Do you have tons of apps installed on your Mac, some of which you've totally forgotten about? You can have stock of them and go on a reference list of every plan on your arrangement in just a few moments.

Allow'southward take a look at several ways you can generate a list of installed applications on your Mac.

Why Would I Want a List of Installed Apps?

There are several reasons why it's a good idea to create a listing of your apps:

  • Y'all bought a new Mac and need to set information technology upwards. Before getting rid of your old Mac, you should generate a list of the programs on it so you know what to install on your new estimator.
  • Your Mac is misbehaving and you need to reinstall macOS. Mayhap your aging Mac is still running slowly even afterwards you lot've tried the tricks to speed upward your Mac. Generate a list of installed apps before reinstalling the system so you know what which apps to reinstall in one case yous load the fresh OS.
  • Yous want to downgrade macOS. If you own an older Mac, the newer releases of macOS may non run well on your car. The just option for downgrading is a fresh installation of macOS. Having a list of installed apps before downgrading is useful so you know which apps to reinstall, if those apps piece of work on the older organization.

Here'southward how to see the installed apps on your Mac.

i. List All Apps Using Finder and TextEdit

All apps that come bundled with a new Mac, plus apps you installed through both the App Store and most package managers, are in the Applications folder.

You can hands generate a list of all apps in the Applications binder using Finder and TextEdit. To begin, open up Finder and hit Cmd + Shift + A to jump to the Applications folder.

If you're not currently viewing the contents of the Applications folder as a listing, printing Cmd + 2 or go to View > as List.

view apps as list mac

Some apps are in subfolders in the Applications folder. To display apps in subfolders, aggrandize the folders you'd similar to include past clicking on the triangle icon to the left of the folder.

In one case you've expanded all the folders you want, hit Cmd + A to select all the items in the Applications folder. And then printing Cmd + C to copy the list.

select all apps mac

Open a new certificate in TextEdit. Then go to Edit > Paste and Match Way, or hitting Cmd + Pick + Shift + Five.

paste apps list mac

All the apps in Finder's Applications folder, including apps in expanded folders, will paste equally a list into the TextEdit file. Some of the files in the subfolders may non exist apps. Y'all can go through the list and delete any files that do not terminate in .app.

Hit Cmd + S to save this file as either a TXT or RTF file. You should copy this file to an external or network bulldoze so it's bachelor even if y'all can't access your electric current machine.

apps on mac list

ii. Listing All Apps Using the Terminal

On a Mac, you can also use the Concluding to list all your installed applications. Launch a Final window (from Applications > Utilities or using Spotlight search with Cmd + Space) and type the following command at the prompt:

          ls -la /Applications/ > /Users/[USERNAME]/InstalledApps/InstalledAppsTerminal.txt

This generates a detailed directory list of the Applications folder and writes it to a text file at the path specified. Brand sure to supplant [USERNAME] with yours, and feel free to change the path and file name if you like.

show apps in terminal

The -la attributes tells the arrangement to show a detailed list of all files in the folder (-l), including subconscious files (-a). This provides a more detailed list than the Finder and TextEdit method discussed in the previous section.

terminal apps list mac

3. List All APP Files Everywhere Using Terminal

Sometimes apps install in locations other than the Applications folder, especially if yous download apps from outside the App Store. In this instance, yous can generate a list of apps installed anywhere for any user and in any folder using a command in the Terminal.

Launch a Terminal window (Applications > Utilities or using Spotlight) and type the following command at the prompt:

          sudo discover / -iname '*.app' > /Users/[USERNAME]/InstalledApps/InstalledAppsOnSystemTerminal.txt

This finds any APP file on your system, ignoring case (-iname), and sends the results to the specified text file. Call up to replace [USERNAME] with yours and change the path and file name if you wish.

You can also limit the results to a specific binder by replacing the slash (/) afterwards find with the path to the binder to search.

list all app files in terminal mac

In that location's a gamble you'll meet some Operation not permitted messages. This is because the find command searches the unabridged organisation, and some areas of the organisation don't permit access. You lot may also see the Not a directory message. Don't worry well-nigh either of these---you'll yet get a list of the APP files on your system.

The list includes the full path to each file.

list of all apps and paths mac

4. List All Mac App Store Apps Using Terminal

You might want to know which apps you've installed merely from the Mac App Shop. To generate this list, launch a Final window (Applications > Utilities or Spotlight search) and blazon the following command at the prompt:

          find /Applications -path '*Contents/_MASReceipt/receipt' -maxdepth 4 -print |
ed 'due south#.app/Contents/_MASReceipt/receipt#.app#chiliad; s#/Applications/##'

This control looks in the Applications folder, and so goes into the receipts folder for each app (which is in the bundle contents of every app) to see which accept a receipt from the Mac App Store.

The results of the search are listed in the Terminal window. To salvage the list to a text file, select the list of APP files and copy it (Cmd + C). Then yous can paste it into a document in TextEdit or another certificate app, and relieve the list.

list installed apps from mac app store

Back up Your Mac App Lists

With the methods we discussed, you lot could get up to iv different lists of apps. So it's probably a practiced idea to use multiple methods to generate more than i list of apps when yous need to bank check the installed software on your Mac.

Remember to shop your lists of apps on an external or network bulldoze then you lot accept it when setting up your new Mac or the reinstalled organization on your current Mac. Text files are a good pick of format for your lists. Since TextEdit or whatever other text editor can read them, yous won't demand to install special software.

If you need to mankind out your list of installed apps, check out our guide to the best Mac apps.

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Virtually The Writer

Andy Betts (216 Articles Published)

Andy is a freelance writer and inferior editor for Android at MUO. He'southward been writing about consumer tech since the early on 2000s for a wide range of publications, and has a passion for all things mobile.

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