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How do we create a custom icon and add to icon library for reuse across multiple charts?

Hi Durham thanks for posting in the Lucidchart Community! The Shape Library Management article in our Help Center explains how to create custom shape libraries and how to add shapes to them. Once you have created a custom shape library you can add it to any document. 


Hope this helps!


@Eric R I had the same question as @Durham Barnes - and they were specifically referring to icon libraries, not shape libraries. Like the icons that you can add to a shape using “icon sets”.

 

I know that a custom icon can be added from scratch in conditional formatting rules. But we are looking for ways to make custom icons reusable in icon sets

 


Hi @Durham Barnes - 

These are the general steps that I use to create a custom icon and add it to my library in Lucidchart:

  1. Create Your Custom Icon:

    • Open a Lucidchart document.
    • Use the shapes, lines, and other tools to design your custom icon directly on the canvas.
  2. Group Your Elements (Optional):

    • If your icon consists of multiple elements, you can group them together for easier management.
    • Select the elements, right-click, and choose "Group."
  3. Turn it into a Shape:

    • Once your custom icon is ready, you can turn it into a shape for reuse.
    • Select the icon, right-click, and choose "Convert to Shape."
  4. Add to My Shapes (Custom Library):

    • After converting it to a shape, right-click on the icon, and choose "Add to My Shapes."
    • This action adds the shape to your custom library for reuse.
  5. Access the Custom Library:

    • To access your custom library, look for the "Shapes" panel on the left side of the Lucidchart interface.
    • In the "My Shapes" section, you should find your custom icon.
  6. Reuse Across Multiple Charts:

    • Now that your custom icon is in the library, you can drag it from the "My Shapes" section onto any canvas.
    • It will behave like a regular shape, and you can resize, rotate, or customize it further.

I hope that this is helpful.


Hey @rsimmons, and thank you @Ria S for such a detailed explanation on creating custom shapes! Unfortunately, creating custom icons that live as a set within that Icon men isn’t currently supported in Lucid, but we’re very interested in your feedback and committed to continually improving our products. Please first search the Product Feedback section of this community (with the filter Topic Type = Idea) to see if it’s already been submitted. If so, please add any additional details you’d like and upvote the request - this consolidation helps to refine feedback and properly capture the popularity of the request. If no one has submitted this idea yet, please create one of your own and be sure to include details about your use case or what you’d like to see in this experience. This will also allow other users with similar requests to discover and upvote it, then details of their own.

Finally, for more information on how Lucid manages feedback via this community, take a look at this post:

 

 

As a workaround, I recommend following the steps @Ria S described to create a custom shape, then resize and position on your shapes accordingly to use as an icon. I hope this helps!


Thanks for the feedback @Micah


@Micah Thank you for understanding that we were not talking about shapes. Much appreciated.


HI @rsimmons, you might find the information in this thread useful - while there’s not a way to build out an icon library as discussed earlier in this thread, it is possible to upload custom icons specifically for conditional formatting. You can find this option within the conditional formatting menu as shown below:

 


HI @rsimmons, you might find the information in this thread useful - while there’s not a way to build out an icon library as discussed earlier in this thread, it is possible to upload custom icons specifically for conditional formatting. You can find this option within the conditional formatting menu as shown below:

 

what type of file extension does the custom icon need to be? would be nice if we can pick a shape


Hey @yianni -- thanks for posting! It is possible to add a shape as a custom icon. Simply click on the shape you’d like to be an icon, right-click, select export selection, PNG. Once your shape is downloaded, you can then select it to be uploaded as an icon from the conditional formatting menu. 

Hope this helps!


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