SharePoint 2010: Change File Icon

Introduction

This post walks you through the process of changing the icon associated with a file listed in a SharePoint 2010 document library, such as the PDF icon.  Icons for documents listed in a library are typically 16x16 pixels in dimension.  The PDF icon will be changed in this post.

Solution

1. Download the PDF from the Adobe web site.
2. In any document library in which PDFs are stored, right click on the PDF icon and choose Properties.
3. Note the filename for the icon.
4. For each server in the farm on which SharePoint 2010 is installed:
1. Navigate to: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\IMAGES.
2. Scroll through the images to find the filename identified in step 3 above.
3. To support rollback if necessary change the name of this file (e.g., filename_OLD.png).
4. Copy the new icon file to this location.
5. Rename the file to the same name used by the old file.
6. Restart IIS.
7. Verify that the new icon appears as expected.

References

• Adobe: Icons and web logo guidelines
• Changing File Associations Icons in SharePoint 2010