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Finding Available Icons for Programs

by Jason Bean on July 6th, 2008

I wrote this post Sunday afternoon and then lost it so let’s try this again. A recent commenter, Gary, on a post on my other blog, Uncover the Internet, was asking about finding the icon files for using in a customized Google toolbar.

Gary is looking for specific icon files as their individual file formats in the .ico file extension. The problem with that is that many times icon files are embedded in the program’s executable (.exe) file. That’s the case with the icons available for Microsoft Office, which was the focus of Gary’s request.

How do you get to these additional icons though when you need them? You can follow the instructions I’ve added here below:

1. Right-click on an existing Microsoft (or other Office application) program and drag it to another location on your desktop.
2. When you release your mouse button select the “Copy Here” option and release your mouse button.
3. Once the new shortcut is available, right-click on it again and select “Properties”.
4. On the “Shortcut” tab (which should already be selected) click on the “Change Icon” button and you’ll see the window displayed below.

The question now is how can you access these individual images to then use them as you need?

My answer to that question is a screen capture utility I use almost daily called SnagIt 9 by TechSmith. I can grab an image of all the icons shown above and then edit them out into individual, editable files.

One of the features of SnagIt 9 is that I can also save one of these individual files as a Windows Icon File (.ico) or a list of any other potential graphic formats.

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POSTED IN: Microsoft Tips & Tricks, Office, Outlook, Training