Want to go beyond the default folder look, themes and emblems in Ubuntu? Try folder color.
The popular folder color application now supports the modern GNOME 43 and its file manager, Files 43. The recent change brings the color options right inside the context menu of Files 43 with the GTK4 context menu.
Colourizing your folders sometimes benefits when you work with a huge list of directories in Linux. This decade-old application makes it easy for you. In addition, it supports all the major distribution file managers.
The application currently supports GNOME file manager – Files, Linux Mint’s file manager Nemo and Ubuntu MATE’s file manager Caja.
Although GNOME already supports emblems in its latest iteration, those emblems can also be set using folder color’s new context menu.
Let’s take a look at how to install it.
How to install folder color in Ubuntu (for Files/Nautilus)
Open a terminal prompt (CTRL+ALT+T) and add the PPA using the following command. Then refresh your system.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:costales/folder-color
sudo apt update
And finally, run the following command to install for Ubuntu using GNOME.
sudo apt install folder-color
For other file managers
If you are using Nemo or Caja file manager for Linux Mint and Ubuntu MATE or MATE desktop in general, use the following respective commands to install it:
sudo apt install folder-color-nemo
sudo apt install folder-color-caja
That’s it. Let’s see how it works.
How to use folder color
To use it after installation, you need to restart your file manager OR reboot your system.
Alternatively, you can manually restart Files using the following command.
nautilus -q
Right-click on the folder where you want to change the color. You will see an option “Folder’s Color” in the context menu. Click on it, and you should see the colors available.
As of publishing this, there are 8 colors and 5 emblems available. here’s how it looks.
The option is available in the same context menu if you are using Nemo or Caja file manager. Also, the folder color is streamlined across file managers.
For example, if you are using both Nemo and GNOME Files, the same color applies to the file manager for a specific folder. You don’t need to change them specifically!
How to reset
If you want to return to the default color, right-click on the folder to bring up the context menu and select default under the reset option, as shown below.
That’s it. I hope this helps you with many of your use cases.
