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Removing default apps like textedit, is it safe?

A

André M

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 17, 2009
45
0
Stockholm, Sweden
Hello everybody on Mac Rumors!

I've been googling around lately and also searching on this forum, and I haven't found anything that answers my question.

Is there any problem with deleting default apps like textedit, quicktime, mail etc? Are they required by the OS or am I free to delete them and replace them?

Reason that I'm asking is that I'm replacing textedit with TextMate and I like all the free space that I can get.

Thanks for any answers given,

André
 
I wouldn't replace Quicktime - its a system component for file playback.

If you think you are going to run into hard drive space issues, either use external storage or get a bigger hard drive. You are not going to reclaim much by deleting programs like TextEdit.
 
Yeah quicktime I will probably keep, seeing as the plugin "peridan" makes different files play on it.

I've got an external HD but I don't like having more than 1 app for the same thing, and even though TextEdit is only a few megs, it's megs that are taking up disk space.
 
I deleted apple mail for leopard once and then found i wanted it later. lo and behold I couldn't find it anywhere on the internet and had to reload from someone else's computer cause I don't have the leopard disks. so if you do get rid of it make sure you have it backed up so you can get it if you decide later you need to.
 
Yeah ofcourse, I hardly do any removing without making a backup (if its something crucial and I'm uncertain) and I've still got the leopard disk at hand so thats not a problem.

But then, It's fine deleting things that aren't required by the OS? such as quicktime (as pdjudd) stated.
 
André M said:
Yeah ofcourse, I hardly do any removing without making a backup (if its something crucial and I'm uncertain) and I've still got the leopard disk at hand so thats not a problem.

But then, It's fine deleting things that aren't required by the OS? such as quicktime (as pdjudd) stated.
Click to expand...

Most applications are very small in size. For example, TextEdit is only 22MB. It doesn't seem like it's worth the hassle to delete them for that little space.
 
swiftaw said:
Most applications are very small in size. For example, TextEdit is only 22MB. It doesn't seem like it's worth the hassle to delete them for that little space.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know. As I said before though, I dislike having more than one application for one purpose.

@angelwatt: Thanks for the tips.
 
André M said:
Is there any problem with deleting default apps like textedit, quicktime, mail etc? Are they required by the OS or am I free to delete them and replace them?
Click to expand...

One day you'll delete something like this that shouldn't cause a problem, but it will. The reality is, you could delete practically all apps and not make a significant difference on disk space. If you really are so tight on disk space that 22MB makes a difference (any difference) then you have a much bigger problem and should fix it with a bigger disk. If the difference is, your freespace goes up from 40% to 40.0001% why bother, because you dont actually gain anything at all.

Seems to me a small but significant percentage of the problems on here are people pointlessly trying to 'tidy up' their systems, to remove files that take an insignificant (almost literally) amount of space, and breaking something in the process, at the time, or later when an updates 'expects' an application to be there.
 
Tumbleweed666 said:
... later when an updates 'expects' an application to be there.
Click to expand...
That's the important point for most built-in apps. No, the system shouldn't require TextEdit to work. But at some point an OS update may well try to update that app, and while it might not fail if the app isn't there, you're going to end up with a folder containing the updates or a broken app because pieces of it are missing.

So what may well happen is down the line you run an update which adds back parts of that app and don't notice, leaving you with clutter of broken half-apps rather than just clutter of apps you don't want. Even more annoying would be if the default somehow ended up back at the broken app.

None of this will break your system, but it seems like trading a small cosmetic annoyance now for a potentially bigger one down the line.
 
Alright, seems this has turned into a discussion of how I won't gain much disk space by removing apps of such a small size.

As i've said, twice before, I KNOW. I just don't like stacking apps that share the same purpose for ex. I only have 1 web browser, 1 music player, 1 movie player etcetera.

The purpose of this topic was to find out if there would be any problems with deleting such default apps.

Since this topic has, in my eyes, derailed, I think it would be best to close it.

Thanks.
 
I wouldn't delete them unless you do a time machine backup before because if for some reason you need them later, you won't be able to get them back unless you buy pacifist and get them off your OS X install disk.
 
André M said:
As i've said, twice before, I KNOW. I just don't like stacking apps that share the same purpose for ex. I only have 1 web browser, 1 music player, 1 movie player etcetera.
Click to expand...

But why? You gain absolutely nothing by deleting the programs - If you want a good reason not to, is because you never know when you might need them or can never anticipate Apple expecting you to have them. If you don't want to use them, tale them off of your dock and associate other programs with them. Its like they never were there before hand.

There is no need to make a mountain out of a molehill.
 
pdjudd said:
But why? You gain absolutely nothing by deleting the programs - If you want a good reason not to, is because you never know when you might need them or can never anticipate Apple expecting you to have them. If you don't want to use them, tale them off of your dock and associate other programs with them. Its like they never were there before hand.

There is no need to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Click to expand...

Because I can't stand having multiple apps that have the same purpose as another one. One thing I would and am considering is making a folder to put the apps i dont use and putting them on another HD.

It's how I like thing to be on my computers, 1 app for 1 purpose.
 
André M said:
Because I can't stand having multiple apps that have the same purpose as another one. One thing I would and am considering is making a folder to put the apps i dont use and putting them on another HD.

It's how I like thing to be on my computers, 1 app for 1 purpose.
Click to expand...

Well don't come whining here when something breaks in a future update because you wre the one in ten thousand people that deleted an 'ordinary' app that later got updated partially and was then used in a subsequent update that broke something else. Or something like that, that will end up taking you 3 months to work out why some other component doesn't work..
Didnt your mother every tell you 'stop picking it or it will never get better" ?
 
André M said:
Because I can't stand having multiple apps that have the same purpose as another one. One thing I would and am considering is making a folder to put the apps i dont use and putting them on another HD.

It's how I like thing to be on my computers, 1 app for 1 purpose.
Click to expand...

Use Quicksilver?
 
OSX is not windows. OSX has no registry, and thus having 1000 apps installed in OSX (if they are not running) won't impact the performance of the Mac OS, unlike windows.

There are really no point to delete the default, as they are small. But feel free to use other type of apps.
 
Tumbleweed666 said:
Well don't come whining here when something breaks in a future update because you wre the one in ten thousand people that deleted an 'ordinary' app that later got updated partially and was then used in a subsequent update that broke something else. Or something like that, that will end up taking you 3 months to work out why some other component doesn't work..
Didnt your mother every tell you 'stop picking it or it will never get better" ?
Click to expand...

*Sigh* All I wanted was an answer to my question, not people arguing against me removing or moving the app.

Thanks for the "rant" however.
 
André M said:
*Sigh* All I wanted was an answer to my question, not people arguing against me removing or moving the app.

Thanks for the "rant" however.
Click to expand...

Okay, here's a straight answer. Moving or Deleting default apple apps can cause problems down the road when installing apple updates since if the update cannot find the apps it is looking for it may cause problems.
 
swiftaw said:
Okay, here's a straight answer. Moving or Deleting default apple apps can cause problems down the road when installing apple updates since if the update cannot find the apps it is looking for it may cause problems.
Click to expand...

Thank you! However, backing up the apps, lets take textedit since it has been the source app for this discussion, to an external HD and then moving it back, if it would get an update, that would go around the whole "update problem" right?
 
André M said:
Thank you! However, backing up the apps, lets take textedit since it has been the source app for this discussion, to an external HD and then moving it back, if it would get an update, that would go around the whole "update problem" right?
Click to expand...

Sure, you could potentially put all the deleted apps back before installing any updates, install the updates, and then delete them again after the update.
 
I like using many different apps that are supposed to do the same thing, as most times a certain app does something better in one area than another.
It is a great way to beat Murphy's ass when problems arise exporting something or other problems that occur.
Tools are different for a reason, one app, and only one app to do something really opens you up to being at that apps mercy.
My 2 Cents.
 
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