A moved app won't open

An app you've moved runs from your external drive, with a shortcut left in Applications. If the drive isn't connected, the shortcut has nothing to open — plug the drive back in and the app opens as normal. If the drive is connected and the app still won't open, the Apps window shows whether the app was reinstalled by its maker or is missing from the drive, and lets you move it back to your Mac.

Likely causes

• The drive is disconnected or asleep. On the Moved tab the app's icon is replaced by a drive with a question mark — "Reconnect your fast drive to use …" — and its Open and Move back buttons are greyed out.
• The app updated or reinstalled itself. Some installers put a fresh copy back on your Mac instead of updating the moved one. You'll get a notification, "… was reinstalled", and the app shows an amber Reinstalled by vendor label on the Moved tab.
• The app is missing from the drive. The Apps window says "An app you moved is missing from your fast drive."
• The app needs a permission it didn't have before. After a reinstall, a notification may say "… needs permission review".

%% caption: Working out why a moved app won't open
flowchart TD
  A[A moved app won't open] --> B{Is the external drive connected?}
  B -->|No| C[Plug it in and open the app again]
  B -->|Yes| D[Open the Apps window, Moved tab]
  D --> E{What does the app show?}
  E -->|Reinstalled by vendor| F[Quit the app - Storage Studio moves it again]
  E -->|Missing from your fast drive| G[Click Review and restore a copy]
  E -->|Nothing unusual| H[Click Move back to run it from your Mac]

How to fix it

1. Connect the drive. Plug in your external drive and wait for it to appear in Finder, then open the app again. If the drive is plugged in but not showing, try Remount Drive in the More menu.
2. If the app was reinstalled, there's nothing to undo. "Storage Studio will move it to NVMe again." It waits until the app isn't running, so quit the app when you can. If the new version asks for permissions the old one didn't, the notification asks you to "Open Storage Studio to review and approve" — Storage Studio won't move it again until you have.
3. If the app is missing from the drive, click Review… on the notice in the Apps window. Storage Studio "looks for another copy before anything is removed". If it finds one, use Restore…; if it doesn't, Search again, or Remove link… to tidy up the leftover shortcut.
4. Move it back. On the Moved tab, click Move back next to the app. It's copied back into your Applications folder and runs from your Mac again. Your drive must be connected.
5. If you'd rather an app didn't depend on the drive at all, keep it on your Mac. Apps that update themselves often are good candidates — see Apps that update or reinstall themselves.

See also: Moved apps when the drive is disconnected · Missing moved apps: hide, recover or remove · Moving an app to your external drive · The Apps window · Something's not working: start here