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Moving Applications into Sub-Directories

honeycombz

honeycombz

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 6, 2013
588
154
How can I move Applications into sub-directories? It seems I can only copy them or make aliases of them. I was able to do this in Mavericks but it seems now I don’t even have the ability to change their permissions?
 
I can just move them. I tried now with Safari and it worked. Didn't need to change permissions at all...
 
honeycombz said:
How can I move Applications into sub-directories? It seems I can only copy them or make aliases of them. I was able to do this in Mavericks but it seems now I don’t even have the ability to change their permissions?
Click to expand...

CMD+C to copy the app/file/folder you want.

Browse to the new location, then press CMD+ALT+V to paste, which will also cut them from their previous location. This will not copy or make aliases.

Hope this helps.
 
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apps like time machine, game center... for starters. Yes, they seem protected by SIP. How do people go about the organization of their Applications directory now if you are stuck with a mish mash of apps in the root? the copy cut paste technique just copies the app and doesn't delete the original.
 
honeycombz said:
apps like time machine, game center... for starters. Yes, they seem protected by SIP. How do people go about the organization of their Applications directory now if you are stuck with a mish mash of apps in the root? the copy cut paste technique just copies the app and doesn't delete the original.
Click to expand...

Yep... that's the issue. SIP protected apps are listed in the file /System/Library/Sandbox/rootless.conf

Here is the list from that file:

/Applications/App Store.app
/Applications/Automator.app
/Applications/Calculator.app
/Applications/Calendar.app
/Applications/Chess.app
/Applications/Contacts.app
/Applications/Dashboard.app
/Applications/Dictionary.app
/Applications/DVD Player.app
/Applications/FaceTime.app
/Applications/Font Book.app
/Applications/Game Center.app
/Applications/Image Capture.app
/Applications/Launchpad.app
/Applications/Mail.app
/Applications/Maps.app
/Applications/Messages.app
/Applications/Mission Control.app
/Applications/Notes.app
/Applications/Photo Booth.app
/Applications/Photos.app
/Applications/Preview.app
/Applications/QuickTime Player.app
/Applications/Reminders.app
/Applications/Safari.app
/Applications/Stickies.app
/Applications/System Preferences.app
/Applications/TextEdit.app
/Applications/Time Machine.app
/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app
/Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility.app
/Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup.app
/Applications/Utilities/Bluetooth File Exchange.app
/Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app
/Applications/Utilities/ColorSync Utility.app
/Applications/Utilities/Console.app
/Applications/Utilities/Digital Color Meter.app
/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app
/Applications/Utilities/Feedback Assistant.app
/Applications/Utilities/Grab.app
/Applications/Utilities/Grapher.app
/Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access.app
/Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app
/Applications/Utilities/Script Editor.app
/Applications/Utilities/System Information.app
/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app
/Applications/Utilities/VoiceOver Utility.app
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist
/System
* /System/Library/Caches
booter /System/Library/CoreServices
* /System/Library/CoreServices/Photo Library Migration Utility.app
/System/Library/CoreServices/RawCamera.bundle
* /System/Library/Extensions
/System/Library/Extensions/*
UpdateSettings /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.UpdateSettings.plist
* /System/Library/Speech
* /System/Library/User Template
/bin
dyld /private/var/db/dyld
/sbin
/usr
* /usr/libexec/cups
* /usr/local
* /usr/share/man
# symlinks
/etc
/tmp
/var

I guess you could turn off SIP if it is that important to you to move these, but I would not bother.
 
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Ah... that’s a bummer. No I don’t want to turn off SIP just had a very specific way to organize my Applications folder for the last decade that I liked and worked well for me. :(
 
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Use "Arrange by" Date Last Opened. This would get your most used at the top of the list.

[edited} Never mind, the sort function is not correct. An app I only installed this year is showing as last opened in 2013.
 
Last edited:
It’s probably something I'll just have to get over. It took 10 years to have it how I liked it so maybe in 2 years I'll be recovered and enjoying my newfound disorganized mess.

I guess the revised question would be how is everyone else organizing their Applications folder in light of SIP.
 
Last edited:
honeycombz said:
It’s probably something I'll just have to get over. It took 10 years to have it how I liked it so maybe in 2 years I'll be recovered and enjoying my newfound disorganized mess.

I guess the revised question would be how is everyone else organizing their Applications folder in light of SIP.
Click to expand...

I don't. I organize LaunchPad which is triggered by a hot corner. Page 1 gets the daily applications. I also use Spotlight to launch applications.

DS
 
honeycombz said:
It’s probably something I'll just have to get over. It took 10 years to have it how I liked it so maybe in 2 years I'll be recovered and enjoying my newfound disorganized mess.

I guess the revised question would be how is everyone else organizing their Applications folder in light of SIP.
Click to expand...
I just leave it at the default settings and use Alfred to launch everything.
 
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Most used in the Dock, Finder for everything else. Messed with Launchpad, but, always seemed to get "de-organized" anytime I updated apps, and did not really save any time vs. Finder, imo.
 
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I suppose I could move all my applications into the user applications directory and leave the system ones in the main one. Maybe that would be easier to manage in general. If I were to do something like that would I have to reinstall everything or could I just drag and drop.
 
honeycombz said:
I suppose I could move all my applications into the user applications directory and leave the system ones in the main one. Maybe that would be easier to manage in general. If I were to do something like that would I have to reinstall everything or could I just drag and drop.
Click to expand...
It is going to depend on the app. Usually apps that you installed by just downloading a DMG, then opening the DMG and dragging the app to a folder... those types of apps don't usually care where they are installed so you could move them whenever you like. But other apps that use package installers are not likely to work if you move them.
 
Weaselboy said:
I just leave it at the default settings and use Alfred to launch everything.
Click to expand...

I leave the default settings, and use Spotlight (⌘+Spacebar) to search/launch.
[doublepost=1464208918][/doublepost]
Weaselboy said:
It is going to depend on the app. Usually apps that you installed by just downloading a DMG, then opening the DMG and dragging the app to a folder... those types of apps don't usually care where they are installed so you could move them whenever you like. But other apps that use package installers are not likely to work if you move them.
Click to expand...

I have seen a situation a while back where apps that had been moved to sub-folders under the Applications folder did not properly register updates in the MAS. It was at that point that I gave up on trying to organize everything and just let it go as default and use Spotlight to launch apps.
 
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Is this SIP thing going to present a problem if I want to upgrade a Mavericks machine that has the users folder on a separate drive than system?
 
honeycombz said:
Is this SIP thing going to present a problem if I want to upgrade a Mavericks machine that has the users folder on a separate drive than system?
Click to expand...

I don't see why it would. SIP only protects system files. it doesn't make any assumptions or claims about where your data is. However, it doesn't mean that your upgrade can't fail for some other reason :)
 
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If I were to upgrade a Mavericks drive to El Capitan that has a users folder being used by a Mavericks SSD would the Mavericks SSD still be able to use the El Capitan users folder without upgrade?
 
I create a folder elsewhere in my home directory, one called Apps and the other called Utitilties. Then I create aliases to each app and Utility where I want them, organized within a folder structure or not. Once that is done, I drag the folders from my home directory to the Dock, on the right. I locate the icons for Applications and Utilities and apply them to those dock shortcuts. That portion of my Dock looks like this:
Dock.jpg

The first folder is a folder (in my home directory), with shortcuts to commonly accessed folder areas on the system. Then the Downloads folder. The Applications icon is really that folder in my home directory, with the App aliases, same for the Utilities icon, it is nothing but a folder full of aliases. When you open up, say, Utilities, all of the Utilities are there, the contents expand to whatever format you choose to display them (folder, stack, fan, grid, list). Just a single click on one of the icons runs the program. By dealing with aliases only, in your home directory, you can organize what's in there in any way you want to, and leave your real Applications and Utilities folders alone.
 
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HenryAZ said:
I create a folder elsewhere in my home directory, one called Apps and the other called Utitilties. Then I create aliases to each app and Utility where I want them, organized within a folder structure or not. Once that is done, I drag the folders from my home directory to the Dock, on the right. I locate the icons for Applications and Utilities and apply them to those dock shortcuts. That portion of my Dock looks like this:
View attachment 640935
The first folder is a folder (in my home directory), with shortcuts to commonly accessed folder areas on the system. Then the Downloads folder. The Applications icon is really that folder in my home directory, with the App aliases, same for the Utilities icon, it is nothing but a folder full of aliases. When you open up, say, Utilities, all of the Utilities are there, the contents expand to whatever format you choose to display them (folder, stack, fan, grid, list). Just a single click on one of the icons runs the program. By dealing with aliases only, in your home directory, you can organize what's in there in any way you want to, and leave your real Applications and Utilities folders alone.
Click to expand...

I don't do any of that. I open apps with Spotlight - just press ⌘[space] and start typing the app name. Easy peasy. No muss, no fuss.
 
Gregg2 said:
If you move Applications, doesn't that mess you up when you want to update them?
Click to expand...
With some Applications... yes it will. Typically those you manually install by just dragging the app out of the DMG file can be placed anywhere. But many apps that use .pkg installers of App Store apps will not update or often not work at all if moved.
 
I'll live, but I'm not a fan of this SIP biz. Why can't they just leave my Applications folder alone and upgrade the Mac Pro 5,1.
 
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