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How come Dropbox gets a non-generic icon in Finder's sidebar, when other directories like Google Drive and Sites (native in OS X before Lion) all have the same generic one?

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How can I customise the icons used by the folders in the sidebar? OS X used to show individual icons of all folders there — not any longer.

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2 Answers

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As you've noticed, recent versions of OS X only display generic folder icons in the sidebar. So why does Dropbox get special treatment?

The short answer is that Dropbox uses undocumented API to accomplish this. In non-technical speak, it's a special hack that's installed by the Dropbox application.

Some curious folks on StackOverflow found the specific mechanism used by Dropbox: good ol' mach_inject. The same bundle provides both the toolbar item and the sidebar icon.

If you're curious, the resource files live here (at least, on my system):

/Library/DropboxHelperTools/Dropbox_u502/DropboxBundle.bundle/Contents/Resources

Clearly, Dropbox goes to great lengths in order to integrate seamlessly into the Finder. Lacking similar treatment, other ordinary folders have only generic icons in the sidebar.

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Google should do the same with Drive :) – Baumr Mar 13 at 1:56
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The dropbox installer puts one there and the google drive installer does not.

Just drag a folder into the sidebar and it will stick, no installer necessary.

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I think the question is specifically about the icon. – asmeurer Feb 23 at 23:04
Yeah, this doesn't address the question – Baumr Feb 26 at 22:11
I'd give this another up-vote if I could. It's just code and the dropbox installer installs this feature when it runs in the background. It's like having a party and you invite two guests. One leaves their business card on your dresser, the other doesn't. It's not the owner that made the choice, it's the guests that behaved differently. – bmike♦ May 8 at 12:20
@bmike, the second part of the question was: "How can I customise the icons used by the folders in the sidebar?" – Baumr May 15 at 10:50

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