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Am I the Only Nut That Does This?

S

someone28624

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 15, 2007
849
11
Buffalo
I bought the latest MacHeist bundle. This got me realizing, before I even installed any of the new apps, that I don't even know what half of my apps from previous bundles do yet. I started going through my applications folder. And I realized it was a bit messy.

It started with a folder for games.

Then a folder for office programs was added.

And tonight, I just went through and made a bunch of categories, and threw all of my applications into subfolders. It took about 45 minutes. And I'm quite pleased with the results. Hopefully I'll maintain it.

screenshot20100311at113.png


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I know this system likely isn't for everyone or even most people, but has anyone else tried it? That's one thing I love about Mac OS X- it's highly customizable. Everyone can do things their own way and still accomplish what they want successfully.
 
That's not surprising.

As an aside:
You are opening yourself up to permission issues with Apple apps as Disk Utility won't be looking for say Mail.app inside /Applications/Apple Included
 
I kinda do the same thing. I keep my most-often-used applications in the main folder, as well as ones that might be sensitive to location on the hard drive, but little utilities I rarely use, games, and music programs get their own folder. I also add a space at the beginning of the folders so they pop to the top of the stack.
 
I do it for a different reason: to "hide" the apps I haven't ever used. Someday I'll get rid of them if I start to run out of space.
 
I do that using aliases in separate folders, so as not to break Software Update and cause permissions issues. I have a Games folder in my Dock right now, with aliases to all of the games I use regularly. Actually organizing the Applications folder is, as has been mentioned, not a good plan (third party apps aren't a big deal, but definitely don't move around the original Apple apps).

jW
 
someone28624 said:
So if I move all of the Apple apps back to the plain-old Applications folder, should I be okay?
Click to expand...

Apple apps, and any third-party apps that have software updaters (Microsoft Office and Adobe's Creative Suite come to mind). Most other programs should be fine.

jW
 
On Windows, I used to create categories for my start menu, because the install apps create links for all kinds of crap they come with, like documentation, release notes, uninstall apps etc.. With OS X's application packages, I don't see the advantage of explicitly organizing the app folder. In fact, I like to open the folder and simply type in the beginning of an application's name to get to it which isn't possible with your folder system.

Why did you do it?
 
Mal said:
...any third-party apps that have software updaters...
Click to expand...
Actually, many modern 3rd party apps use a particular framework that shouldn't care where the app is located. MS Office could well be a different case, though the updater installer includes a "looking for installations" step (which can be quite long and has sometimes located installs on backup drives for me), so I'm guessing even it might work ok with the Office folder somewhere else.
 
JNB said:
The only time I ever open my Applications folder is right after a new install of something and Spotlight hasn't indexed it yet.
Click to expand...

Same. I used to be that organized with Windows because I spent a lot of time going through My Computer rather than the Start menu. With OS X, there is hardly a need to even go into to that folder unless I'm installing something.
 
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