Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple!Freak

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 11, 2005
545
0
East Coast
Ok, this may be a stupid question however I am new to Mac's so cut me a break. Where are the Program Files located? The actual files that make up the program?
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Apple!Freak said:
Ok, this may be a stupid question however I am new to Mac's so cut me a break. Where are the Program Files located? The actual files that make up the program?

LOL, it took me a while to understand this too. What OS X does is to house each program in a directory. Inside your Apps folder are your applications, right? For instance, you see iTunes. The iTunes app in the Apps folder actually corresponds to a folder called iTunes.app (you can verify with Terminal). If you right click it (or option-click it, or use terminal), you can actually go into this folder and see all the contents, such as the icon, the library and resource files, etc. What's inside the folder loosely corresponds to the contents of an install directory in Windows. But Finder treats the folder as a program and hides the contents unless you specifically ask for them, to keep things neat. :)
 

Apple!Freak

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 11, 2005
545
0
East Coast
mkrishnan said:
LOL, it took me a while to understand this too. What OS X does is to house each program in a directory. Inside your Apps folder are your applications, right? For instance, you see iTunes. The iTunes app in the Apps folder actually corresponds to a folder called iTunes.app (you can verify with Terminal). If you right click it (or option-click it, or use terminal), you can actually go into this folder and see all the contents, such as the icon, the library and resource files, etc. What's inside the folder loosely corresponds to the contents of an install directory in Windows. But Finder treats the folder as a program and hides the contents unless you specifically ask for them, to keep things neat. :)

Great! Thank you for clearing that up! :)
 

GFLPraxis

macrumors 604
Mar 17, 2004
7,152
460
Yep, and the best part are that the Mac programs are self contained, there is no stupid registry like on Windows PCs, so no uninstaller necessary (excepting things that modify the system folder, like extensions or hacks). All the information is contained in Safari.app or iTunes.app, instead of scattered across the hard drive like a Windows PC.
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
GFLPraxis said:
Yep, and the best part are that the Mac programs are self contained, there is no stupid registry like on Windows PCs, so no uninstaller necessary (excepting things that modify the system folder, like extensions or hacks). All the information is contained in Safari.app or iTunes.app, instead of scattered across the hard drive like a Windows PC.

Except for library folders. ;) You have two library folders -- one at ~/Library, which is tied to your user (~ = your home directory), and one at /Library, which is global. These contain some install files on occasion (usually in /Library) and preference files (in ~/Library in almost all cases). Plugins for Safari, such as the WMP player, for instance, go in /Library. Bookmark files go in ~/Library.

But since they aren't part of a core system that is loaded into memory or used en masse in quite the way the Windows system does it, it doesn't resource hog and it shouldn't mess up other programs. :)
 

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
Just delete the Application itself. And its preferences if it uses a different preferences file.

Both versions of Keynote share the Libray directories and version 2 did not deliver all the templates that 1.x had and if you want to use them in 2.0 you need to leave them there.
 

bubbamac

macrumors 6502
Dec 24, 2003
260
0
Welcome to the world of Mac! Where everything just works, I might add.

What they said above - and I'll add one more thing. In the Winblows world, they're called "programs." In the Mac world, they're "applications," or "apps."

Not that it matters - everyone will know what you're talking about.
 

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
OK, so where is the actual data pertaining to that application stored?
/Applications/Application.app/

It's inside the apps themselves. The apps are really just folders that looks like program files. If you right click on an app you press "Show Contents" and it will open the app as a folder where you are free to search for whatever files you want.
 

slabman

macrumors member
Jan 13, 2008
67
0
Plano TX
OK, so if I want to replace an old app with a new one...say, to get a "clean" install, how do I transfer the file data into the new app?
 

Gregg2

macrumors 604
May 22, 2008
7,189
1,179
Milwaukee, WI
Be more specific. Which app?

For most, you install over the older one, and it updates to the new one. You don't usually have to uninstall anything.
 

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
OK, so if I want to replace an old app with a new one...say, to get a "clean" install, how do I transfer the file data into the new app?
All of your preferences and information that the app stores will be elsewhere. Important user created files should never be stored within the app bundle. For example: iPhoto.app exists in your /Applications directory while the iPhoto library itself lives in the ~/Pictures directory. That way if you update iPhoto it deletes /Applications/iPhoto.app and replaces it with a new iPhoto.app, but leaves ~/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library alone.
 

slabman

macrumors member
Jan 13, 2008
67
0
Plano TX
Gregg2, I'm concerned about my iBank data, amongst others. I can't seem to locate where its stored. I'd love to do a fresh re-load off disks, but how to import the old data and settings, etc. from the old setup? Am I to assume I should just load the new program over the old and all is well?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
Many apps have their own update process, which leaves your user data intact. Others are updated simply by replacing the app in your Applications folder with a newer version. Again, none of your user data is affected. Many apps have user preferences and settings stored in a .plist (property list) file, which resides in the ~\Library\Preferences folder, unaffected by updates to the app itself. Some apps also store data in the ~\Library\Application Support folder.
 

sandeshgawade87

macrumors newbie
Jun 9, 2010
2
0
unable to find out thunderbird in imac

Hi,

i am new to mac, i had just get the imac & install Thunderbird for mail.
after mail server configuration on first screen of it & then close the application i am unable to find out where that goes. i don't where the program files of mac like windows.

Regards,
sandesh
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
Hi,

i am new to mac, i had just get the imac & install Thunderbird for mail.
after mail server configuration on first screen of it & then close the application i am unable to find out where that goes. i don't where the program files of mac like windows.

Regards,
sandesh

Macintosh HD / Applications / Thunderbird.

Or use Spotlight (CMD+SPACEBAR) to search for it.



Also have a look at the following links, as the information presented there might be helpful in your future endeavours into Mac OS X and could clear up initial confusion and may even prevent harm to your system or your files.


Mac OS X Basics


Switch 101 - guide with articles made by Apple on how to accustom yourself, after you switched to Mac OS X from Windows​


Mac 101 - How to get started with Mac OS X​


Find out how - tutorial videos made by Apple on how to do certain thing in Mac OS X​


Pro tips - tips made available by Apple for easier ways of doing certain tasks​


Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts - Learn about common Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts.​


Mac OS X Beginner's Guide by MacRumors - learn about software, media players, shortcuts and some useful tips, tricks and hints​


Mac Guides - tutorials, product guides and more​


MRoogle - a very effective tool to search these fora using Google and made available by edesignuk, introductory threads: 1, 2 and 3
 

sandeshgawade87

macrumors newbie
Jun 9, 2010
2
0
thunderbird location gets

thanks for your replay & i am able to find out Thunderbird finally

thanks once again



Macintosh HD / Applications / Thunderbird.

Or use Spotlight (CMD+SPACEBAR) to search for it.



Also have a look at the following links, as the information presented there might be helpful in your future endeavours into Mac OS X and could clear up initial confusion and may even prevent harm to your system or your files.


Mac OS X Basics


Switch 101 - guide with articles made by Apple on how to accustom yourself, after you switched to Mac OS X from Windows​


Mac 101 - How to get started with Mac OS X​


Find out how - tutorial videos made by Apple on how to do certain thing in Mac OS X​


Pro tips - tips made available by Apple for easier ways of doing certain tasks​


Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts - Learn about common Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts.​


Mac OS X Beginner's Guide by MacRumors - learn about software, media players, shortcuts and some useful tips, tricks and hints​


Mac Guides - tutorials, product guides and more​


MRoogle - a very effective tool to search these fora using Google and made available by edesignuk, introductory threads: 1, 2 and 3
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.