This is seriously one of my favorite all time tricks. One that will get you the oohs and aahs. Not only that but it is very useful if you are someone that makes documentation or needs icons for purposes like Self Service policies. Pull this one out of your bag next time you are showing off at a Mac Admin meetup, at a dinner party or on a date, doesn't matter who they are, I promise you... they are going to love it.
App Icons
They are everywhere. They are in your dock, your Applications folder, Self Service... everywhere. But how do we get them for use in our own documentation without struggling to find a high res image of the exact icon you want from the Applications you already have?
How to Harvest an Application Icon Natively in macOS
Let’s say you’re writing documentation for a client or to help a colleague with a particular workflow. Let's say the focus of the documentation is how to do something in Google Drive. In this documentation you want to use the Google Drive application icon so they understand what to look for in the Applications folder or Dock. In order to copy a high-resolution version of any app icon that you can paste into a document or combine with other graphics, all you need is the Finder!
*The image below was created for this blog post using the following steps!!
1. Select the app in the Finder that you want to make the icon from.
2. Choose File > Get Info. This will open the info window about the app. For this example we are using Google Drive.
3. Select the little icon in the upper-left corner of the Info window so that there is a blue outline around it (see image)
4. Press Command-C. You can then use Command-V to paste it wherever you want. That's it!
5. Alternatively, if you want to save the icon somewhere for use later on another project or document, you can open the Preview app and choose - File > New From Clipboard.
5. This will open the icon and give you the option to export and save.
6. From here you will want to export the icon to your preferred file type. For documentation purposes, JPEG or PNG will be good enough. If you are creating the icon for use in Jamf's Self Service, you will need a PNG or GIF. All of these options are available in the Preview app by selecting File > Export
If you need any more information or guidance on using macOS, don't hesitate to reach out and schedule time with us!
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