Firefox is hard to find

[MACDRIVE]

I've recently downloaded Firefox, but there's no Firefox icon in Applications. I closed out of Firefox and went to Applications to move the icon onto the Dock, but there wasn't one.

When I downloaded Firefox, I expected there to be its icon inside Applications. What happened?

 

[swiftaw]

Silly Question but did you actually copy it over to your Applications folder?

 

[Eidorian]

Make sure you copy it out of the disk image...

http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Applications_in_Mac_OS_X#Disk_images

 

[MACDRIVE]

This is what's on my desktop right now, but it's not the same icon that's temporarily in the Dock. The one in the Dock looks like Earth with a flame wrapped around it. I expected the Earth icon to be in Applications just like the Safari icon.

 

[EricNau]

This is what's on my desktop right now, but it's not the same icon that's temporarily in the Dock. The one in the Dock looks like Earth with a flame wrapped around it. I expected the Earth icon to be in Applications just like the Safari icon.

That's a disk image, open it, and click and drag the firefox.app icon into your applications folder.

 

[MACDRIVE]

That's a disk image, open it, and click and drag the firefox.app icon into your applications folder.

When I open it, it becomes a window that is too large to go into the Applications folder. But I can drag it there if I don't open it. Shall I do that?

 

[EricNau]

When I open it, it becomes a window that is too large to go into the Applications folder. But I can drag it there if I don't open it. Shall I do that?

There's an icon in that window - only drag the icon.

 

[balamw]

When I open it, it becomes a window that is too large to go into the Applications folder. But I can drag it there if I don't open it. Shall I do that?

IIRC FireFox is one of those apps that shows you what to do in that window. It has a FireFox icon and an icon for your applications folder with an arrow. In the window, drag the firefox icon to the applications folder. It'll do the rest. Or, just drag the icon itself to the Applications window in Finder.

B

 

[EricNau]

IIRC FireFox is one of those apps that shows you what to do in that window. It has a FireFox icon and an icon for your applications folder with an arrow. In the window, drag the firefox icon to the applications folder. It'll do the rest. Or, just drag the icon itself to the Applications window in Finder.

B

Nope, dragging it to the application folder silhouette in that window doesn't do anything.

 

[MacNut]

Its quite simple actually, just drag and drop.

 

[MACDRIVE]

There's an icon in that window - only drag the icon.

Yes! I finally found it. I didn't see it at first because it's so big while in that window, but after I dragged it onto the Desktop, it got small.

I'm feeling quite dumb right now.

 

[EricNau]

Yes! I finally found it. I didn't see it at first because it's so big while in that window, but after I dragged it onto the Desktop, it got small.

I'm feeling quite dumb right now.

Just make sure you move firefox.app from your Desktop to your Applications folder.

 

[balamw]

Nope, dragging it to the application folder silhouette in that window doesn't do anything.

So I didn't RC. Does work in quite a few other apps.

B

 

[MACDRIVE]

Just make sure you move firefox.app from your Desktop to your Applications folder.

I did, and then put a duplicate icon on the Dock.

All the stars in the universe are lined up now.

Thanks Eric.

 

[skwij]

For future installs, don't bother dropping the icon on the desktop, just drop the icon directly into your Applications folder.

 

[mkrishnan]

For future installs, don't bother dropping the icon on the desktop, just drop the icon directly into your Applications folder.

Also don't run anything except "installer packages" (look like a cardboard box being opened, or sometimes like a hard drive) from inside the disk image.

There's a great guide with pictures here. There are basically three or so different ways to install software on Macs. Once you learn them all, you'll be golden.

 

[bousozoku]

I'm always amazed how this method, especially with the illustration in the folder itself, is so difficult.

Maybe, if they didn't decorate the drive icon to look like an application, it would work better.

 

[SC68Cal]

Most disk images create an alias to your Application folder, so you just follow the illustration and drop it into the alias of the App folder. Firefox for some reason decided not to do this....

 

[mkrishnan]

Most disk images create an alias to your Application folder, so you just follow the illustration and drop it into the alias of the App folder. Firefox for some reason decided not to do this....

I like this too, although I guess, in principle, it could be used as an exploit -- e.g. creating an alias that seemed to go to /applications and actually went to /system or something like that.

Anyway, though, what I do is keep the Apps folder on the right side of the dock. This is good for this purpose, but also because you can hold the mouse button on it and get a pop-up of all the contents (to find apps not in the dock).

 

[bousozoku]

Most disk images create an alias to your Application folder, so you just follow the illustration and drop it into the alias of the App folder. Firefox for some reason decided not to do this....

Perhaps, most you've seen. I've seen one so far in 5+ years. Besides, people should become familiar with Finder and the sidebar, if it's active.