. That page, from what I understood is to have any folder update their icon according to their contents, right? That’s not what I want. I want a static icon instead, not a dynamic update from the folder’s contents.

4

I believe you are correct. But I also believe you can modify the Exec= to provide the image somehow.

No, sorry I don’t know how or what. I use KDE, and I specify any custom icons for a directory in a .directory file in the root of the directory.

KDE is awesome!

5

Yup, it’s straightforward under KDE — I remember once I used it and all I needed was a desktop file with the adequate Icon=blah clause and call it a day… GTK has its own way of making simple things extremely convoluted indeed.

I’ll try on and see what I can get. Won’t spend days on it though. I can live without if I get stuck.

1 Like
6

Can you right click the folder and go to properties. You may have the folder icon there and it can be clicked and changed.

7

That icon may not be changed that way, unfortunately. Thunar doesn’t work that way.

8

With Thunar, the best you can achieve is to add am emblem to the folder in question. This helps to differentiate it from other folder icons.

Thunar (right-click the folder icon) → Properties → Emblems

You can also set the foreground/background highlight colour, if desired.

You could create a custom desktop entry to a certain directory, and set a custom icon for that; however, this solution may or may not behave as you intended.

As you indicated yourself, when it comes to customising icons similar to KDE, for example;

Perhaps spending some time searching for an icon theme to your liking will bear fruit.

A good choice considering that what you wished for isn’t directly achievable using Thunar. A further two months won’t change that.

Regards.

9

This topic has run its course.