Where to put applications in Mac OS X
By default, applications in Mac OS X are stored inside the "Applications" folder at the top level of the startup disk. This location is also known as /Applications.
Leave your applications in the "Applications" folder
We strongly recommend that you keep all Apple applications in this location. We also recommend that you keep any programs that came with your computer -- or that were installed along with Mac OS X -- in /Applications. Therefore, programs like Microsoft Internet Explorer and Adobe (Acrobat) Reader should be kept in /Applications. This means that we do not recommend that you subdivide the "Applications" folder with subfolders, to categorize your programs. It also means that we don't recommend you move your programs outside of the "Applications" folder to completely different locations.
The "Applications" folder has a subfolder named "Utilities." You should also leave all of the programs in this folder alone, and not reorganize them. The "Utilities" folder is also known as /Applications/Utilities.
Why do we recommend this? Currently, Apple's installer and upgrade technologies for Mac OS X do not look for software stored in other locations on your startup disk. (This has been the case up through Jaguar, and we expect this situation to continue through Mac OS X "Panther.") If you update Mac OS X, the update package may not fully apply to your computer, just because you have moved Apple Mail or Safari to subfolders. If you run the Mac OS X Software Update mechanism to keep your computer up-to-date, but you have moved applications to their categorized subfolders within the "Applications" folder, then you may end up with broken programs that either don't run at all or don't run well.
Lastly, remember that Mac OS X is a multi-user operating system. If you reorganize the "Applications" folder, you are reorganizing it for every user account on the computer. If you only have one user account -- now, at least -- then you are only affecting yourself. However, you will still be affecting your system's ability to reliably run the Software Update process.
If you have already moved applications ...
If you do move your programs to other locations and they stop working correctly, our recommendations will be simple at that point:
- Move your applications back to the "Applications" folder and re-run the latest Mac OS X Combo update that applies to your version of Mac OS X.
- Start up your computer from the Mac OS X installer CDs and perform an "Archive and Install" to reinstall Mac OS X. Once you have reinstalled Mac OS X, then reboot and run Mac OS X Software Update until there are no more updates available.
After you have "fixed" this problem, we recommend that you leave programs in /Applications and /Applications/Utilities from that point on.
If you must categorize, subdivide, or reorganize
If you feel the need to organize your applications, please don't make changes to the programs stored inside /Applications. Instead:
- Create a subfolder named "Applications" (or whatever you want to call it) inside your "home" folder.
- Create as many subfolders within your home folder's "Applications" folder as you like. Name each one for a category or vendor -- or whatever subdivision you would like to use to organize your programs.
- Make aliases for programs in the /Applications folder and put the aliases inside the folders you just created inside the home folder's "Applications" folder.
- Drag the home folder's "Applications" folder to the Dock. Now it can act as a pop-up menu to launch or switch to programs. You can get to the items in that "Applications" folder by clicking and holding down the mouse button over its icon in the Dock, or by Right-clicking on it. Your categorized sub-folders and aliases will appear in the pop-up menu.
This allows you to organize your applications the way you want, but does not affect the original program files stored in the main "Applications" folder. It also gives you quick access to your programs from the Dock.
