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Updated

How to Preview an App Icon in the Dock on Mac

With Icon Preview

  1. Open Icon Preview. It has an icon in the Dock and an icon in the menu bar.
  2. Drag the image file onto the Dock icon. Or click the Dock icon, and choose the file.
  3. Change the icon in your design app, and save the file. The Dock shows the new version.
  4. For a menu bar icon, drag the image onto the menu bar icon of Icon Preview.

To remove the preview, Control-click the Dock icon, and choose “Clear Icon”.

Tips

  • It supports the common image formats, like PNG, SVG, PDF, ICNS, and TIFF.
  • It cannot open an .icon file of Icon Composer. Export the icon as a PNG in Icon Composer first.
  • From Sketch, you can drag an artboard directly onto the Dock icon.
  • To use it in a shortcut, add the “Set Icon Preview” action in the Shortcuts app.

Get Icon Preview

Preview your app icon and menu bar icon

Download on the App Store

Free

Platform
macOS
Requires
macOS 26 or later
Category
Developer Tools
Released
April 2024
Privacy
No data collected
Updated
December 2025
Version
1.2.0
Size
2 MB

More about Icon Preview

Without an app

macOS can give a file or a folder a custom icon:

  1. Open the image in Preview, and choose “Edit › Copy”.
  2. In Finder, select the file or folder, and choose “File › Get Info”.
  3. In the Info window, click the small icon at the top, and choose “Edit › Paste”.

Apple’s instructions. This shows your image as an icon in Finder, and you must paste it again after each change of the design. To remove it, click the small icon again, and choose “Edit › Cut”. Icon Preview is for the Dock and the menu bar, and it follows the file.

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