Can you move applications to an external HDD?

[Zellio]

I just got a 1tb usb 3.0 external hdd. It's an old fashioned hdd, but it gets decent performance on usb 3.0.

I'm going to use the usb 3.0 function when I update to a new imac (Either last years or whatever comes up soon).

 

[Bear]

I would not recommend moving any application that is part of OS X as OS X updates sometimes get cranky when things aren't where they're supposed to be. As for other applications, most can be moved with no problem, a few might have issues

 

[Zellio]

How do you do it while keeping the ability to go to the files in the applications menu?

 

[Jesla]

Make an Alias and leave that in your applications folder…..

 

[Gregg2]

How do you do it while keeping the ability to go to the files in the applications menu?

If you mean in the Dock, that's called a Stack. The answer above would do the trick.