Duplicated Icons in Applications directory from dock.

Owl-53 wrote:

Have no duplications of applications nor the Apps app

The Apps App is what replaced Launchpad in Tahoe. Every installation of Tahoe has the Apps.app.

The duplication of apps in the Apps app, suggests corruption of the Spotlight index.

This can be rebuilt, but it can take some time.

click here ➜ Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

VictorSMiller wrote:

I just checked. I searched the only external drive that isn't dedicated to Time Machine backups. There are no '.app' directories there.

Looking at your original post, it appears that the apps that are duplicated are the ones that come with the MacOS. The apps that are downloaded and installed later by the user are not duplicated. I think this provides a clue -- such as, you could have a second MacOS installation somewhere on your Mac or in a drive attached to your Mac. This might be a bare MacOS installation without any non-Apple apps yet installed.

What is the history of your Mac and when/how you installed the MacOS?

So I would tend to agree with Luis and Etresoft, those duplicate icons are in fact telling you that you do have an additional copy of those Apple apps (note that only the Apple-supplied ones are duplicated) somewhere that is being indexed.

VictorSMiller wrote:

I ran Etrecheck and looked at the full report. It made no mention of spotlight.

Perhaps you don't have the most recent version. I just added Spotlight reporting in version 6.8.13.

However, I don't think a corrupt spotlight index is the cause. I think your spotlight index is running just fine, and correctly reporting what is referenced here:

Luis Sequeira wrote:

This usually indicates that you have other copies of those applications, perhaps in an attached external drive.

This usually indicates that you have other copies of those applications, perhaps in an attached external drive.

Phil0124 wrote:

Owl-53 wrote:

Thank you

The New Apple Apps is yes part of the new spotlight in Tahoe

On this we agree 👍

👍🏻

The same Apple Apps does appear on the Dock as well as in Finder >> Go >> Applications

As presented by OP using their method " When I click on the dock icon for Apps "

All I can say is on 1 M4 Desktop, 1 M4 Laptop and 1 M2 Desktop each with Tahoe 26.2, I fail to see the afore mentioned application

The Duplication issue

Perhaps your suggestion may work

The Apps app won't appear inside itself no. This lends further credence to the fact the Spotlight index is corrupted and just showing everything without filters and even duplicating them.

Thank you again 👍 👍

It begs the question Why the Spotlight indexing become corrupted in the first place

Not an easy one to answer without additional insights ? ie Etrecheck ?

The More Eyes on the Full Report the Better

There are 4 Categories of Third Party Software / Services that are not needed 

Get rid of them via the Developers Instruction 

In no special order 

Third Party 2 Way Firewalls 

Commercial VPNs 

Third Party Security Software 

Third Party Disk Cleaners / Optimizer 

That last one is my favourite and often seen on the forums

CleanMyMac , aka “ BrickMyMac “

Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS,  is an invitation for disaster. 

Certain Applications maybe available on the Apple Apps Store - this only means the Developer is prepared to pay Apple a percentage on each sale. 

What the Application may do to the computer is up to the User to check this out before purchase

To put the Third Party Disk Cleaner / Optimizer in context and the damages it may have or has already done.

This type of applications can or will Muck Up your User Account ( Home Folder ) of this machine.

It does not touch the Operating System itself unless you consider your User Account ( Home Folder ) as part of the Operating System.

The Operating System may be  hosed

I don't see anything that looks like a duplicate boot setup. As you can see from the primary boot drive layout, it's pretty easy to identify. But you do have some external drives. Those could have copies on them.

Here's something you can try. Right click or control click on each copy of a particular app and choose "Show in Finder". One copy should be in Applications and the other should be somewhere else.

If I may ask

What is this " App Clea..taller " and how did the computer get the Apple " Apps.app " into this location

Running Tahoe 26.2 on a M4 Desktop

Have no duplications of applications nor the Apps app

Perhaps as you have the Etrecheck application already installed

If you choose to run the application and post the Full Report

It may or may not provide some insights ?

Owl-53 wrote:

Thank you

The New Apple Apps is yes part of the new spotlight in Tahoe

On this we agree 👍

👍🏻

The same Apple Apps does appear on the Dock as well as in Finder >> Go >> Applications

As presented by OP using their method " When I click on the dock icon for Apps "

All I can say is on 1 M4 Desktop, 1 M4 Laptop and 1 M2 Desktop each with Tahoe 26.2, I fail to see the afore mentioned application

The Duplication issue

Perhaps your suggestion may work

The Apps app won't appear inside itself no. This lends further credence to the fact the Spotlight index is corrupted and just showing everything without filters and even duplicating them.

Is it at all possible that com.nektony.App-Cleaner-SIII-Monitor " Best uninstaller and cleaning assistant for your Mac "

It has done more than what it was intended to do ?

Have never using any Third Party Uninstaller or Cleaning applications so can not speak from personal experiences

Thank you

The New Apple Apps is yes part of the new spotlight in Tahoe

On this we agree 👍

The same Apple Apps does appear on the Dock as well as in Finder >> Go >> Applications

As presented by OP using their method " When I click on the dock icon for Apps "

All I can say is on 1 M4 Desktop, 1 M4 Laptop and 1 M2 Desktop each with Tahoe 26.2, I fail to see the afore mentioned application

The Duplication issue

Perhaps your suggestion may work

VictorSMiller wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. However, I already thought of that. When I right click on any of the icons nothing happens. I even tried combining right click with option, function and control. Still nothing. The only "Show in Finder" is when I scroll down to the end. When I click on that it just opens up Finder in Applications (which are merged directories with /System/Applications, /Applications and ~/Applications). There are no duplicates there. There are also no duplicates when I run Apps.app.

That is odd.

Right-clicking (or control-clicking, or clicking with two fingers on the trackpad) should give you a contextual menu like this: