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Quickly create alpha images from icons in Preview

Have you ever wondered how MacFixIt gets all those cool icons to start each of our articles? Even if you haven't, this is how you can do it, quick and easy.

Joe Aimonetti MacFixIt Editor
Joe is a seasoned Mac veteran with years of experience on the platform. He reports on Macs, iPods, iPhones and anything else Apple sells. He even has worked in Apple retail stores. He's also a creative professional who knows how to use a Mac to get the job done.
Joe Aimonetti
Have you ever wondered how MacFixIt gets all those cool icons to start each of our articles? Even if you haven't, this is how you can do it, quick and easy. This tip is great for bloggers who write about applications and don't want to go searching online for an image of the icon from the app they are writing about.

Follow these simple steps and change an icon into an image (with alpha):

  1. First, highlight your application from the Applications folder on your Mac.
  2. Press (Command + I) to "Get Info".
  3. In the "Get Info" window, click on the tiny icon in the top-left corner. You will notice it becomes highlighted.
  4. Press (Command + C) to copy the icon.
  5. Open the Preview application.
  6. Press (Command + N). This will open a new Preview document with the contents of your clipboard (your icon). You will notice that the Preview file contains the entire ICNS information.
  7. Simply press (Command + S) to save your image. In the Save dialogue box, change the format to PNG and keep the Alpha box checked. This will save an Internet-compatible image with no background that you are able to use on any blog or Web site.


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