Post by drcard on Dec 8, 2021 7:34:10 GMT -5
Make an Icon Invisible
Purpose
Make an icon invisible, but still functional.
Why
Place a shortcut on the Desktop to be able to use a keyboard shortcut for that shortcut, but don’t want to clutter the Desktop with icons or third party software.
How
Place the shortcut on the Desktop.
Right click a blank spot on Desktop and uncheck View> Auto arrange icons if checked.
Move icon to top right corner of screen.
Open Character Map (Enter Character Map in Start Menu Search bar).
In the Character Map select the blank square, press Select, and then press Copy.
Right click the shortcut and select Rename, Paste blank character, and press Enter.
Name now invisible.
Right click the shortcut and select Properties.
Select the Change Icon.. button.
Scroll thru the page of icons until there is a gap between the icons and click on one of the large gaps which will highlight a blank space the size of an icon. This is really a blank icon.
Click OK to accept the blank icon.
Click Apply and OK to save changes.
Press F5 to refresh the Desktop and the icon will totally disappear until you put your pointer over it.
Comments
Works on all versions of Windows since 7.
When you place your mouse pointer over the invisible icon it will highlight like all icons do, so you will still know it’s there.
The shortcut will work when you click the highlight area.
You can assign a keyboard shortcut to the shortcut and use that rather than clicking the icon.
Purpose
Make an icon invisible, but still functional.
Why
Place a shortcut on the Desktop to be able to use a keyboard shortcut for that shortcut, but don’t want to clutter the Desktop with icons or third party software.
How
Place the shortcut on the Desktop.
Right click a blank spot on Desktop and uncheck View> Auto arrange icons if checked.
Move icon to top right corner of screen.
Open Character Map (Enter Character Map in Start Menu Search bar).
In the Character Map select the blank square, press Select, and then press Copy.
Right click the shortcut and select Rename, Paste blank character, and press Enter.
Name now invisible.
Right click the shortcut and select Properties.
Select the Change Icon.. button.
Scroll thru the page of icons until there is a gap between the icons and click on one of the large gaps which will highlight a blank space the size of an icon. This is really a blank icon.
Click OK to accept the blank icon.
Click Apply and OK to save changes.
Press F5 to refresh the Desktop and the icon will totally disappear until you put your pointer over it.
Comments
Works on all versions of Windows since 7.
When you place your mouse pointer over the invisible icon it will highlight like all icons do, so you will still know it’s there.
The shortcut will work when you click the highlight area.
You can assign a keyboard shortcut to the shortcut and use that rather than clicking the icon.