Restoring an app. to original folder

[andrewlacey]

Hello.

I'm a complete Mac novice - I've been getting to grips with OSX on my iBook for around a week and already I've encountered a serious problem. Any help from such esteemed folk as yourselves would be appreciated. Anyway, to the problem...

I accidentally managed to move the 'Mail' app from the Applications folder to the main 'Macintosh HD' folder (up to the highest level, if you like). I presumed that I could simply drag the Mail icon back over the Applications folder and drop it back into it's original location. When I try to do this, a little green '+' sign appears, indicating that the computer is trying to copy the app. rather than move it back to its original location. Anyway, I tried copying the Mail app. to the Applications folder, allowing me to delete the original offending Mail icon from the HD folder but I got a warning message that was something along the lines of 'Cannot delete Mail because it belongs to the root'. Is there any way I can just move the Mail application back to the Applications folder?

Sorry if this is a little confused but, as you can probably tell, so am I.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[tjwett]

Hey, I did the SAME EXACT thing last week, and I've been using Macs for 15 years The way the Finder works in Column view makes it easy to do this kind of thing. Mine was a bit worse though, I moved ALL my apps up one level. oops. Luckily it's not that serious for you.
That little green arrow is a "copy" symbol. The reason it's doing that is because your Mail app is owned by "root" and you don't have permission to move it back that way.
Simplest thing is to Right-Click (ctrl-click) on the Mail app in the Finder and choose Ownership and Permissions. Click the lock if you need to. Change the Ownership and Permissions from root or system to your name or (me) for all the dropdown menus. after that you shouldbe able to move it back no prob.
I'm still trying to get my machine back to normal after I did that. I lost the use of a bunch of apps in my Utilities folder after copying back. Mail worked fine though so you should be OK. Let us know how it goes. Hope that helped.