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imanidiot

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 1, 2011
727
581
Denver, CO
This may sound strange, but...
I noticed a duplicate of the iPhoto icon in sort of washed-out form lurking just behind and above the Mail icon on my dock. I was able to move it to the desktop. When I click on it, iPhoto opens. When I click on the iPhoto icon in the dock, it says it can't open because the app is already running. Vice-versa, same thing. Both versions of the app are the same size---1.13g. Currently, I have the iPhoto icon on my dock and on the desktop. Can I somehow inadvertently have duplicated the app? And if so can I safely delete one of the two? Either way, if I click on either one, iPhoto opens. And how the heck could I have done this?

Thanks.
 

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
This may sound strange, but...
I noticed a duplicate of the iPhoto icon in sort of washed-out form lurking just behind and above the Mail icon on my dock. I was able to move it to the desktop. When I click on it, iPhoto opens. When I click on the iPhoto icon in the dock, it says it can't open because the app is already running. Vice-versa, same thing. Both versions of the app are the same size---1.13g. Currently, I have the iPhoto icon on my dock and on the desktop. Can I somehow inadvertently have duplicated the app? And if so can I safely delete one of the two? Either way, if I click on either one, iPhoto opens. And how the heck could I have done this?

Thanks.

Look closely at each file by right clicking and choosing "Get Info" One of them SHOULD be an alias ( shortcut) and the file size will tell you this. The smaller of the two can be safely deleted. If they are both the same size, the I guess you could have inadvertently duplicated the app. Moving them to the trash, trying each one in turn before you delete them forever should help you discover which is which is the case.
 

imanidiot

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 1, 2011
727
581
Denver, CO
Thank you Macman45.

Both are the same size, both show the same creation and modification dates, both iPhoto '11.
They appear to be exactly the same. I'm just wondering how I could have done this?

Thanks again.
 

Gregg2

macrumors 604
May 22, 2008
7,167
1,161
Milwaukee, WI
Does the "ghost" icon have a small curved arrow in the lower left corner? If so, you can safely drag it to the Trash and Empty.
 

imanidiot

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 1, 2011
727
581
Denver, CO
Does the "ghost" icon have a small curved arrow in the lower left corner? If so, you can safely drag it to the Trash and Empty.

No, that's the thing. Nothing to indicate that it might be an alias. When I dragged it to the desktop, or the dock, it looked exactly like the normal iPhoto icon. I did, BTW, drag it to the trash, and delete it. Now iPhoto opens fine from the dock icon, and everything seems intact. I did remember one interesting thing, which is that, a short time ago, in attempting to attach some photos to an email, I inadvertently attached my entire iPhoto library, which I thought I had deleted (the attachment). Perhaps that would explain the "ghost" icon showing up just above/behind the Mail icon?

Anyway, things seem normal now.
 
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