Can I move installed applications to another folder?

Most applications I installed only requires drag-and-drop-to-App-folder. Now my Applications folders are littered and I want to group them in Folders, a'la Windows.

Can I just move these apps to a folder or do I have to reinstall them first?

 

You can just drag them.

Once in a while, however, a third-party app may not like being moved. But that is rare.

 

Rogue,

When one of those 3rd party app doesn't like to be moved, what kind of errors do you normally see?

I mean, if I move some .dll file in Windows, the related applications will just say something like " Missing xxx.dll. Error in launching....

In OSX, will the application just crashed and I lose all setings (not the data) because a new .plist file were created?

 

It depends on the application. I have this Bible app, for example, that will not run if its moved. I think one of my adobe apps is like that too. Its not a big problem...if an app misbehaves, simply put it back.

Personally, I would just double check that the app is working after you move it.

Really, though, all the main apps will have no issues.

 

if im not mistaken, the dmg file are movable.

the application that dont like moving are the one that came with install/uninstall utilites.

i personally just keep it in the application folder. the default choice. keep it simple and less trouble-prone.

have you consider alternative like detail view?
even better; why not use spotlight?

 

Why people try to make OSX work like "Windows" is beyond me.

Drag your applications folder and make a Stack out of it. Easiest way to access your apps next to using spotlight.

 

Yep, I didn't move those with uninstall utilities, like Office 2008. I did use Detail View, but since I sort the file based on Folder first, the name of the file is not sorted from A-Z. So I have to scroll up and down and sometimes I miss the application. (my eyes gets blurry going up and down a lis of 50+ applications. )

But more importantly, I like to organize the applications into folder "grouping". I.e. Fugu goes to Network folder, AppZapper and Onyx goes to System folder, etc.

I am not trying to work like "Windows", but Windows does have certain things that works better than OSX. The sorting of folder/file list is one. Windows will sort Folder first, then file in A-Z, making it easy to search for programs or documents, especially if your forget the file name (hence, Spotlight is useless in that situation). And for organizations as mentioned above.

Going back to my original thread: I have moved bunch of applications into specific folders. I found out through trial and error mostly problems arise for the following applications:

1) Applications that runs in the background, such as Evernote, LiveMesh
2) Apple original applications, like iWeb, iPhoto.

Of course, I NEVER move system related applications like System Preferences, Automator, etc...

 

I hope your not putting apps in the OS X system folder. I would recommend keeping everything in your home directory and apps in the application folder, and then organizing things from their.

 

No. I basically just create the folders INSIDE the Applications folder. I treat the Applications folder like the "My Programs" folder in WinXP.

 

OSX can too with a little coaxing.

http://fahmiesalleh.blogspot.com/2008/04/mac-os-x-finder-sort-folder-before-file.html

 

I know that I moved the adobe suite of programs into an "Adobe" folder after installing, and it didnt like that. Everytime I run photoshop, illustrator, etc, it comes up with a dialog box saying that the install is messed up, should it repair or ignore. Doesnt matter what answer you choose, cause next time you start it up, itll still have the same message.

But yea, from my experience adobe aps dont like to be moved.

 

I already did that, but it only sort the Folders first. Basically, I want the sorting as follow:

1st: Folder
2nd: Files alphabetically (AppZapper, Bento, etc...)

With the hack above, it goes like this:

1st: Folder
2nd: Files NOT in alphabetical (iWeb, Expose, Dashboard, etc...)

Don't forget: organizing folder in applications helps me organize the function of the applications. This maybe just my own preferences, though.

UPDATE: so far all applications moved under unique folder inside the Applications folder works wonderfully, much better than moving apps in Program Files under Windows.