Windows 10: Office icons and tiles

I just installed Windows 10. In the start menu, by default, there are live tiles for office apps like Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and some more. When you click some of these, they open up the online Office in a tab in Edge, because clearly, they aren't installed. The thing is, with the new Edge, you can "install" a website as an"app" so it opens in a window and actually feels like an app. So I started replacing the default live tiles with the ones of the Edge apps I"installed". But I realised, that they do not have a background I know it sounds stupid to care about the backgrounds, but ..., like the default ones have.



On a shortcut, you can go to "Properties" and change the icon. The location of the shortcut icon is used now is displayed.

So I tried creating a shortcut of the default tile, copying the icon location and then changing the Edge app icon with the icon in that location. But Windows doesn't allow me to create a shortcut of those live tiles. I know it all sounds stupid to ask for such a small thing and pointless thing, but if you can, please help me!


Sorry if this question isn't very understandable, Englishis not my native language.

:)

 

Modify Microsoft Office Icons/Tiles


To modify both the icons and tiles of programs such as Microsoft Office suite, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, it gets one step trickier than what I explained above. After having creating the shortcut toward the fake homonym app, you need to use Windows Tile Color Changer to change the tile background color. Just click "Change Tile Color" without selecting any to get the automatic background color (orange in my case).

Step by step:
1. Go in Microsoft Office folder (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15 for Windows 10 and Office 15)
2. Rename EXCEL.EXE in EXCEL2.EXE, or any other application whose icon you want to edit
3. Create a new text document (or whatever you like) on your desktop, and give it the initial name of the Office application you are working on (EXCEL.exe here)
4. Move the fake file into the Office folder
5. Create a shortcut toward the fake application on your desktop, and change shortcut icon (you will not be able to do it anymore after step 6)
5. bis Change tile background color using Windows Tile Color Changer
6. Delete the fake file in the Office folder, and give the real Office program its original name
7. Pin your new shortcut to your Start menu

And here is the result:

 

Modify Microsoft Office Icons/Tiles


EDIT: only works for icons, not for tiles :/

Ok, I just found a way but it is not really straightforward. It consists in creating a shortcut toward a homonym application for each of the Microsoft Office programs, and then deleting the homonym application and renaming the real Microsoft Office program. If you create a shortcut directly to one of the program, you will not be able to modify the icon.

Step by step:
1. Go in Microsoft Office folder (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15 for Windows 10 and Office 15)
2. Rename EXCEL.EXE in EXCEL2.EXE, or any other application whose icon you want to edit
3. Create a new text document (or whatever you like) on your desktop, and give it the initial name of the Office application you are working on (EXCEL.exe here)
4. Move the fake file into the Office folder
5. Create a shortcut toward the fake application on your desktop, and change shortcut icon (you will not be able to do it anymore after step 6)
6. Delete the fake file in the Office folder, and give the real Office program its original name
7. Pin your new shortcut to your Start menu

 

Modify Microsoft Office Icons/Tiles

I have Office 2010 on Win10 it has similar icons/tiles. Looking at File Location by right-clicking the Tile, click More, click Open file location then right-click that icon and Properties, shows that the icon can't be changed. I think it's all about the branding, identifying the program involved.