How to change default folder icon for all folders?

Help
1

Please, tell me how to change default folder icon, so that it is automatically applied to every folder across system shown in Dolphin?

I’ve already tried changing in System settings → inode → directory and chosen different icon but it didn’t work well. When I open dolphin I see that it shows first old / default icons from /usr/share/icons/breeze-dark/places/32/folder.svg and after that change them. It is very quick but I want it to show icons set by me as default.

I also tried and created with my icon files

/home/user/.local/share/icons/breeze-dark/places/32/folder.svg

/home/user/.local/share/icons/breeze-dark/places/48/folder.svg

but system doesn’t use them.

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2

In Dolphin, first off, you right-click the folder and go to Properties. Then go to General tab, and click the icon in the top left corner (A dialogue window will pop up). You can click system icons radio button, then select an icon category (Places in the image), and the bottom list will be reloaded with the system icons for specified category. Click other icons, and the bottom list will be reloaded with icons which are not part of your system icon theme. These icons can be, for example, icons of installed applications. Or click other icons, then click browse and find your custom image file to be used as icon for the folder. Now, click ok to finally apply the changes for real. Your folder will be now using the icon of your choice.

Customize-folder-icon-5-en_US

3

It works only for one selected folder not for all folders across system.

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4

Indeed, the question was about all folders and not only specific ones you have to choose. I have the same problem, is there a solution?

The process of selection is already solved, there should be a way to apply it to every (standard?) folder.

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5

System Settings > Applications > File Associations > Search for “inode/directory” > Click the icon > Select a new one.

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6

please tell me how to reverse it …messed up dolphin

7

If you followed my instructions, then do the same thing but choose the default folder icon. It’s named “folder”.

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8

Using @ngraham answer, I want to elaborate to say that using that method actually changes the system’s reference not just now, but for every other theme you will install. So if you change that setting and tell the system to search for the icon associated to a folder icon (for instance, folder-brown), it will only work in your current system.

If you are like me and what you want to achieve is to bundle a theme that uses your custom icon as the default folder icon (without having the end-user to change it’ system settings), you should change the mimetype icon and not the places icon.

Instead of adding your custom icon to ~/.local/share/icons/customTheme/places/ with name folder.svg, you should add it to ~/.local/share/icons/customTheme/mimetypes/ with name inode-directory.svg.

This will work with the default behaviour which searches for the inode-directory icon in mimetypes without having to change any system settings.