Personalize Your Project: Adding an Icon to Your Visual Studio Project

Step 1: Create an Icon

First and foremost, you need to create a captivating icon to use for your Visual Studio project. Complicated graphics program or easy-going download of an existing icon are among the several ways to create an icon for your project. Free icons sites like Flaticon and Iconfinder could also suffice. Once you have your icon, you should then save it as an ICO file.

Step 2: Add the Icon to Your Project

To add the icon to your project, all you have to do is right-click on the Project in the Solution Explorer, and you would be presented with a myriad of options. But, what you actually need to select is Properties. By doing that, the Properties window would pop up, and at that point, all you need to do is select the Icon and Manifest section under the Application tab. After that, you would have to click on the Icon drop-down menu and click on the Browse option, then navigate to the ICO file you saved earlier, and click on it. By doing that, this would add the icon to your project.

Step 3: Set the Icon for Your Form

Now, to set the icon for your form, open your form in the Designer view. After that, all you need to do is right-click on the form and select Properties. Once the properties window loads up, you would then select the Icon property. After doing that, you would then click on the drop-down menu then select the icon you added to your project. By doing that, it would set the icon for your form.

Step 4: Set the Icon for Your Application

To set the icon for your application wouldn’t require rocket science. All you need to do is merely modify the Application icon. Go back to the Application tab in the Properties window, and then select the Icon and Manifest section. On that page, click on the Browse button next to the Icon resource file option. By doing that, you would then select the icon you added to your project, and it will subsequently set the icon for your application.

Step 5: Test Your Application

After adding your desired icon to your Visual Studio project, you still need to carry out some necessary testing. To do that, all you have to do is build your project and run it. If it was done correctly, you would notice the icon you added in the top-left corner of your application window.

Conclusion

Optimally, adding an icon to your Visual Studio project would definitely help to personalize your project and make it more appealing to prospective users. Therefore, it is encouraged to follow these simple steps to ensure that you not only add an icon to your project, but you also make your application stand out from the crowd.