Prior to Catalina, I had a desktop Icon for Trash provided by a 32 Bit app which no longer works.

I've been looking to create a new Desktop Trash (or Bin as it now seems to be called) and have managed so to do (via link below) but I cannot change the icon in Get Info. The "new" Bin works as expected (although it lacks some minor Trash facilities such as eject CD/DVD) but I would prefer it to look like a Bin rather than a Folder. I have downloaded the icon to which the article links but it won't copy and paste into Get Info.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what i am doing wrong?

https://www.maketecheasier.com/add-trash-icon-desktop-mac/

I don't know if it will make a difference, but the instructions to which you linked say " ...dragging and dropping it onto the current folder icon for the Trash in the “Get Info” dialog box," NOT copying and pasting it.

More: I just made it work with a newly created generic folder. I command-C copied the trash icon from the opened .png, and then I did a Get Info on the folder, selected its icon, and did a command-V.

Thanks. I've tried copying and pasting with right click on the mouse, with Cmd C and Cmd V, with single click on the icon then using the Finder Edit menu to copy and paste and also dragging and dropping.

The first three do absolutely nothing. Drag and Drop gives the usual Green circle and + sign when over the existing Get Info icon as if, for example, you were dragging a document into a Calendar appointment, but the "paste" doesn't take place.

I've tried it with a png file (303KB), which is the file to which the article points and also as a jpg file (86KB) which I converted using Preview.

The icon refuses to change!

It may come down to the fact that the article was written while El Cap (10.11) was the current OS and you're now in Catalina (10.15).

I discovered that you need to change the icon of the actual Bin, not just its desktop alias - It's a hidden file in your home folder. I use TinkerTool, a free utility for Mac (https://www.bresink.com/osx/0TinkerTool/download.php) to reveal hidden folders. Once you have relaunched the Finder from TinkerTool, click on the Bin folder and change its icon In your home folder. You can then change the icon of the Bin alias on your desktop. Then use TinkerTool to re-hide the Bin folder.

Hi, and welcome to FineTunedMac.

Thanks for posting that.

Bravo, twoxtix, an excellent solution.

I found that I had to use a bit of freeware called Image2icon to convert my chosen jpg to an icns file but I now have a Trash/Bin on my desktop with the icon of my choice!

Very many thanks.

I believe Preview can do a save-as to ICNS format?

I can see options to Export to HEIC, JPEG, JPEG-2000, OpenEXR, PDF, PNG and TIFF but not ICNS.

I'm running under macOS Catalina v10.15.1 (19B88) and Preview 11.0 (999.1).

Am I looking in the wrong place?

Hold down the option key as you click on Export > Format, and you'll see this.

I never knew that!

Many thanks.