which applications can be moved to an external HD?

William M. wrote:

The internal HD on my Mac mini is getting full. I'd like to move many of the applications from the Applications folder on the internal HD to an Applications volume on an external SSD. If I understand correctly what I've read, I should not move any application that was installed by the OS, since a future OS update wouldn't know where to find it. Is that true?

You can't move them.

Moving them will not result in much extra space.

You need to move your data to the external drive, not the apps.

You can set your Movies, Music, and Photos libraries to an external drive.

Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

Move your iMovie for Mac library - Apple Support

Applications like Safari, Mail, Photos, Messages, Calendar, and others that come pre-installed with macOS should not be moved. These are part of the core applications provided by Apple.

Most third-party programs can be installed or transferred to an external APFS SSD. I also recommend using a disk analyzer such as DaisyDisk or Disk Drill to check the contents of your hidden folders, especially ~/Library/Application Support, as there can be a lot of clutter from old programs. Be careful when deleting from this folder to avoid damaging macOS.

You can not move Apple's preinstalled apps. But you might try to move 3rd party apps to the external disk and see if they still work (their resources are still in the internal disk's Library folders unless you try to move also them -- I'd not do that).

One option is to use a big external disk as a boot volume itself.

LexxDataRecSolutions wrote:

Applications like Safari, Mail, Photos, Messages, Calendar, and others that come pre-installed with macOS should not be moved. These are part of the core applications provided by Apple.

It's not even a question of "should not be moved." They can't be moved.

Start with this list:

Apps included on your Mac - Apple Support

Note that there are some applications on the list that I think can be moved: Numbers, Pages, Keynote, iMovie and Garageband. If you can find the app in the App Store, it's one that can be removed.

You can't move them.

When I install a new app, the installer always asks where I want to install the app. What's the difference between choosing an external HD when I install an app or moving apps to an external HD now?

You asked specifically about Apple supplied apps. Those cannot be moved. They could be copied, but that won't help you. Any app that offers to choose the install location would likely work when moved. Others might not.

Moving them will not result in much extra space.

I have over 50 GB of applications in the Applications folder.

Perhaps you should get rid of some of the ones you don't use. A factory Sonoma install takes up only 18GB including all the apps. If you have 50GB of apps, you can try to move your third-party apps (and the Apple add-ons you have installed) to the external. Some will work and some will not. You might gain 32 GB of space.

The majority of the apps I have installed are less than 100 MB. There are a few large ones like Xcode (5.9GB), iMovie (4GB), Office Apps (1-2GB each), and Solitaire (5.9GB??). If you have lots in the GB range and they were drag and drop or offered you a location choice, you can likely move them without issue.

You need to move your data to the external drive, not the apps.

You can set your Movies, Music, and Photos libraries to an external drive.

All of my data is already on an external drive. Everything--documents, photos, movies, music.

If you only have 50GB of Apps and your data is not on your startup drive, what are you trying to make space for?

William M. wrote:

Which is really back to my original question. If I want to try to move some applications to free up space

Just to clarify, you can move any non-system apps, not counting the various background portions, anywhere you want. This will not free up any measurable storage space of any kind. There many be one or two problematic apps, like some games or things like Jamf, but those problems are specific to those apps. Moving other apps will only make your computer slower.

William M. wrote:

I should not move any application that was installed by the OS, since a future OS update wouldn't know where to find it. Is that true?

Kind of. You can't move them, so it's a moot point.

If it is, is there a way to tell which apps were part of the OS and which were installed by me? It's okay to move them, right?

In theory, you can put apps anywhere you want. However, many apps have additional components that can only be installed in specific locations. Typically those locations are hidden, so you wouldn't find them anyway. But otherwise, you can move apps anywhere you want.

However, that's going to be a waste of time. Moving apps isn't going to save any disk space. If you're having storage problems, they aren't caused by apps. It is possible that certain individual apps could be causing a problem, but that would be a problem just with that app. Moving 30 different apps won't be any improvement in that case, or any case, really.

William M. wrote:

Barney-15E wrote:

When I install a new app, the installer always asks where I want to install the app.

Is it asking where in general or is it asking if it's for all users or just one installing user?

William M. wrote:

Which is really back to my original question. If I want to try to move some applications to free up space, rather than having to try each one of them to see which ones can be moved and which ones can’t be moved, is there a way to know ahead of time which ones are System installed applications?

If they are made by Apple then most likely not.

Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iMovie are possible.

While not all apps, this list includes apps. All apps listed cannot be moved.

https://www.apple.com/macos/sonoma/pdf/macOS_All_New_Features.PDF

Matti Haveri wrote:

One option is to use a big external (SSD) disk as a boot volume itself.

…could not be completed because there was not enough disk space.

If all your data is on an external and your apps take up 50GB, what is using the remaining 180GB?