When I try to assign a custom icon to a folder in Dolphin I get what you see here. It will let me use any system Icon but when I select "other icons" and brows to the one I want, it doesn't work. I'm using 256x256 PNG files exported form Gimp.
I'd really appreciate any help on this.

in what way ' it doesn't work' ?

Does the file picker pick the icon ?

What if you clear the picker filter ?

Do you get any error messages if you start the Dolphin from the terminal/konsole ?
Can you share an example icon ?

Hi. Thanks for your help.

Fist off, here is an example icon.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2-Orf1dGiPobkxTa0d4aXpjd1E/view?usp=sharing

I'll clarify what I mean.

When I go to change an icon for a folder I do the flowing steps.

1.) Right click the folder and select "Properties".
2.) Click the box at the top left of the Properties window that displays the current icon. This opens the "Select Icon" window.
3.) In this window I select "Other icons" and then click "Browse"
4.) Find and select my icon png and click "open"
(The filter at the bottom says"png,xpm,svgz|Icon Files" and seems permanently engaged. I can't clear it.)
5.) The Icon select windows both close and I am back to the "Properties" window but now the Box on the top left where the current icon was displayed is empty.

6.) Click "OK". The properties window closes and My folder now has a "?" icon. Which I think is the default for unknown file formats.

When I opened Dolphin with Konsole I got the following:

Code: Select all

bryan@MintLaptop ~ $ dolphin
Invalid Type= "fixed" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark/actions/22/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark/apps/22/"
Invalid Type= "fixed" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark/places/22/"
Invalid Type= "fixed" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark/status/22/"
Invalid Type= "fixed" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark/actions/24/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark/apps/24/"
Invalid Type= "fixed" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark/places/24/"
Invalid Type= "fixed" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X-Dark/status/24/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/16/"
Invalid Context= "Mimetypes" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/mimetypes/16/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/22/"
Invalid Context= "Mimetypes" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/mimetypes/22/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/24/"
Invalid Context= "Mimetypes" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/mimetypes/24/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/32/"
Invalid Context= "Mimetypes" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/mimetypes/32/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/48/"
Invalid Context= "Mimetypes" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/mimetypes/48/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/96/"
Invalid Context= "Mimetypes" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/mimetypes/96/"
Invalid Context= "Apps" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/scalable/"
Invalid Context= "Mimetypes" line for icon theme:  "/usr/share/icons/Mint-X/mimetypes/scalable/"
Icon theme "Humanity-Dark" not found.
Icon theme "ubuntu-mono-dark" not found.
Cannot creat accessible child interface for object:  PlacesView(0x2d1b320)  index:  16
Cannot read file '/usr/share/icons/gnome/scalable/places/swirl-foot.svg', because: Premature end of document. (l
ine 1)

So it looks like there is a problem even if Dolphin is otherwise behaving normally.

Does the Dolphin show the preview picture of the png files ?



Dolphin version ?
KDE4 or the KF5 ?

If KF5 - Do you have the kio and the kio-extras installed ?

If you have a plasma desktop:
Are the plasma preview images working at the 'Folder view' plasmoid/layout ?
Are there preview pictures for the wallpapers ?

Is the New Folder Icon key updated inside the hidden .directory file ?





This is how it works at here (*):




The 'Clear text' option is making possible to pick any file:




(*) At here:

Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.8.5
Dolphin: 16.12.0
KDE Frameworks: 5.29.0
Qt 5.7.1

Please forgive me I'm still new to Linux. I'm trying to answer your questions as accurately as I can.

I'm running Mint 18.1 Cinnamon.

I installed KDE and the Kubuntu desktop beside Cinnamon to give full functionality to KDE apps, Dolphin in particular, while still allowing me to use the Cinnamon desktop environment. I followed this tutorial.
http://www.tecmint.com/install-kde-plasma-5-in-linux/

I got this from the "About" in Dolphin:
-Dolphin Version 16.04.3
-KDE Frameworks 5.28.0
-Qt 5.6.1 (built against 5.6.1)
-The xcb windowing system

Yes the preview images work for folders with image files in them. Also, all common image and video files properly generate thumbnails.

Yes Kio and Kio-extras are installed.

I don't know how to check "Is the New Folder Icon key updated inside the hidden .directory file ?".

I did figure out the reason I can't clear the filter when browsing for icons. It's because the system is calling Nemo to do the browsing since that is the default browser for Cinnamon. In fact it seems almost impossible to change it. However, I don't think this is the reason for the issue. The reason I don't think it's the cause is because even if I don't browse for a new icon but simply select one of the ones offered to me after clicking "Other Icons" (Like one of your Pac-Man Ghosts for example) It doesn't work either. If I select any Icon this isn't from the System Icons list nothing appears in the little preview box and if I click OK I get an "?" Icon for the folder.

I also experimented by putting the same Icon png I sent you in one of the directories that contains system icons and It did show up in the list of System Icons when I did that. But when I selected it I got the same result as if I had Selected it from "Other Icons" or browsed to it.

Rog131, I really appreciate your attempts to help me.

I've decided that my desire to stay with the Cinnamon desktop isn't worth this much effort for me or for those who would try to help me.

A couple hours ago I installed Mint 18 KDE edition (which comes with Dolphin) and as you can imagine, everything works perfectly, including custom icons.

On the plus side, now I've joined the KDE family. I hope to soon get to a point where I can offer help to others. The community is one of the reasons I'm switching to Linux as my primary OS.

Thanks again.

I was able to use the function on Cinnamon Nemo no problem, but on KDE Dolphin multiple distros I had the problem. When I deleted the .directory item within each folder I was able to add my custom icon again. These were external ntfs drives that had the issue. Still investigating why.