Combining icons

When creating icons with lots of formats (16x16 pixels to 256x256 pixels in case of Windows Vista), it is often needed to use simplified images for smaller versions and images with more details for the large ones. The recommended way to achieve this goal, is by creating and combining multiple icons.

Combining icons using clipboard

1. Open both (or more) icons in RealWorld Icon Editor and if there are images of the same size in both icons, delete the unwanted ones.
2. Copy all images of an icon to clipboard using CTRL+I key or by clicking the toolbar button "Copy Icon Images" above the list of image formats.
3. Paste the copied images to the other icon by pressing CTRL+R key or by clicking the "Paste Icon Images".

You can also press CTRL+B key or click "Blend Icon Images", which would blend the content of the images in clipboard with the images in the current icon (and since you have deleted the same sized images in step 1, the new images will be simply pasted). This function is best used to put an overlay image over an icon. For example a plus sign or a checkmark.

Combining icons by drag and drop

If an .ico file is dragged and dropped from Windows Explorer or another file manager onto the list of images in an icon (the top-left area in RealWorld Icon Editor), the dropped icon is blended with the current one. The result is the same as is the dropped icon was opened, copied to clipboard and blended with CTRL+B as described above.

This is the recommended way of adding overlays to an icon.

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