Organizing the Applications Folder

[topmounter]

A quick question regarding organizing / cleaning up the Applications folder in OS X...

Is there any reason that I can't (or shouldn't) organize .app files into subfolders within the Applications folder? For example, I'd like to put the iWork and iLife applications in subfolders.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DeltaMac]

There may be a few apps that the system won't easily let you move, such as iTunes.

And, Apple no longer uses the iLife or iWork suite names. All such apps are separately downloaded, for example.
If you actually have iWork (the suite), then Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are in an iWork folder.
But the current versions are no longer associated with a suite of apps.
So, sure, you can do most anything you like, until the system complains. It's your computer, after all.
As long as you know where your apps are located, you should be good to go.

And, you would keep your common-use apps in your Dock - which doesn't care where the original app is located.

Software Update used to complain when apps that it expected to find in the first level of the Applications folder were somewhere else, such as a sub-folder, but I think that the App Store usually finds apps when updates are offered. That might cause some minor issues for you, but maybe not.

 

[BrianBaughn]

You shouldn't...and you can't because in the current OS when you try to move an application, in most cases if not all, it leaves the original in the Applications folder and creates an alias in the destination.

You can make an alias of every application and organize that group in just about any fashion you desire. Preferably somewhere in your Documents folder.

 

[topmounter]

Thanks... I wasn't sure what to call the applications that formerly comprised the iWork and iLife suites short of listing all of them. Thankfully I was able to move these to a subfolder rather than creating an alias. I have a Garage Band update pending, so I'll see if it updates the .app file in the subfolder or puts it back in the top level Applications directory. I just tried to move iBooks.app and OS X refused to let me saying it was required by OS X, so it sound like I can't screw things up too badly. Thanks again!