Icon Shelf - Icon manager for macOS, Windows and Linux

If you develop a website or app, tinkering with graphics, want to enhance videos with icon overlays or work on similar projects, then you may be using icons. From these small icon graphics you can accumulate quite a lot over time - from simple pictograms to mini pictures that look like stickers. If you're looking for a free, open-source solution for sorting, selecting, and manipulating your icon collections, then this might be it Icon shelf the right App be for you. You can download Icon Shelf from GitHub for macOS (Intel and M-Chip) as well as for Windows and Linux.

TL; DR: Here you go directly to the download page

The Icon Shelf app can help you with this

After downloading and installing the Icon Shelf app, you can add your individual icons and collections to the library. Various collections can be created in order to sort the symbols and pictures by topic or for the individual projects. To use a symbol in another program, you can simply copy it with one click or select in a context menu whether it should be output in a certain format - as JSX, as Base64, as a data URL, as SVG or otherwise. 

You can also go to the settings (in the menu bar Icon shelf -> Preferences) select specific display options. The color of the icons can be adjusted using the color picker. For the best display and the necessary contrast, the program's interface can also be switched from light to dark mode and back. So before you copy one of the icons to use elsewhere, you already have the opportunity to make many adjustments in Icon Shelf. Teams also have the ability to sync icon collections. More information and the download is available with this link. Because source code can be found here.

Why the Icon Shelf App is empty for me

Here in the blog you have probably already seen one or two of my posts that I use icons to illustrate. Since we've been offering the blog in different languages ​​for some time, it just makes more sense to use generally understandable graphics instead of text on the featured images. But I don't use icon collections from different websites or self-made pictograms, but a collection of icons provided by Apple. 

It's called SF Symbols, and I've presented them to you before - here and here. This collection, equipped with its own administration program, is sufficient for my purposes. But if you need icons that don't play a role in the Apple cosmos, then alternatives like Icon Shelf are better for individual use. What do you use to keep track, choose icons for your projects and share them with the team? Feel free to leave a recommendation in the comments!

Johannes Domke

After graduating from high school, Johannes completed an apprenticeship as a business assistant specializing in foreign languages. But then he decided to research and write, which resulted in his independence. For several years he has been working for Sir Apfelot, among others. His articles include product introductions, news, manuals, video games, consoles, and more. He follows Apple keynotes live via stream.