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Skydoor Blue

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 19, 2016
15
1
When I bought my Mac it had Yosemite pre-installed. It also came with Pages, Keynote, iMovie, Numbers and Garageband.

Well, when El Capitan came along I decided to clean install it with a USB stick. I'm new to the Mac and OS X etc. and didn't know that the named applications were not part of the installation image. So, when I booted up El Capitan I couldn't see any of them and was taken aback a bit. I checked the Apple Store's 'Purchased' section thinking they might be there, but no.

So I was out these apps and didn't know what to do. I actually went and bought Garageband, so I have that now, and it does appear in the 'Purchased' section.

.. And now macOS is here and I want to clean install it. What do I do once I install macOS to get these applications back? Is there some procedure?

Thank you for any help.
 

Brammy

macrumors 68000
Sep 17, 2008
1,718
690
When I bought my Mac it had Yosemite pre-installed. It also came with Pages, Keynote, iMovie, Numbers and Garageband.

Well, when El Capitan came along I decided to clean install it with a USB stick. I'm new to the Mac and OS X etc. and didn't know that the named applications were not part of the installation image. So, when I booted up El Capitan I couldn't see any of them and was taken aback a bit. I checked the Apple Store's 'Purchased' section thinking they might be there, but no.

So I was out these apps and didn't know what to do. I actually went and bought Garageband, so I have that now, and it does appear in the 'Purchased' section.

.. And now macOS is here and I want to clean install it. What do I do once I install macOS to get these applications back? Is there some procedure?

Thank you for any help.
If you've bought it from the App store, and you do a clean install you're good to go.

Also, one thing you can do is copy a lot of the apps to an external drive and then just drag them back over. This is especially handy if you have non-app store apps.

Also, some apps like MS Office* may require their installers to run again, so make sure you've downloaded the installers as well.

*this may not be the case, but I always reinstall Office from the Installer.
 

foxlet

macrumors 6502
Aug 5, 2016
277
411
The bundled apps would've been attached to the first Apple ID that signed into the App Store when the bundled apps were still installed.

If your account didn't automatically redeem those apps, you can probably call Apple Support for a replacement voucher. There's no need to purchase the apps again if the system shipped with them from the factory.
 
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Skydoor Blue

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 19, 2016
15
1
The bundled apps would've been attached to the first Apple ID that signed into the App Store when the bundled apps were still installed.

If your account didn't automatically redeem those apps, you can probably call Apple Support for a replacement voucher. There's no need to purchase the apps again if the system shipped with them from the factory.

Thanks for the reply. I've emailed Apple re: the missing applications. I hope they set it up.
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If you've bought it from the App store, and you do a clean install you're good to go.

Also, one thing you can do is copy a lot of the apps to an external drive and then just drag them back over. This is especially handy if you have non-app store apps.

Also, some apps like MS Office* may require their installers to run again, so make sure you've downloaded the installers as well.

*this may not be the case, but I always reinstall Office from the Installer.

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't have thought of that at the time, that I can just drag an app e.g. Pages onto a USB stick. But I think I'm beginning to get the 'feel' of Macs now. I use Windows, and have since 1996, but have only just recently bought a Mac, in 2015, a "late 2014 model Mac mini". Last month I swapped out its oh-so-slow Hitachi HDD for an SDD and - wow - it's like a super computer now - very pleased with it.
 
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