G.D.G. Software
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GConvert

Other Icon Features

Beyond extracting, converting, editing and collecting icons, GConvert includes experts for cursors, drag and drop, favorites, web export and the icons embedded in executables, all reachable from its menus, toolbar and context menus, with a context-sensitive help file one F1 away.
Create a cursor from an icon and choose its hot spot. Enlarge image
Create a cursor from an icon and choose its hot spot.

Create cursors from icons

Tools | Convert Icon to Cursor turns any icon image into a Windows mouse cursor (.cur). Click the preview to place the hotspot, the pixel that marks the exact screen position of the pointer, press Test cursor to try it as your mouse pointer for 30 seconds, then save. Cursor files from monochrome to 32-bit with alpha channel are imported and exported, and a cursor can be opened in GConvert like an icon. For animated cursors, see AniTuner.

Drag and drop into other applications

Double-click an icon image, or press Ctrl+R, to open the Icon Preview window, then drag the image onto a drag-and-drop-aware application such as Windows Explorer, Microsoft Word or an image editor. GConvert supports both kinds of drop: as a file, saved in the format of your choice with a filename base you define, or as bitmap data for applications like Word, without any file on disk. The other way round, drop any file onto GConvert to view its icons, or an image file to convert it into an icon.

Drag the previewed icon into another application or export it as a file. Enlarge image
Drag the previewed icon into another application or export it as a file.

Favorites and favorite folders

A favorite is a shortcut to an icon source file you open often: add the current file with Ctrl+D, list them with Ctrl+I or from the toolbar, and group them by categories as in a web browser. My Favorite Paths keeps your favorite icon folders at hand directly in the Open dialog box, and GConvert remembers the folders where you last opened, saved or converted icons.

Keep frequently used icons together in Icon Favorites. Enlarge image
Keep frequently used icons together in Icon Favorites.
Use My Favorite Paths to return to a saved folder. Enlarge image
Use My Favorite Paths to return to a saved folder.

Replace icons in EXE, DLL and OCX files

The icon patch tool, Tools | Modify Icons in EXE/DLL, opens any 32-bit Windows executable, DLL or OCX file, lists its compiled icons and replaces the one you select with an icon from an ICO file. The file is saved immediately, after a backup copy of the original has been made.

Replace icon resources in an executable or DLL. Enlarge image
Replace icon resources in an executable or DLL.

Also included

  • Export all the icons of a file to a web page, converted to PNG, with the Icon Web Export expert.
  • Copy any icon image, mask or alpha channel to the clipboard, and paste a picture from the clipboard to create an icon.
  • Pick a background color from anywhere on the screen for conversions to formats without transparency.
  • Open icon files from Windows Explorer through the optional context menu entry that GConvert adds.
  • Change the look of GConvert with skins: several are shipped, and more are available.
  • Most operations are available through keystrokes, context menus and tool buttons, and the versatile Environment Options let you customize GConvert.

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