Saturday, 30 July 2011

Change Mac OS X 10.7 Lion iCal and Address Book Skins from Leather to Aluminium - Easy Method

Revised: 17/2/12 - Updated to fix new image files included in 10.7.3 Update.

Please note these will not work with 10.8 Mountain Lion.  If you are looking for the Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion skins, either scroll up the blog or go here.

I am not a fan of the new leather title bar in iCal on Lion... what were they thinking? Now all we need is a wood-effect dashboard for our cars and rotary-dial iPhones...

I created new images files to go inside iCal.app and AddressBook.app to give them an aluminium look like previous versions of OS X.

This is a simplified version of my previous post which uses a package installer to apply the skins automatically without you having to manually modify the iCal.app and Address Book.app files.

For the simplified installer based method, continue reading...

DMG files for Automatic Installation (Last updated 17/02/12)
Address Book Skin - 10.7_Address_Book_Skin_Installer.dmg
iCal Skin (v3) - 10.7_iCal_Skin_Installer.dmg

These skins are provided free of charge but please make a donation if you use them regularly :)



IMPORTANT NOTE
Make a copy of iCal.app / AddressBook.app before you start (Copy / Paste them somewhere safe).
If you don't make a backup you will need to reinstall to revert back to the original look.

They look like this: -
and this..
Reverting back
If you decide you want to go back to the original Lion versions and you made a backup before you started, do the following: -

1 - Delete iCal.app or Address Book.app - This can be done in Finder by dragging the application from the Applications folder to the trash can.

If you receive the error 'iCal can't be moved or deleted because it is requires be Mac OS X', go to Utilities > Terminal.app and enter the following command: -

sudo rm -rf /Applications/iCal.app

or

sudo rm -rf /Applications/Address\ Book.app

2 - Copy back the backup of iCal / Address Book you made earlier in to the Applications folder.
Posted by at

87 comments:

  1. RacerX23 July 2011 at 11:07

    Works like a charm, but your Donate button does not!

    ReplyDelete
  2. deb23 July 2011 at 11:37

    thank you - works great. The 'leather' look was distasteful on many levels - threw something in your tip jar!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Codeus23 July 2011 at 11:41

    Thanks very much! Glad others find it useful. So far I am really liking Lion, apart from the odd choice of style on these two apps, I think apple did a bang up job.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous23 July 2011 at 11:44

    I guess someon at Apple is a big of Microsoft Bob.

    Thanks for saving the rest of us from their bad taste!

    ReplyDelete
  5. bsangs24 July 2011 at 06:04

    Sweet. Thanks man.

    ReplyDelete
  6. RacerX24 July 2011 at 06:22

    Follow up - I used the Donate button on the right side panel and made a payment. The button embedded in the blog post did not work for me (Lion, Firefox)

    Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Codeus24 July 2011 at 07:59

    Thank you :) I think the donate button is fixed now :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beth24 July 2011 at 13:09

    Awesome, thanks so much for putting these together... I hated that leather!

    ReplyDelete
  9. NickR25 July 2011 at 02:51

    Thank you; that leather... I couldn't believe Apple would do something as crass as that...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Remy25 July 2011 at 03:08

    Hi! Thanks I just installed your skin! What was apple thinking. I don't understand the new iCloud logo either.

    There's one more 'problem' though. In iCal, the font of 'Day Week Month Year' 'Timezone' and 'iCal' are still kinda brown/ yellowish.

    Do you know a way to change this?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Codeus25 July 2011 at 03:18

    Unfortunately not.

    I have looked through all the non-binaries in iCal.app and there is nothing useful there.

    My guess is the colour is set in one of the .nib files, unfortunately, without the source-code, it is very difficult to decompile these.

    Would be great if anyone finds away though.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kevin26 July 2011 at 08:13

    it would be good to provide the backup file just in case in the zip file for example...

    ReplyDelete
  13. David26 July 2011 at 08:36

    I second what Kevin said, I forgot to back up my files

    ReplyDelete
  14. Codeus26 July 2011 at 09:06

    Those files would be copyright to Apple which is why they are not provided here.

    You shoulda backed up :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Doug26 July 2011 at 19:27

    Thanks much man - this fixes one of four of my major complaints with the new iCal. I can deal with the brown text (for now, until it's decompiled), but any luck on:

    1) Turn off that damn page turn animation! Seriously, that is just terrible, especially when you have a few months forward and backward to flip.
    2) Turn off new events setting to "all-day" events by default.
    3) The weird location of the "today" button - can we get that centered?

    Also, my long standing complaint with iCal is its inability to keep a text field active when switching between app, such as tabbing to Mail to retrieve more info. Every time I tab back to iCal in a field I was typing, I have to re-click to enter data again.

    Don't get me wrong - I love iCal's syncing ability and wouldn't change it for the world. But these issues are a serious hindrance on getting work done.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous27 July 2011 at 03:20

    Thanks for the good work.

    Found a small improvement for the Address Book.
    The left and right sides have a repeating gradient. This can be changed by removing the vertical gradient in the leatherTile.png in Photoshop eg.

    ReplyDelete
  17. David27 July 2011 at 07:01

    If I copy from my other computer I should be able to restore...right?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous27 July 2011 at 08:35

    Fan fuggin' tastic... Lion really has pushed the boat out in terms of polish and finish... All the little niggles I had with OS X's gradually added hodgepodge of functions have been cleared... And I feel that I'm using a dream OS, as near to perfect as is currently possible.... And then they wake me from my slumber with a slap in the face that is these two UI ABOMINATIONS (there is no other word for the monstrosity of egregious UI design displayed here!) and I realise OS X still has some jaggies to smooth.

    Nice work, mate!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Unknown27 July 2011 at 08:38

    worked perfectly, thanks! It also fixed the issue I was having with the right window of the to-dos!
    I will send $$! c

    ReplyDelete
  20. Dobromir Todorov28 July 2011 at 13:13

    Very well done - works great! Will donate now...

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous30 July 2011 at 09:13

    Thank you, what a relief! I cannot understand, how Apple developed such a bad taste.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Rexxyboy31 July 2011 at 23:52

    I Dont mind the leather of Lion, but Black leather please!! Not that horrible brown.. So to your Alloy mod for now. Will Donate, many thanks.

    R.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous1 August 2011 at 08:59

    in the day view, the text on the left side seems to have a display problem. can you fix this? (date on the top to large, entries for next days half readable). i can send you a screenshot if helpful.

    marcel.bernet(at)gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous2 August 2011 at 21:31

    That ugly "western theme" had been making me itch every time I looked at it. Thank you SO much for this patch!

    (What WERE they thinking?)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 04:59

    Awesome! Just donated.

    If you can ever bring back iCal's Calendar list so that it shows ALL the time (like in all previous OS versions), I'll donate again!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Joff9 August 2011 at 03:29

    Love it :) I have happliy donated. Thanks dude.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous9 August 2011 at 14:30

    FYI Time Machine will have the original iCal and Address Book. You do use Time Machine, don't you?

    ReplyDelete
  28. marissa11 August 2011 at 07:31

    THANK YOU! that was hideous and i'm so glad i don't have to suffer it anymore. i will donate as soon as i can afford to, just waiting for some checks to clear :D

    ReplyDelete
  29. lechninkel12 August 2011 at 13:51

    Thanks! What a relief!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Creighton16 August 2011 at 18:48

    This didn't work on my Mac. I did exactly what was outlined and my calendar and address book are still the same ugly skin that came with Lion. Someone help me please!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Creighton16 August 2011 at 19:35

    Sorry---I did the installation one more time and it worked. I have no idea why it didn't work the first time.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Rodpartida17 August 2011 at 18:06

    It worked just fine. I have already made my donation. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous22 August 2011 at 10:52

    Thanks.....will follow your blog for more updates! One thing I have been looking for is the ability to change timezones for events on my iPhone calendar. We can do this on iCal but not the iPhone calendar. Have you come across anything that enables this?

    ReplyDelete
  34. Chris23 August 2011 at 09:20

    I customize my Ical to carbon fiber instead of the plain silver.
    and my address book to an Aqua Blue...looks Awesome!!!!
    screen shots here:http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/spoonciv/TO%20show/ScreenShot2011-08-23at91451AM.pnghttp://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/spoonciv/TO%20show/ScreenShot2011-08-23at91434AM.png

    ReplyDelete
  35. Chris23 August 2011 at 09:26

    I customize my Ical to carbon fiber instead of the plain silver.
    and my address book to an Aqua Blue...looks Awesome!!!!
    screen shots here: http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/spoonciv/TO%20show/ScreenShot2011-08-23at91451AM.png AND HERE: http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/spoonciv/TO%20show/ScreenShot2011-08-23at91434AM.png

    ReplyDelete
  36. Craig Shallahamer, President/Founder, OraPub25 August 2011 at 13:50

    This rocks! Thanks so much!!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Nutcracker27 August 2011 at 06:42

    Thanks - works like a dream. Donation made with pleasure
    Now, can you (or anybody) fix another major gripe I have with iCal Lion?
    In Snow Leopard iCal I could add line breaks to an entry by pressing “alt-Enter” and the lines would be separated in the entry:

    Item one
    Item two
    Item three etc

    iCal Lion still allows you to press “alt-Enter” during editing an item, but when you view the calendar later it looks like this:

    Item one Item two Item three etc.

    Not a big deal for some, but I am a surgeon and use iCal to plan my operating lists … each patient had a separate line in a single entry (my operating list) … now each entry is just a confusing block of text.

    I contacted Apple and the answer was a polite but frustrating “that’s the new interface …” This is really frustrating. WYSIWYG was a basic tenant of computing decades ago … why the step backwards with Lion?

    ReplyDelete
  38. Stefan30 August 2011 at 00:41

    Thanks a lot this – this was a disgrace.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Ouke Arts30 August 2011 at 01:31

    Thanks a million, the esthetics of simplicity reign once more on my MacBook!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Nora Claire31 August 2011 at 18:57

    thank you! that was so ugly! i was almost in tears today when my lion arrived.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Unknown22 September 2011 at 04:06

    I didn't only like the information on the site but I also liked that you have provided the way to revert the changes made in the system as if in case some one didn't like it he or she can make changes accordingly

    ReplyDelete
  42. verneuil7329 September 2011 at 07:31

    Merci!!!!! This leather look WAS a disaster

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anil Kumar13 October 2011 at 04:00

    thanks, finally i can remove that leather skin.


    engineering interview questions and answers

    ReplyDelete
  44. sasulkey16 October 2011 at 08:35

    I don’t know where to post this but I keep getting some doubles in Address Book and how I knew this was by the number of contacts on the bottom of the page. Now there doesn’t seem to be a count of addresses any more. Is there a way to see this or does your update have this in there? If so, I would love to donate and apply your changes.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Codeus16 October 2011 at 08:42

    No, this doesn't alter the functionality of iCal / AB in anyway, purely it's visual appearance. Re. Duplicates in AB, I would suggest you back up / export your contacts, quit AB, from Finder, click Go to Folder.. type 'Library', then go to 'Application Support' delete the 'Address Book' folder. If that doesnt work, also delete Library > Preferences > com.apple.addressbook.plist. After either of these you will need to reimport the backup you made earlier. HTH

    ReplyDelete
  46. MattB23 October 2011 at 10:22

    thank you very awesome! my eyes don't hurt anymore!
    only one thing. the text in the top bar of iCal is still dark brown. should be dark grey.. just to be picky ; )

    ReplyDelete
  47. alias smith25 October 2011 at 15:59

    Thank you so much, totally didn't like the leather look and was so happy when I saw your post! The installation was a breeze too boot! Thanks!!!

    ReplyDelete
  48. alias smith25 October 2011 at 16:01

    We've gotta find out who the microsoft boob is that did this and weed him/her out! :)

    ReplyDelete
  49. Chuck4 November 2011 at 10:49

    Who would want to go back? I didn't back up anyway. How can I go back if need be?

    -C

    ReplyDelete
  50. anne14 November 2011 at 05:24

    great for iMac but does not work on iPad
    any solution??
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  51. Anonymous22 November 2011 at 08:25

    Thanks! However the dark brown print on the gray background looks a little odd :(

    ReplyDelete
  52. diskötek2 December 2011 at 09:50

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  53. rachel.10 December 2011 at 18:53

    Thanks so much! I've just switched to 10.7, and was glad to get rig of the awful brown colour.

    ReplyDelete
  54. PatL13 December 2011 at 11:21

    Thank you for saving me from that hideous brown throwback to the days when just any old graphic was cool. The last thing I would have expected from Apple! Or at least if they offered it as an optional skin and let you choose something better ... truly hideous. My blood pressure went up just looking at it. You've probably saved my life.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Unknown13 December 2011 at 20:29

    Very nice....thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  56. karien14 December 2011 at 06:27

    thank you!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  57. derek5519 December 2011 at 16:33

    Thanks a million. Those leather look graphics are hideous!

    ReplyDelete
  58. ayesha18 January 2012 at 04:28

    nice informative article
    panel beater perth

    ReplyDelete
  59. ZELLGEIST1 February 2012 at 01:58

    Changed the skin using your .dmg files, but know I cannot accept invitations that I receive via e-mail. I get an error message where ical tells me that it cannot access the ical archive? PLEASE help!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  60. sayeo3 February 2012 at 14:43

    This worked perfectly at first, but after my recent update to 10.7.3, my iCal has reverted to a weird in-between of the 2 skin colors. Here's what I mean: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28956267/iCal_weird.png

    Hopefully you can help :)

    ReplyDelete
  61. Simon de Vries9 February 2012 at 02:58

    Same here with the update to 10.7.3 - otherwise this worked great. Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  62. Being Reasonable15 February 2012 at 04:54

    Thanks for the great utility.

    May I add another voice to the request for a fix to the iCal problems following the OS X 10.7.3 update?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Codeus17 February 2012 at 14:11

    Hey guys, just posted a revised version of the iCal skin to account for the changes in 10.7.3 update.

    Just download the v3 Skin from the main article on this blog.

    Those pesky guys will do anything to sneak in some leather :D

    ReplyDelete
  64. heyhooray19 February 2012 at 07:31

    anybody else not able to custom format phone numbers? Seems to work only in leather

    ReplyDelete
  65. macguitarman28 February 2012 at 10:43

    Love these mods. The leather look is atrocious, have no idea how it was approved. Someone is sleeping at the wheel.

    Does not work in Mountain Lion. (And yes the atrocious leather is still there in ML).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Harry Pujols24 March 2012 at 18:42

      I think these UI designers are getting away with crap because Steve Jobs is not around. Have you seen the Reminders and Notes apps in Mountain Lion? One has a black window and the other has a brown one, bordering faux leather. Totally inconsistent!

      Delete
  66. Sumpkongen3 March 2012 at 19:23

    Thank you! A small donation from Norway is hereby made with pleasure :)

    ReplyDelete
  67. Michael Odden18 March 2012 at 05:58

    Great! Thanks. I really have no idea what they were thinking. They have been doing a great job for years taking a lead having lean, slick and consistent UI's - but this was a rediculous step in the wrong direction.

    Great fix!

    ReplyDelete
  68. JESM20 March 2012 at 17:23

    Loved the fix. It's worked great! But I just updated my software and it's no longer working ... the buttons on ical are showing through brown and Contacts is all the way back to the original look. Any insight into why this happened?

    ReplyDelete
  69. Harry Pujols24 March 2012 at 18:35

    Thanks a lot! Too bad the window fonts in iCal stay in that fugly brown color. I don't know what the hell was Apple thinking when they did this.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Hello13 April 2012 at 09:44

    You rock.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Unknown23 April 2012 at 22:30

    What a bunch of wimps. The silver Mac theme is so so Windows. The leather is so classy and Rich. }:-)

    ReplyDelete
  72. Scott Dickens2 May 2012 at 12:32

    What do we do in 10.7.3, as this doesn't function. How do we revert to other look and get the functionality back???? Or just make this work in Mountain Lion! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Codeus2 May 2012 at 14:28

      Just download the updated version at the top of this article, it was fixed to work with 10.7.3 some time ago :)

      Delete
  73. Codeus5 May 2012 at 08:43

    There is now a 10.8 / Mountain Lion version up

    ReplyDelete
  74. Z.29 May 2012 at 07:50

    I don't care much about leather looks (ugly OK) but I have issues with the fonts for days and the thin lines separating days and the light grey on white typeface... is there any way to modify that, I would make a donation for that!
    Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Anonymous1 June 2012 at 03:56

    Works great. So much better than the Apple default. Donation made, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  76. petros diveris3 July 2012 at 09:11

    So many thanks, that fake leather gold thing - it reminded it me of Mercs from the 80s

    ReplyDelete
  77. Unknown3 July 2012 at 11:35

    The installers are not available now that mobile me has closed. Can you please repost?

    ReplyDelete
  78. Darren Hart12 July 2012 at 22:46

    Yes, please update the mobile me link. Thanks for doing this.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Unknown16 July 2012 at 01:52

    I can't get this to work on my retina MBP. I download and run the install app. All goes well, but no change to the hideous leather. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  80. Codeus16 July 2012 at 02:04

    My guess is there are different textures included for Retina.. Maybe you could send me your retina MBP and I'll fix it?!

    Seriously though I have one on order which may (or may not) arrive this week, once it does I'll take a look :D

    ReplyDelete
  81. jil26 September 2012 at 20:31

    I haven't got a Retina but the same thing happened on my MBP with Mountain Lion… Have you got an update in mind ? ;-)
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Anonymous27 September 2012 at 14:45

    Those who hate the leatherlook.. why accept the brownish Contacts-icon in the Dock??
    It's easy to change with some basic knowledge of photo-editing.
    In Finder/Applications right click the Contacts app, get info, click the topleft icon, ⌘ + C, open any photo editor, open new file from copy, desaturate the picture, select the picture without the wite background, ⌘ + C, and paste this in the topleft icon in the "get info" window.

    ReplyDelete
  83. URANA5 March 2013 at 19:01

    Thank you so much for that skin

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)