Just installed Sonoma on my M1 iMac and tried putting a web page into the dock to be used as an app. I get this message - "You don't have permission to save the file gmail.app in the folder Applications. To view or select the item in the Finder and choose File >Get Info." Well that doesn't work because I don't have anything called gmail or gmail.app in Applications. Thoughts?
iMac (M1, 2021)
ATHiker95 wrote:
So we got sort of a workaround but it is not ideal situation. I can drag the URL to the right side of the doc and it will give me a picture of a globe. If I hover over it, it will tell me the name of the website. The icon for the web page unfortunately doesn't move over. So once I drag 3 or 4 URL's to the doc, I end up with 3 or 4 globes sitting there. It will not allow me to move the globes to the left side of the line where permanent apps usually reside. So this is what appears to be a bug.
Those are just webloc files - essentially hyperlinks stored to a file.
It sounds like the permissions in home directory are screwed up. Or perhaps your entire home directory is scrambled. Try creating a new user account on your computer. Login to that new user account and try it there. I bet it works fine.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to track down why your permissions aren't working. It could be just permissions. You said that you "unlocked permissions" but I'm not sure what that means. There is a padlock icon in the Get Info window, but just clicking it won't do anything. You have to unlock and then change permissions. You will have to do that on the Applications folder in your home directory. If your permissions are scrambled, then it won't be able to create those stub apps in the applications folder. So that's why you don't see the apps. It is the Applications folder itself that needs fixing.
However, it could also be your home folder, or something else. There are dozens of various 3rd party system modification apps, system hack apps, "clean up" tools, etc. These things are extremely popular and cause an extremely large number of problems. If these kinds of 3rd party tools are causing the problem, then you might not be able to create Dock apps in your new user account either.
So what I'm saying is that it works fine. There's no bug. Your system is simply scrambled. This is day one for Sonoma. I'm sure in the coming weeks you'll have several million friends in exactly the same spot.
Have you granted access to gmail.app to "Full Disk Access"?
System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access.
there is no way to do that because "gmail.app" doesn't exist in my Applications folder.
You mentioned gmail.app. I thought it might be something new. Are you accessing your gmail account using Apple Mail? Or a web browser?
I'm typing gmail.com into my web browser on my Mac. When I go to File , Add to Dock is when I get that crazy permissions thing popping up.
Maybe review this support document: Use Safari web apps on Mac - Apple Support
This features saves the web page to the Applications folder in your home directory. This is different from your main Applications folder. Make sure that Applications folder exists in your home directory, it doesn't already have a gmail.app file, and doesn't have any funky permissions on it.
nope, file is not in the home directory/Applications either. I unlocked permissions on Applications in both places - that still didn't work. Talking with Apple Support on chat - no luck with that - not yet anyway. I've been escalated but this is probably some random bug.
FWIW, just tried "Add to Dock…". Worked fine for me. Created a Gmail icon in the Dock which I can click on and open. It doesn't save anything to the Applications folder.
So we got sort of a workaround but it is not ideal situation. I can drag the URL to the right side of the doc and it will give me a picture of a globe. If I hover over it, it will tell me the name of the website. The icon for the web page unfortunately doesn't move over. So once I drag 3 or 4 URL's to the doc, I end up with 3 or 4 globes sitting there. It will not allow me to move the globes to the left side of the line where permanent apps usually reside. So this is what appears to be a bug.
That is not how "Add to Dock…" works. Did you follow the instructions in the link?
absolutely. Even talked to a Senior Advisor tech at Apple - couldn't solve it other than for me to drag to right side of dock
Just to clarify, as etresoft explained, the file saves in ~/Applications, not /Applications.
No idea why you are dragging anything. You open a webpage in Safari and choose "Add to Dock…" from Safari's File menu.
Just for fun, added the YouTube page and Softpedia.
How many times do I need to say the Add to Dock function does not work for me and it saves nothing to ~/Applications? You think I'd be here if it worked? I'm sure it works for most folks but there is something with my setup which is causing it to fail and who knows what that might be. Apple didn't know - not yet anyway.
ATHiker95 wrote:
So we got sort of a workaround but it is not ideal situation. I can drag the URL to the right side of the doc and it will give me a picture of a globe. If I hover over it, it will tell me the name of the website. The icon for the web page unfortunately doesn't move over. So once I drag 3 or 4 URL's to the doc, I end up with 3 or 4 globes sitting there. It will not allow me to move the globes to the left side of the line where permanent apps usually reside. So this is what appears to be a bug.
Those are just webloc files - essentially hyperlinks stored to a file.
It sounds like the permissions in home directory are screwed up. Or perhaps your entire home directory is scrambled. Try creating a new user account on your computer. Login to that new user account and try it there. I bet it works fine.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to track down why your permissions aren't working. It could be just permissions. You said that you "unlocked permissions" but I'm not sure what that means. There is a padlock icon in the Get Info window, but just clicking it won't do anything. You have to unlock and then change permissions. You will have to do that on the Applications folder in your home directory. If your permissions are scrambled, then it won't be able to create those stub apps in the applications folder. So that's why you don't see the apps. It is the Applications folder itself that needs fixing.
However, it could also be your home folder, or something else. There are dozens of various 3rd party system modification apps, system hack apps, "clean up" tools, etc. These things are extremely popular and cause an extremely large number of problems. If these kinds of 3rd party tools are causing the problem, then you might not be able to create Dock apps in your new user account either.
So what I'm saying is that it works fine. There's no bug. Your system is simply scrambled. This is day one for Sonoma. I'm sure in the coming weeks you'll have several million friends in exactly the same spot.
issue with saving web page to the dock in Sonoma
