Organizing the Mac OS X Applications directory

"You can move Applications to any folder. There is nothing magic about the Applications folder other than that it's especially easy to get to from the Finder. Feel free to add any subdirectories and put the apps in them.

When I download an app I'm not sure if I want to keep, usually I'll just run it out of the ~/Downloads folder. All personal settings get saved in your home directory, so nothing gets lost when I eventually move the app to the /Applications folder.

As commenters have mentioned, it's probably not a good idea to move Apple apps since it will cause problems with Software Update. In general, though, an app can be run from anywhere your user account can access it."

You can manually set a directory where you put aliases to your apps, just like Windows start menu. Put that directory to your Dock, and that's all!

"I would recommend downloading and installing quicksilver.

It is free and you can just type the start of the name of the program and hit return and it will open.

http://quicksilver.en.softonic.com/mac"

"Like the OP, I wanted to have something other than an endless list to find my apps.

However upgrades become problematic. Often an upgraded app ends up back in Applications, while the one originally installed remains wherever you moved it.

I found that a better way was to let OS X put the apps where it wanted, but to create a link tree (MyApps) organized the way I wanted it. Make aliases to each app, then move the aliases into the folder tree where you want them. Optionally you can place apps in more than one place.

Another option is to bring this folder down onto the doc. Right click on it, and set view to ""Grid""
Next you can modify the icons of each folder to be appropriate to the class of activity.

This allows you to clean up your dock from all but items you constantly use."

"I have always chosen to create subdirectories in the /Applications folder for organising things. There are several options, but if you prepend your category folders with - they will always be sorted at the top (assuming you sort alphabetically):

-Developer

-Media

-Productivity

-Tools

App Store

Automator"