Make your folders and shortcut icons invisible

We’ve managed to vanish icon text and the shortcut icon overlay… but we’re not finished yet. You can also make your program icons and folders invisible. You no longer need to hide your things in mountains of folders when all you can do is make your folder invisible.

And yes, the 4th icon is a folder.

The process for making a folder invisible and making an icon invisible differ but the following methods work both Windows Vista and XP.

Before starting, one thing you should be aware of is that if you use this in conjunction with the invisible text tutorial, you will NOT be able to delete or rename this folder or icon. If someone has found a way to change the name so the file can be deleted, please let me know, but for the time being, that is not possible.

First, choose which one you want to make invisible first:

• Make folders invisible
• Make non-folder icons available

Invisible Folder:

1) Right click the folder and choose properties.

2) Click on the Customize Tab.

3) Choose Change Icon at the bottom

4) Once you get the window with all the different icons, scroll to the 13th column. There you will see some white spaces instead of icons. Select 1 of the 4 blank spaces and click Ok.

5) Once you are done, click on Apply then Ok.

Conclusion / Troubleshooting

Invisible Non-Folder Icons:

1) Find the icon you want to make invisible. Right click, and choose create shortcut.

2) Right click on the shortcut and choose properties.

3) Make sure you are the Shortcut tab. Once you are there, choose Change Icon at the bottom of the window.

4) Once you get the window with all the different icons, scroll to the 13th column. There you will see some white spaces instead of icons. Select 1 of the 4 blank spaces and click Ok.

5) Once you are done, click on Apply then Ok.

Sometimes, you might end up with a black square instead of an invisible icon. To fix this problem, first try right clicking on the desktop and pressing refresh. If this does not fix the problem, then try choosing a different white space other than the one you picked when choosing an icon.

You might be wondering how you would find your folders should you yourself forget where your invisible folder is. Just press Ctrl + A or select all and you should immediately see where your invisible folder is.

But… a folder is not really invisible if it has text and a shortcut icon overlay on them.
Fortunately, those can be removed as well.

Removing the Shortcut Arrow Icon Overlay
Removing icon text

Still need help? Check out our new forums where you can get an even faster and better response!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Desktop Customization, Windows Vista. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.