Filed under: Software, Tips and tricks, TUAW Tips
TUAW Tip: Put your apps wherever you want
When you download a new application, its installation process typically tells you to either drag it into your
Mac's Applications folder, or it has a full-blown installer that takes care of this process for you. But who says you
have to keep all your apps in the Applications folder? Many applications, from Firefox to Quicksilver and even FCP and
Photoshop, can generally be run from nearly any folder on your Mac, allowing you to organize your applications any way
you see fit.Why would this matter, you ask? Well, if you're anything like me, you've built up a healthy collection of 3rd party apps that you use on a regular basis. If you want an easy way to either backup all these apps or quickly bring them all over to another Mac, you can simply keep them in a folder in your Home folder. This way, you can still use them and call them with tools like Quicksilver, OS X can still find them, and you can easily keep track of just your apps that matter most. This also saves a lot of time if you ever decide to do some serious "spring cleaning" and wipe your entire Mac.
Now, one word of caution with this tip: as a general rule, exercise care when moving around any of the big apps, as well as the apps that used a full-blown installer. I had no troubles moving the entire Photoshop CS2 folder and Final Cut Pro.app to my desktop and running them, but I have no idea if a move like that could affect the functionality of things like plugins or other addons. My personal rule of thumb (which hasn't failed me yet) is that if an app is a simple drag and drop install, it doesn't necessarily have to live in the main Applications folder.
If you've been using a similar trick like this, TUAW readers, feel free to discuss your ideas in the comments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
drebes said 11:14AM on 1-27-2006
Watch out for software update.
Don't move Apple supplied apps, as software update depends on the correct location of such apps when updating them. If you move, be ready for all kinds of strange behavior, from having multiple versions of the same app to things much more dangerous.
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Paul-Michael Bauer said 11:20AM on 1-27-2006
#1 is correct.
A better way is to leave all your apps in the Applications folder, and tag those 3rd party apps you frequently copy to new machines using the spotlight comment field (or colours). Then, use a spotlight special folder for easy selection.
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jonathan Wilson Jr. said 11:27AM on 1-27-2006
why would you want to run anything from your desktop? it slows your computer down having lots of icons on the desktop, actually i cant think a place that works better than you "Applications" folder??? to run apps from, i usually nest my non apple programs in folder within the app folder (internet/AV/games/Imaging...blah)
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Bas said 11:30AM on 1-27-2006
Hmm... so you can't drag those large iLife apps like iMovie and GarageBand to an external harddrive and expect them to work?
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aci said 11:36AM on 1-27-2006
at school the applicatiosn folder is pasword protected. i desperatly needed quicksilver so i tried it in the documents folder. to my surprise, it worked. oh what a glorious day.
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Zach said 11:41AM on 1-27-2006
I usually don't bother too much with the organization since I use Quicksilver, though I do follow the practice of putting 3rd party apps into an 'Applications' folder in my home folder. Quicksilver makes everything so easy! Big apps that I have the installer for (i.e. photoshop) I put in the regular Applications folder so other users on the computer can use it (and I can always re-install from cd).
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Zeke said 11:49AM on 1-27-2006
Wouldn't this cause problems for other users/accounts on your Mac?
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Joshua Ochs said 12:01PM on 1-27-2006
You can reorganize Apple apps any way you want, IF you move them back to their original locations before applying a system update. I do this, and while it is tedious, it does allow me to keep things organized the way I want. Pacifist makes it easy to see exactly what applications will be updated and need to be moved.
Someday I'll probably automate this via an Applescript.
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Stridey said 12:02PM on 1-27-2006
Also be warned, several applications (Quicksilver, CandyBar) search for apps in the Applications folder, and if you move them to somewhere else, they might not be found.
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David Chartier said 12:04PM on 1-27-2006
#7: Yes and no. Other users can still browse into your user folder and, while other folders are denied access, an "Applications" folder in a user's home folder is still accessible. Of course, most users might not think to look here, so this isn't an obvious solution if they need to use an app you've buried in your home folder, but a little communcation could go a long way in this case.
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iomatic said 12:09PM on 1-27-2006
UGH. Moving your apps is so '90s.
Just create a folder called "Apps" or whatever, anywhere, Apple key/Command-option drag an application into said folder (this creates an alias), and put that folder in your Dock next to your trash.
Right click on the folder and have a nice menu of your apps. Why Apple doesn't have a similar launcher or dare I say, Start menu type option when installing an app., I have no clue.
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Jono said 12:19PM on 1-27-2006
I leave all Apple apps & any apps that use an installer in the main Applications folder.
But all other apps are kept (organised) in a folder in my Home folder.
My Home folder is on a separate partition to OS X so if I were to have any problems or upgrade the OS, all those apps remain in my Home folder untouched.
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Gui said 12:48PM on 1-27-2006
I took my MS Office apps out of their folder in the Apps folder and bad things happened. Dont do it with Office is my advice.
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Adam Rice said 1:10PM on 1-27-2006
I use sub-folders in the Applications folder. A few things I've discovered:
1. Quicktime and iTunes will update through Software Update, even when moved to a subfolder, but the updated versions appear in the Applications folder.
2. Software Update will not find iPhoto if it's been moved. Perhaps the same with some other iLife apps--don't know.
3. Older versions of MS Office had to stay in their own folder (without being renamed) in the Applications folder. Not sure about the current version.
My own backup strategy is to only backup my documents, not my apps. I'll re-download or re-install the apps if I need to, which is a good opportunity to clear out cruft and make sure you get updated versions.
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Brent Todd said 1:19PM on 1-27-2006
This is just asking for someone to run a program from the disk image. Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD. The best place to keep apps is in the apps folder. I do like the suggestion of installing the smaller 3rd party apps in your home folder under an applications folder though.
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idiot said 1:20PM on 1-27-2006
This is the dumbest tip. Are you a moron? Hey heres another tip how about put your pictures in your movie file.
Moving apps around, especially apple apps just causes problems. Keep them in the APP folder. Make an alias and place thatwhere ever you want.
Who is editing these stupid tips. Try getting someone who knows what they are talking about.
Thank You.
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Reid Ellis said 1:38PM on 1-27-2006
r.e. QuickTime/iTunes updates working even if you move them - I have had iTunes get a partial update after being moved so I end up with a "ghost" version in the /Applications folder. My advice: don't move any pre-installed Apple apps like Mail, iChat etc.
r.e. where to put them: If you create a folder called "Applications" in your home directory, it automatically gets the "Applications Folder" icon, which is cool. However, I tend to keep all my apps in subdirectories under /Applications named:
__comm
__data
__dev
__games
__media
__writing
These names tend to fluctuate a bit over the years.
P.S. Why is my personal info *never* remembered, even if I click on (*)Yes when answering "Do you want us to remember your personal information for next time?"
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Twist said 1:59PM on 1-27-2006
Personally I just leave my Applications folder all nasty and just alias and organize my frequently used applications in a MaxMenu menu. And for my very frequently used application I also take advantage of MaxMenu's hotkey feature.
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UncleJerry said 2:16PM on 1-27-2006
I do this with little apps that I find on the web. I have a folder right below the main Applications folder called 'applications downloaded' and dump them all in there (unless the installer puts it in the Applications folder, then I leave it where it stuck it). Never had a problem with the computer running anything this way. Good Times!
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John said 5:40PM on 1-27-2006
Yeah, I gotta say, this is a weird tip. I was certainly disappointed when it began to be harder to move things whereever I wanted them. I think that was some time around OS8. But, I've since learned to deal. Sure, maybe you can move them, but aliases work so well, what's the point?
Also, since the advent of OSX, you've got the Dock. The Dock kicks a$$, long live the dock! I keep my dock fairly small and even on the tiny screen on my G3 iMac (don't laugh, I'm poor, I should really submit a picture of the broken-hinged PB I was recently gifted in the plywood stand I made for it to the rig-of-the-day photos, it's hot and I'm now up to a screaming 550mhz! Anyway, I'm way off-topic now...) I can still fit like 25 apps in the dock. That's enough for a "favorites" category, don't you think?
Now the one reason I can see to move an app around rather than an alias is that you are running out of space on your start-up disk. But then, moving apps to other discs is always a risky proposition. Of course I had this problem with my G3's original 13GB (that's the 400mhz DV SE, in case you're wondering) I finally spent the $50 to replace the internal HD with 120GB (7200rpm... not recommended, but after a year, it hasn't melted, knock on translucent graphite plastic!)
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