Application folder copy in User menu?

[amadeusamadeus]

Hi, I seem to have lost my Applications folder from my User menu under Places in Finder. It is still present however, in the Macintosh HD menu under Devices. So I thought I would just drag it to my User menu where there was one before, however it started to copy the folder there. Is this the correct way to get it back there, should it in fact be copying the Application folder? Seems like a waste of nearly 11GB to simply have a copy there. Please let me know what you think, thanks.

AA

 

[Makosuke]

No, you do not want to copy it there--that's not only a waste of space, it could actually cause problems having two copies of some system apps--one of which won't auto-update--around.

However, yes, dragging it into that list in the Finder sidebar is the correct way to do it. I'm going to guess that you accidentally dragged it on top of one of the other folders--which will copy it--rather than between them, or to another area of empty space in the sidebar, which will just add a link. The latter is what you want to do--try again (and delete the partially copied Application folder from wherever it accidentally ended up).

The visual cue is that you'll see a line with a circle at one end if the item will be added to the list, where the folder will highlight if what you're dragging will end up copied into it.

 

[amadeusamadeus]

Thanks for your response Makosuke, but I was however, dragging it on top of something on purpose. The Applications link under Places has always been there, I lost the Applications folder within my user account folder (the little house, which contains desktop, documents, downloads, music, etc.). The copying started, as you said, when I dragged the Applications folder from MacHD to my user account under Places; but I have since deleted that copy.

I'm pretty sure my mac came with an Applications folder in the user account folder and I would like to get it back that way. Is there any way to do that without having it be a copy, and get back to this original state?

 

[Gregg2]

I'm pretty sure my mac came with an Applications folder in the user account folder . . .

I'm pretty sure it didn't. The default is for Applications to be in the top level HD folder. That way, all user accounts, if you have more than one, will have access to the Applications. If you put Applications in your user account folder, then you will be able to use the Apps only when logged in under that account.

 

[Makosuke]

Ok, I wasn't following what you were describing; now I get it.

I'm pretty sure my mac came with an Applications folder in the user account folder and I would like to get it back that way. Is there any way to do that without having it be a copy, and get back to this original state?

Like Gregg2 said, unless someone else set the computer up for you, there isn't an Applications folder in your user folder by default. You either created it without realizing it, or someone did it for you.

There are two possibilities:

1) There was an alias of the main Applications folder in your home folder; this means that while you could click on that file to show the contents of Applications, the actual files are stored where they're supposed to be, at the top level of the hard drive--it's just a pointer. The icon would have had a little black arrow in the corner if this was the case.

To recreate such a link, just drag the Applications folder to where you want the link while holding down the Command and Option keys--the dragging arrow should show a little black curved arrow on top of it to let you know that you're going to create an alias.

2) There was, indeed, an Applications folder in there. A few people--usually relatively tech-savvy ones--like to have some of their applications just installed for that particular user, in which case they create an Applications folder in the user folder. A handful of specific apps also do this (the only one I'm familiar with personally is Crossover, which creates an Applications folder in your home folder that contains a link for each Windows app installed).

If one or the other of these were the case, that Applications folder would only have had a few things in it, and if it got deleted, everything in it would have also gone with it.


It doesn't sound to me like #2 is your case, so I'm guessing an alias--recreate it as described above and see if this does what you were looking for.

 

[tpg]

Sorry to disagree with all of you, but my home folder has had an Applications folder in it for as long as I can remember. I had Leopard on my mac when I bought it, and upgraded to snow leopard a year ago.

To answer the original poster's question: to recreate it you can just create a new folder called "Applications". There's nothing special about it (not sure about getting the icon back though). It's almost never been used, other than by Steam.

 

[spinnerlys]

If you have installed any Adobe products on your Mac, you will have an Applications folder inside the Home folder (your account folder) as the installer puts one in there albeit with no contents.

 

[Makosuke]

Sorry to disagree with all of you, but my home folder has had an Applications folder in it for as long as I can remember.

I'm sure it does, but I'm fairly certain Apple didn't put it there as part of the default OS install. I've been setting up new Macs through the entirety of the OSX era, and installed fresh copies of the OS dating back to the Public Beta, none of which by default have an Applications folder in the home folder.

It's possible I've missed some fluke in a stock install, but it's much more likely some 3rd party application installer put it there. Wasn't actually aware the new Adobe installer did this, but it's not a surprise to me given Adobe's less-than-stellar installer reputation.

Also, assuming the OP had an alias of the Applications folder--which it sounds like was the case--then that's definitely not part of the stock install (in fact, it would conflict with having a user Applications folder due to file name overlap).