Have you noticed when you try and move an application out of the /Applications folder in modern versions of Mac OS X, you will end up creating an alias of the app instead?
What if you want to move an application out of the Applications folder of MacOS, and put the app somewhere else?
This behavior is a security feature that was introduced to the Mac all the way back in Mac OS X in Lion but persists through today, which is intended to help prevent accidentally deleting or moving apps, and in some ways it’s convenient way to quickly make an app alias. But what if you actually want to move an application out of the /Applications/ directory, to another location?
Moving an Application out of the Applications Folder on Mac OS
If you want to move an app out of the Applications folder, how you do so is easy: just hold down the Command key while dragging the app out of the folder.
This will allow it to pop out of the containing folder and go to the new destination.
You may need to authenticate with a system admin password and login to be able to make the change, depending on what version of MacOS and what your security settings are on the individual Mac.
The only real exception to this trick is if the applications destination is the Trash, because you will continue to need to enter the administrator password if you attempt to uninstall an app by dragging it into the Trash can the old fashioned way. That’s also a security feature of Mac OS X, intended to prevent accidental removal of apps.
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