Why Do Macs Have Multiple Applications Folders?

[@Kephinio]

You know, most of the time when I see videos about macOS, there’s so many things I already know, even as a new user of macOS. But with your channel it’s been completely different. I always get to know more about the operating system because of your videos. Thank you so much for your work!

[@sirflimflam]

I've been recently migrating over to mac, and this channel has been an absolute treasure trove for getting in the mac mindset.

[@adeshchopra]

This was very useful for forming a mental overview, especially for a recent ex-windows user like me. Organising things will now make more sense for me

[@loisskiathitis8926]

A very useful and informative video tutorial today! I’m saving this video too. Thank you, Gary! 👏🏻❤️

[@ebutuoy6701]

Super interesting! I love the finder magic showing the same app in two different places.

[@dennisvanmierlo]

Gary, even when I think I know a lot about Macs, you manage to teach me something new! Great video and excellent presentation! My compliments for you. Lot’s of greetings, Dennis 🇳🇱

[@BrunoDECOURCY]

I feel always puzzled by what I don’t know about MacOS but I feel smarter after watching any of your videos Gary!!!! Thanks a lot for this!!! Happy new year for you and your followers!!!!

[@klif_n]

This was very helpful. I’ve always been confused about the different application folders.

[@zchovan]

I have been somewhat aware of the 3 app folder stuff but always wanted someone to explain it to me. I've been wanting a video like this for YEARS, lol.

[@carolinebarlow4795]

Thanks very much, Gary! This was extremely interesting. I love delving into the obscure settings on my Macs!

[@davebland8489]

Fantastic stuff, Gary. Thank you!

[@winc06]

I just knew about the first two. So satisfying to know them all. Thanks.

[@meeluanistyn1644]

Absolutely amazing. If I knew a fraction of the information you do about Macs I’d be a genius!

[@majidyousef9394]

thank you for all your videos , appreciated :)

[@zweibrucker]

I hav learnt something new today, thanks.

[@ivanwill]

Great detail and I certainly learned something!

[@joseoviedo4529]

oh okay, I was wondering if there was two copies using up drive space but its nice to know there is only one copy using the same amount of space, cleared that up. I wish the System/Applications folders was able to edit, I dont want or need half of those apps lol.

[@willoweb]

Gary, I think you missed one (or more) application folders, if you are using Parallels, you get additional application (Parallels) folders in the user folder. They contain the applications used by Parallels virtual machines. multiple folders if you have multiple virtual machines. Thanks for the always interesting videos you make..

[@macmost]

I'm not going to take into account Parallels "Application" folders in a video like this. The vast majority of Mac users wouldn't have those.

[@alchemical-architecture]

Very enlightening

[@davidliverman4742]

You have to love Macs. What an incredible piece of technology? I give apple a shout out. Thank you!

[@garynagle3093]

Thank you. This is great to know

[@EstherLWarda]

Love walking by your house and peaking inside. ;-). So I see this app in your Applications Folder called Audacity. Well of course I had to go see what it was. COOL! But is it more for voice or music? Looks fun!!

[@macmost]

Audacity is the go-to audio editing app for many people. Some use it to edit audio files, some use it to record things, like even podcasts. I mention it from time-to-time (kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2irl619g9SZnaM). You can use it for recording music if you like, though GarageBand would probably be better so you can have all of the tracks and music-specific features.

[@EstherLWarda]

@@macmost Great!! I was hoping you had a video on it. I hadn't had a chance to check. Looking now at the link above!! Happy new year!! :-)

[@DalsPhotography]

Hi Gary thank you so much for a very useful video. I have found a lot of "I don't know what" in the library folder, it's gigabites of info there, is that normal??? Thank you. PS, I have adobe, and other third party programs as well, but each of them has an own Library - folder... Thank you and Happy New Year!

[@macmost]

It is normal to have a lot in your Library folder. Hard to comment more without knowing what you found. Don't delete anything there without knowing what you are doing though.

[@kentrebeccadavis4631]

Would you like to all dark mode? I hate hurt my eyes during too bright light mode.

[@stianmindewaldenstrm1306]

Will there be a noticable performance impact /Applications vs ~/Applications? I mean if I install graphics applications in the ~/Applications of the user named: graphics, and the development applications in the ~/Applications folder of the dev user? And all communication stuff such as Mail, Telegram, Messages, Discord in the ~/Applications of a user named the outside world? And then all the productivity stuff such as LibreOffice, Pages, Numbers, RagTime, and so on in the ~/Applications folder of a user named productivity.

[@macmost]

This won't affect performance at all.

[@stianmindewaldenstrm1306]

@@macmost Then what would the purpose of ~/Applications be? To limit some users from accessing certain applications?

[@macmost]

@@stianmindewaldenstrm1306 Right. As I say in the video, most people would never put any apps in there. Just because it exists, doesn't mean you need to use it for something.

[@Kryojenix]

My Monterey Mac that I just got seems different. The MacHD > Applications folder is duplicated to MacHD > System > Applications ... ALL of the apps are exactly the same, except the first one has Safari and the System folder doesn't. And I don't have any Applications folder in my Home folder, but I do have plain Documents (not labelled as Local), and I have Desktop folder. What's going on??? Okay, I should have watched it all before writing this. Thanks for the explanations! 😁

[@dell177]

On my 27" iMac running 11.7.1 my main applications folder only contains a few applications. I can search for an app by name and it comes up but whay are dozens of applications hidden from view? This started happening months after the machine was boought so it was notme telling the app to install anyplace else than the main app folder.

[@macmost]

Are you sure you are looking in the main Applications folder, not your Home folder? Use the Go menu, Applications to be sure. If you don't see more than a few apps in there, then I'm not sure what you have going on. Did you buy this Mac new or used? If used, did you reset it completely before using it?

[@IrrationalDelusion]

Interesting! What should I do with using different mac os user accounts to have preconfigured fonts across apps for different size and resolution displays? Most apps work fine with built-in accounts management, but some apps only use apple id. With Apple id only it's possible to save for 1 mac os user(or constantly switch apple ids inside user) , but with different apple id and different mac os user icloud data will only sync to one Apple Id. So I have different font size, but data is missing, only alternative syncing methods will work.

[@macmost]

Sorry, I'm not following your question.

[@IrrationalDelusion]

@@macmost Settings are saved on mac os user, files are tied to apple id. To use multiple monitors with fonts adapted for each I use multiple mac os user accounts. When switching to different mac os user, files from other apple id won't sync. There's flaw in design of some apps and OS.

[@macmost]

@@IrrationalDelusion Not sure what settings and fonts and monitors have to do with files saved to (I assume) iCloud Drive. Yes, when you are logged into iCloud Drive account A you won't see the files in iCloud Drive account B. Of course not. Not sure what else you would expect there.

[@karl76uk]

Gary is their a way of changing the Home Folder name if it’s grayed out in the settings? I just to be able to capitalise my home folder. Thanks.

[@macmost]

Not easily. This is the name of your whole user account. You should only attempt to change it if you have a very serious reason to do so. My advice is to leave your home folder/account name alone if all you want to do is capitalize it. It is pretty standard to use only lowercase in an account name and home folder name anyway. Apple has steps here, but you can see their warning about this too: support.apple.com/en-us/HT201548

[@karl76uk]

@@macmost I did manage to it changed before, but I updated to the latest os as I had to wipe the Mac and now the part where you go to change the username is grayed out. Do you know why that is ?

[@macmost]

@@karl76uk See that link. You can't just change the user name like that. Maybe you mean something else?

[@karl76uk]

@@macmost Sorry my spelling is a bit bad at times. I’ve corrected what I said if that makes it easier to understand. But thanks for the help Gary.

[@jorgepadron2426]

Excellent!

[@PaulGDowling]

Is there a way to hide applications that you rarely use? instead of deleting / uninstalling?

[@macmost]

Hide them where? In the Applications folder? No. But why would you want to hide them? If you want quick access to your most used apps, put them in the Dock and then just don't look in the Applications folder. Or, put them on the first page of LaunchPad and put the rest on pages 2 and after.

[@briantdaniel9280]

Hey Gary, this is off-topic, but I was curious about your feedback. Is it more secure to log out of your accounts using Safari browser and passwords saved in an iCloud keychain or would you say it is a-okay to simply close the tab without logging out? Thanks!

[@macmost]

Logging out every time would be a productivity waste. I couldn't imagine having to log into every account for every service I use each time, even with a password manager to make it quicker. The only reason it would be a security issue is if you leave your Mac out in public and unlocked. But if you are doing that, then you have lots of security issues.

[@briantdaniel9280]

@@macmost Thanks! That is what I thought. I love your response, leaving your Mac out in public unlocked. Then you have lots of security issues. LOL, I definitely don't do that but I am sure some people do.

[@desertpatient]

Thanks bunches

[@shuvadiproy5154]

How to uninstall softwares which were installed using terminal ?.......please make a video on this topic.

[@stianmindewaldenstrm1306]

You mean brew or what?

[@srirachahero4679]

YOU GET AN APPLICATION FOLDER! YOU GET AN APPLICATION FOLDER!! EVERYBODY GETS AN APPLICATION FOLDER!!! 😀

[@pineappleroad]

Ive noticed that on my MacBook, the “user” applications folder is not there, and if i create a new user account, the account is created without a “user” applications folder Could this be due to something having changed with Ventura, where the “User” applications folder is not present by default (Either way, I’m not bothered by it, as long as it doesn’t mean there is something wrong with my MacBook, as i only ever use the main applications folder)

[@vincentliegeois8744]

Hi. It’s very strange. In the finder in your home, what path do you see when right clicking on the folder named as your user on the top of the finder window

[@pineappleroad]

@@vincentliegeois8744 On my user account, i see Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, RootsMagic My user account is linked to an apple ID (so Desktop and Documents are in iCloud) If i create a new user account, and don’t link an apple ID, that user account has the folders Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public

[@pineappleroad]

@@vincentliegeois8744 argh, just realised I misread or misunderstood what you said in some way (Name) MacBook Pro > MacintoshHD > Users > (Username)

[@deepalwije]

very usefull