Can I rename the Applications folder?

Question

Level 2

185 points

Can I rename the Applications folder?

I have a relatively new 24" iMac, but the drive, which is called Macintosh HD, is only 1 TB. Too small. I have a 4TB external drive called Macintosh HD2, mostly to hold all my movies, including FCP libraries.

Now, I still have my old Intel Mac. And I have Mojave on the 4TB external drive, HD2. Sometimes I take it over to the Intel Mac and boot Mojave from it, and do a few things I can't do on Monterey. But most of the time I have it on my 24" Mac.

Now, can I rename the Applications folder on HD2 to something like Applications_NO? Why? Because Spotlight often brings up apps from both HD and HD2. So if I rename the HD2 Applications folder to Applications_NO, shouldn't Spotlight stop bringing up apps from it? And I can rename it back to Applications if I need to boot my old Mac.

So is it okay to rename this folder as needed? I'm tired of always having to check to be certain I run only apps from HD.

TIA!

Posted on Mar 1, 2023 1:38 AM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,446 points

Mar 1, 2023 4:29 AM in response to betaneptune

You most likely cannot rename it, and it wouldn’t help the situation. Spotlight isn’t showing those items because they are in a folder named, “Applications.” It is showing them because they are applications.

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Answer 2

betaneptune Author

Level 2

185 points

Mar 4, 2023 11:21 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Figures. I'm also getting apps with the same name, like Terminal, from Windows 11 Applications was setting it up with Parallels, then hit a $199.99 wall and stopped. Do any apps call any other apps? And do they get them from the same directory, uh, folder? I also noticed recently that there are two standard applications folders, the surprise one being /System/Applications, which appear to be duplicates of Apple apps that came with the thing. One Apps directory, uh, folder isn't enough?

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Answer 3

betaneptune Author

Level 2

185 points

Mar 5, 2023 1:40 AM in response to ghr165

ghr165 wrote:

It’s per user: each disk has different users.

Spotlight prefs on new machine are separate from those when booted in old machine.

But I'm only booted from a single disk. Any users that sign in will only be those who are on that disk, no? And I didn't have this problem before I attached the Mojave boot disk, but still have multiple users.

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Answer 4

betaneptune Author

Level 2

185 points

Mar 5, 2023 1:42 AM in response to ghr165

ghr165 wrote:

And accept Luis’ advice.

Well, it's either that or just check each time by pressing Cmd. I really like being able to just press Cmd-Spacebar and typing in the app. That worked fine until I attached the Mojave boot disk. Much easier than the Finder method. Well, I guess those are my choices. I wish I could have more control over this.

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Answer 5

betaneptune Author

Level 2

185 points

Mar 5, 2023 2:02 AM in response to ghr165

ghr165 wrote:

Remove the Applications folder on HD2 from Spotlight indexing.

Sorry. I misread your post.

I already tried that. Didn't work, and the thing only shows the folder you excluded, not also the disk it's on. I might try it again.

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Answer 6

Mar 5, 2023 2:18 AM in response to betaneptune

Applications that are part of the OS, like Safari, Preview, Mail… are actually in /System/Applications. This makes them impervious from tampering because they reside on a sealed read only volume. This change came about maybe in Big Sur, or perhaps Catalina, I can’t confirm, but it’s not new.

To avoid confusing unsuspecting users, the Finder conflates the contents of /System/Applications with those of /Applications.

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Answer 7

betaneptune Author

Level 2

185 points

Mar 5, 2023 3:18 AM in response to betaneptune

betaneptune wrote:

ghr165 wrote:

Remove the Applications folder on HD2 from Spotlight indexing.

Sorry. I misread your post.

I already tried that. Didn't work, and the thing only shows the folder you excluded, not also the disk it's on. I might try it again.

I just tried it again. Didn't work. Left the computer for an hour or more. Now it's working -- so far! We'll see later today. Maybe I just didn't wait long enough for Spotlight to work on its exclusions. We'll see.

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Answer 8

ghr165

Level 4

1,324 points

Mar 5, 2023 12:06 AM in response to betaneptune

Remove the Applications folder on HD2 from Spotlight indexing.

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Answer 9

Mar 1, 2023 4:34 AM in response to betaneptune

In addition to what Barney said: you may go directly to your Applications folder, Command-Shift-A, instead of searching using Spotlight. This would avoid all the other applications.

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Answer 10

betaneptune Author

Level 2

185 points

Mar 5, 2023 12:34 AM in response to ghr165

I don't think it would let me, or it would at least give a stern warning, when I did that with Documents or Desktop folder once. Besides, I need it when I use it to load Mojave onto my old Mac.

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