How to install icons on linux

How to Find, Download, and Install Custom Icons in Linux

Linux users have the freedom to customize their system to fit their preferences, including the desktop theme and icons. There are many simple ways to create custom icons in Linux to change the look and feel of your system. We will discuss the following methods to use custom icons:

• Finding and installing custom icons from trusted websites
• Using the Tar Command for One User or System-Wide Usage
• Modernize Xfce Desktop with Cool-Looking Icons
• Install Paper Icon Theme in Linux Mint Cinnamon
• Create App Shortcut on Ubuntu with GNOME Desktop

Finding and Installing Custom Icons in Linux from Trusted Websites

There are many places online for users to download custom icon themes. Below are websites that are trusted by the Linux community.

• The source for almost all open source projects, including custom icons, is Github.
• Gnome-look.org hosts high-quality Gnome-based icon themes.
• The artwork sharing community, deviantart.com, is known for the high-quality themes and icons created by its contributors
• Users can download custom widgets from the official KDE store.
• OpenDesktop.org is another trusted website for icon themes.

Look through one of the websites listed above, find an icon theme you like, and download it. Right-click on an archive to extract its contents and click extract here.

Your system’s file manager will create a folder automatically and put the contents of the archive inside it.

Enter the following command in terminal to create a hidden icon folder in your home directory:

mkdir -p ~/.icon

Locate the downloaded icon theme, usually found in your download folder. Use the CD command below to get there.

cd ~/Downloads

To install the icon there, move it to the hidden icons directory you created.

Replace the name of your icon theme folder name in the above command between the <>.

Using the Tar Command for One User or System-Wide Usage

Search for an icon theme from one of the trusted websites listed above. Below is a screenshot of a set of icons from openDesktop.org.

Download the icon set using the following tar command:

$ tar xJpf papirus-icon-theme-20190203.tar.xz

Next, move your extracted icon folder into place. If you are installing it for just one user, move it to:

~/.local/share/icons/

Put the folder into the following location for a system-side installation:

~/usr/share/icons/

Open a terminal and use one of the following commands depending upon the type of installation:

$ cp -r ~/Downloads/papirus-icon-theme-20190203 ~/.local/share/icons/

$ sudo cp -r ~/Downloads/papirus-icon-theme-20190203 /usr/share/icons/

Select Themes or Appearance tab.

Find the option to select the icon theme you downloaded and select it to apply.

Modernize Xfce Desktop with Cool-Looking Icons

Xfce is a popular desktop environment for Linux because it’s lightweight and runs on low resources. However, it looks and feels old.

Customizing themes and adding custom icons in Linux can spruce up the desktop and make it look more modern and fresh.

Go to Xfce-look.org to find and download an icon theme set you like (such as the one below), extract it, and put it in the .icons directory in your home directory.

To select the icon theme, go to Settings > Appearance > Icons.

Install Paper Icon Theme in Linux Mint Cinnamon

There are two ways to install icon theme sets in Linux Mint. Downloading the icon theme and extracting it to the ~/.icons directory is discussed above.

Another way is to use a PPA (A Personal Package Archive). Below is a screenshot of a cool-looking icon set called Paper Icon Theme.

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and use the command below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:snwh/pulp

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install paper-icon-theme

After installing the icon theme, from the Menu, go to Settings, then Themes.

To find the icons in Linux Mint, look inside Themes Options. To only change the icons and not the theme, click on Icons.

Here you will see all the available icons. Select the set you want to use.

Create App Shortcut on Ubuntu with GNOME Desktop

The instructions below will also work for any other distributions that use the GNOME desktop.

Classic desktop operating systems include icons on the screen such as the trash bin, the file manager, and application shortcuts.

While in Windows, many programs will ask if you want to create a desktop shortcut, Linux distributions do not.

Make sure you have the GNOME Tweak Tool Installed and enable the Show Icons option.

To add desktop shortcuts, find the .desktop application files. Go to Files > Other Location > Computer.

Then go to directory usr > share > applications. You should be able to see other Ubuntu applications that you have already installed in this location. Look for the .desktop file names.

Look for the application icon and either drag and drop it onto the desktop or copy it from the .desktop file (Ctrl+C shortcut) and paste it on your desktop (Ctrl+V shortcut).

Instead of seeing a logo or icon for the application, you will see a text file with a warning that says: untrusted application launcher.

Click Trust and Launch. Not only will the app launch, but you will also see that the .desktop file will now be the application icon.

If you are bored or tired of looking at the same user interface and want to use different icons than the default, you can. Customize your icons following some of the suggestions above and give your desktop a facelift.

David has a background in small business and lives in Australia. He is a WordPress and Ubuntu Developer who enjoys design, CSS and tech tool integration. Read David’s Full Bio

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How To Install Icon Themes In Linux Mint Cinnamon [Beginner Tip]

If you think the default Mint themes and icons are not good enough for you, why not change it? In this quick tip for beginners, we shall see how to install icon themes in Linux Mint 18 and more than that how to change the icons in Linux Mint. We shall see this quick tutorial by installing gorgeous Paper icon theme.

Just a quick note, if you do not know it already, there is a difference between ‘themes’ and ‘icon themes’. An icon theme just changes the look of icons while a theme changes a lot of other things along with the looks of icons.

Install icon themes in Linux Mint 18:

There are two ways to install icon themes in Linux Mint (and many other Linux distributions, if not all). If you download the icon theme in a zipped folder, you can extract it in ~/.icons directory. Usually, this directory does not exist. Feel free to create it.

The second way to install an icon theme is using a PPA. Most of the standard and popular icon themes have their own PPA. Lets see how to install Moka icons set in Mint using PPA.

Install Paper icon set in Linux Mint 18:

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:snwh/pulp sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install paper-icon-theme

Change icons in Linux Mint 18:

Changing an icon theme in Ubuntu was straight forward. It is slightly hidden in Linux Mint though. Once you have installed the icon themes, go to Settings from the Menu. And then go to Themes.

Now you might have realized why I said that changing the icon is slightly hidden in Linux Mint. It is inside Themes option. To change only the icon, click on Icons there.

You’ll see all the icons set available here. Choose the one you like.

The changes will be reflected immediately. No need of a restart. Here is how my Linux Mint desktop looks after applying Moka icon themes:

I hope you find this quick to install and change icon themes in Linux Mint helpful. Don’t forget to check the best icon themes in Ubuntu, you’ll find some beautiful icons there to make your desktop prettier. Any questions, suggestion, thoughts? Feel free to drop a comment.

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Where to Get / Install Icons, Themes in Ubuntu Fedora Linux

Without trying out another Linux Distribution or desktop environment, you can change desktop appearance by applying new icons & app themes. With different themes, you can:

• Change the icons for app shortcut, system menu, and some apps’ internal buttons.
• Get different app window borders, color scheme.
• Change system menu, panel, desktop layout.

There are tons of themes on the web! Some of them provide installer scripts and/or descriptions, but some may not. If you get a theme but it does not tell you how to install, then this tutorial may help!

Where to find themes for Linux:

There are tons of free and open-source themes on the web. Generally, I’ll find one from:

• gnome-look.org for GTK and Gnome Shell themes and icons.
• store.kde.org/ for KDE themes.
• Or searching ‘GTK Theme’, ‘Linux icons’, etc on github.com.

You can even copy themes from a different Linux Distribution, and install them on your system. They are usually located in /usr/share/themes and /usr/share/icons.

Install Icons and App Themes in Summary:

Popular themes are mostly provide either installer scripts or how to install guide. They are however exceptions.

So to install an app or icon theme manually, download the source tarball from the web. Then simply extract and put the theme folder to the right place. Linux will recognize the theme, and allow you to apply it from settings, e.g, Gnome Tweaks in Ubuntu/Fedora.

So Where’s right place for installing themes to:

There are generally two ways to manually install a theme in Linux:

• Locally – install theme for current user only.
• Globally – to make it available for all users in system.

1. Install Theme for single use only:

For current user only, you can install icons and themes by putting your theme folders into following locations:

• .themes or .local/share/themes for app themes and/or Gnome Shell themes.
• .icons or .local/share/icons for icons.

You see, these directories have ‘.‘ at the beginning of the names. Which means they are hidden file folders, that not display by default in file manager. To show them, you need to either go to menu or press Ctrl+H on keyboard.

Don’t worry if you cannot find them even after displayed hidden folders. They are NOT EXIST out-of-the-box. Just create them as you need.

2. Install themes for all users:

For system wide, so other users in the system can also apply the themes. You can put downloaded themes into:

• /usr/share/themes or /usr/local/share/themes for app and Gnome Shell theme.
• /usr/share/icons or /usr/local/share/icons for icons.

The “themes” and “icons” folders under /usr/share/ directory are the system DEFAULT locations. All the pre-installed themes and icons can be found there. And the folders under /usr/local/share/ are NOT exist out-of-the-box, but can be created for choice.

To do copy, paste, or move actions under these folders you need ROOT user privilege. You can either use “Open as Administrator” menu option, or run command in terminal to open file manager (nautilus for example) via root:

When file manager opens, either navigate to your desired directory or just start typing where you want to go.

How to Change / Apply Theme in Ubuntu/Fedora:

Since each desktop has a different theme setting tool, here I’m going to show how to apply a theme in Gnome Desktop, which is default for Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian.

After you put your themes in the correct directory, .themes folder for example. It will look like:

NOTE: some themes has child-themes (e.g., in blue, dark, gray, etc.) stored in sub-folders. Move them out and place in .themes, or you can find them in settings.

Finally, install Gnome Tweaks from Software Store. And you can select the installed themes from drop-down boxes for application, icons, and Shell under “Appearance” tab.

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