Making it was easy - RealWorld forums

knowing I can change the icon of a shortcut, is it possible to change the icon of a file? Say a pdf file? And is it then possible to distribute that file to others with my own con attached to it?

No, it is not possible to change the icon of a file - I just tried and there was no way to. Even if there was, and you distributed the file, it would use the default icon from the computer of the person who downloaded it, not your custom icon.

Right. I experienced the same occurance. Is there no way to export the pdf file to some format that the icon can be attached to and then distributed? Like when you install a new program and it places an icon on your desktop??? I know I'm probably asking the impossible, but I thought it was worth asking such knowledgeable folks as you.
-Perplexed

Uhm, nothing is impossible, but this would require a lot of hacking. Windows can display custom icons for certain file types (.exe, shortcuts). Theoretically it is possible to create an .exe with the document inside, that (when started) will save the document to temp folder and open it. But any changes will not be saved to the original document. Other than that, you can modify Windows behavior and override the icons, but then the custom icon will only be visible on computers with that modifications. And you will probably need to distribute the icon separately.

Thank you both, Vlasta and The Sword of the Heart
for your time and advice. If I ever come across an easy way to make a pdf file w/custom icon attached into an executable file for distribtuion, I will log on to this site again to let you know how.
Good luck and thanks for this program. It was fun to work with even tho it was all greek to me!