User profile for user: baldbeardie
baldbeardie Author
User level: Level 1
17 points

symbolic links and Launchpad

I organise my Applications folder into sub-folders. For example, after installing the Office suite, I created a sub-folder and move the relevant apps into it. I have been doing this for years.


In theory, I should be able to put my apps anywhere I like within the filesystem. If I do this, I can navigate to this apps within Finder and run them, and they work. And I can place a symlink to the apps' location within the Appliations folder. The trouble is that Mission Control seems to be unable to see any app that is the "other" side of a symlink.


Is this a bug or a feature, and if the latter, why?

Mac mini (M4)

Posted on Apr 1, 2025 2:39 AM

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User profile for user: etresoft
etresoft
User level: Level 9
53,516 points

Apr 3, 2025 6:40 AM in response to baldbeardie

baldbeardie wrote:

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I'm afraid that replying to gratuitously patronising and insulting speculation, especially incorrect speculation, is not high on my priority list.

In other words - Bingo! Called it!


FIrst, you seem to be missing the point. I have used a symlink in an apparently legitimate way. So far as I know the context is also legitimate. Therefore the failure of Launchpad to follow the link looks like a bug.

As I explained, Launchpad doesn't use symbolic links at all. It uses an internal database.


frankly, not your business to know or speculate upon!

You came here asking a question and then scold me for doing so?


Your second point is, perhaps, more interesting, but It is not clear on what you base your advice. Is this Apple's advice from Apple, published somewhere else, or do you, perhaps, have some specialist or inside knowledge? Or is it merely further speculation?

My second point? The second point in my previous post was this:


Just what are you trying to accomplish anyway? This sounds like the after-effects of some social media influencer telling people they can save money by buying a tiny internal hard drive and using an external instead.

This is speculation, but it is informed speculation based on many, many similar posts. Your aggressive response confirms that I was correct. You did, indeed, spend a lot of money on a new Mac mini with a hard drive that was too small for your needs. Now you are trying to follow some instructions posted in a video of some dude sitting in his car. Alas, video dude didn't know what he was talking about. You aren't going to be able to recover any meaningful drive space by moving apps to an external drive.


Now you're stuck in a rabbit hole trying to figure out symbolic links and Launchpad, when they aren't even related. Nothing I can do about that.

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User profile for user: Luis Sequeira1
Luis Sequeira1
User level: Level 9
69,714 points

Apr 1, 2025 6:33 AM in response to baldbeardie

The title says "Launchpad" but the text mentions "Mission Control".

Please explain exactly where and how the problem manifests.


I suppose that the reference to Mission Control may have been a mistake, but please clarify.


I don't use Launchpad, but I went to have a look and it showed not just applications that live in /Applications,

but also:

  • applications that are in subfolders of /Applications
  • applications that have an alias in /Applications and live elsewhere
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User profile for user: baldbeardie
baldbeardie Author
User level: Level 1
17 points

Apr 1, 2025 9:03 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

You are, of course, correct, so brain fade on my part - for Mission Control read Launchpad in all cases.


I must admit I had never thought of using aliases - but it would be annoying to have to alias every app that I moved elsewhere. Moreover I have always avoided aliases after having found them, in MacOS and other Unix systems to be less reliable and robust than aliases - though I accept that experience is somewhat ancient, and my now be out of date.


I performed the following steps:


  1. Created an MS-Office subfolder in /Applications
  2. Moved all the MS-Office apps (eg, Word, Excel, etc etc) into the /Applications/MS-Office folder.
  3. Opened Launchad. All the MS-Office apps were visible and could be started by clicking them, in the usual way.
  4. Navigated in Finder to the /Applications/MS-Office folder. Any of the apps could be started with a double-click.
  5. created a "MyApps" folder on a drive that is not my boot drive.
  6. copied the /Applications.MS-Office sub-folder to the MyApps folder.
  7. created a symlink to MyApps in the /Applications folder, and checked that in finder treated the symlink correctly - ie, I could navigate in Finder the path /Applications/MyApps/MS-Office, and see all the MS-Office apps. By double-clicking any of those apps, or by right-clicking and selecting "Open" from the dropdown, then the app would run.
  8. Opened Launchpad. All the MS-Office apps were shown.
  9. Changed the permissions on /Applications/MS-Office to write only (remember that there is still a copy of that folder in MyApps) and opened Launchpad again. None of the MS-Office apps were shown. Changed the permissions on the folder to read/write, and the apps reappeared in Launchpad.

.

My conclusion is that Launchpad is not correctly dealing with the symlink /Applications/MyApps, because if fails to find any app on the other side of the symlink.

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User profile for user: etresoft
etresoft
User level: Level 9
53,516 points

Apr 1, 2025 9:53 AM in response to baldbeardie

You're just confusing the operating system.


Just what are you trying to accomplish anyway? This sounds like the after-effects of some social media influencer telling people they can save money by buying a tiny internal hard drive and using an external instead.


If my theory is true, then it's a little late to realize you've been played. Now you just have to live with the consequences.


Forget the /Applications folder. Just create a new Applications folder on your external drive. Name it whatever you want. Organize it however you want. It doesn't matter. You don't need any symlinks or aliases anywhere. Just delete the apps from the internal, empty the trash, restart, and make sure to manually re-launch each app from the external. That will fix the database. The apps should show up in LaunchPad too.


I'm also guessing that you didn't install those Microsoft apps using the Mac App Store, where you would have more control over them. Hopefully that new configuration works with Microsoft's autoupdating mechanism.

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User profile for user: baldbeardie
baldbeardie Author
User level: Level 1
17 points

Apr 3, 2025 3:54 AM in response to etresoft

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I'm afraid that replying to gratuitously patronising and insulting speculation, especially incorrect speculation, is not high on my priority list.


FIrst, you seem to be missing the point. I have used a symlink in an apparently legitimate way. So far as I know the context is also legitimate. Therefore the failure of Launchpad to follow the link looks like a bug. It may be a feature, if there is some specified restriction on using symlinks in that context, but so far there is no evidence to that effect. Note that the reason I chose to use a symlink in that way in that context is irrelevant - and, frankly, not your business to know or speculate upon!


Your second point is, perhaps, more interesting, but It is not clear on what you base your advice. Is this Apple's advice from Apple, published somewhere else, or do you, perhaps, have some specialist or inside knowledge? Or is it merely further speculation?

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symbolic links and Launchpad

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