--- title: "Moving an app to your external drive" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-an-app category: "Apps" tags: ["apps", "external drive", "free up space", "moving"] summary: "Move copies an app to your external drive, checks the copy, then leaves a shortcut in its place, so the app opens from the Dock, Launchpad and Spotlight exactly as before while its space on your Mac is freed." updated: 2026-10-01T05:31:27.000Z --- # Moving an app to your external drive Move copies an app to your external drive, checks the copy, then leaves a shortcut in its place, so the app opens from the Dock, Launchpad and Spotlight exactly as before while its space on your Mac is freed. **Move** takes an app off your Mac's built-in disk and puts it on your external drive, then leaves a [shortcut](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-shortcut) where the app used to be. You keep opening it the same way, from the Dock, Launchpad, Spotlight or your Applications folder, and the space it took on your Mac is freed. You can bring it back at any time with **Move back**. ## Before you start - Your external drive must be connected and set up for Storage Studio. The **Move** button is greyed out while it isn't. See [Setting up your drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/setting-up-your-drive). - Quit the app. An app that's open is **Blocked** and has no **Move** button. - Check its badge. **Safe** and **Caveat** apps move straight away; **Override** apps ask you to confirm first. See [App safety levels](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/app-safety-levels). ## Moving an app 1. Open the [Apps window](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-apps-window) and choose the **Internal** tab. 2. Find the app. Lower the **Older than** filter if it isn't listed. 3. Click **Move**. For an **Override** app, click **Override → Move** instead, read the risk in the sheet, and click **Move anyway** if you're happy to go ahead. 4. Watch the badge next to the button: **Preparing…**, then **Copying to NVMe…**, then **Wrapping up…**. A large app may show **Still working…** with the time so far. 5. When it's done, the app leaves the **Internal** tab and appears on the **Moved** tab. You can also right-click an app on the **All Apps** grid and choose **Move to Fast Drive**. Apps move one at a time. If you click **Move** on several apps, the others wait their turn and show **Waiting (next up)** or **Waiting (… ahead)**. ## What happens during a move ```mermaid %% caption: The steps of an app move, and what happens if one fails flowchart TD A[You click Move] --> B[Checks: app present, drive ready, no copy already there] B --> C[The app is copied to your external drive] C --> D{Is every file there, at the same size?} D -->|No| R[The copy is abandoned. The original is untouched] D -->|Yes| E[The original is set aside on your Mac] E --> F[A shortcut is put where the app was] F --> G[macOS is told where the app now lives] G --> H[The set-aside original is deleted and the space is freed] ``` *Flowchart — The steps of an app move, and what happens if one fails. Outline:* - You click Move - leads to Checks: app present, drive ready, no copy already there - Checks: app present, drive ready, no copy already there - leads to The app is copied to your external drive - The app is copied to your external drive - leads to Is every file there, at the same size? - Is every file there, at the same size? - No: leads to The copy is abandoned. The original is untouched - Yes: leads to The original is set aside on your Mac - The original is set aside on your Mac - leads to A shortcut is put where the app was - A shortcut is put where the app was - leads to macOS is told where the app now lives - macOS is told where the app now lives - leads to The set-aside original is deleted and the space is freed The original is never deleted until the copy on your drive has been checked file by file and the shortcut is in place. If anything fails along the way, Storage Studio puts the original back and tells you why at the bottom of the window. A failed move shows **Failed — see details** on the row. If the app was installed by macOS as a protected app, macOS asks for your administrator password while the original is set aside. If you cancel the prompt, nothing is changed. ## What's left on your Mac - **A shortcut** with the app's name, in the folder the app came from. It's tiny. Don't delete it — it's how macOS finds the app. - **The app's own data stays on your Mac.** Its settings, saved documents, caches and other files in your user Library are not moved. Only the app itself goes to the drive. If you want its data off your Mac too, [offload](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/offloading-an-app) it instead. ## Opening the app afterwards Open it exactly as before. Storage Studio refreshes the Dock and asks macOS to re-index the app, so Spotlight and the Dock find it straight away. A few things you may notice: - macOS may ask again for permissions such as the camera, microphone or files. Click **Allow**. - A Dock icon may briefly show a placeholder. - On the **All Apps** grid, a moved app has a small external-drive badge on its icon. The app needs your drive to be connected to open. See [Moved apps when the drive is disconnected](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moved-apps-when-the-drive-is-offline). ## Bringing it back On the **Moved** tab, click **Move back** (or right-click the app on the grid and choose **Move Back to This Mac**). Storage Studio copies the app back, checks the copy, swaps it in for the shortcut, and only then deletes the copy on your drive. If a newer version of the app was installed on your Mac in the meantime, it keeps the newer one. See [Apps that update or reinstall themselves](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/apps-that-update-or-reinstall-themselves). See also: [Why some apps can't be moved](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/why-some-apps-cant-be-moved) · [A moved app won't open](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-moved-app-wont-open) · [Verified copy](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-verified-copy) · [The shortcut left behind after a move](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-shortcut-left-behind) - **How do I move apps to an external drive on a Mac and still launch them?** Dragging an app to another drive can break it, because macOS expects it in /Applications. Storage Studio relocates the app to your external drive and leaves a shortcut in place, so it still launches normally from Launchpad, Spotlight, and the Dock — and you can move it back in one click. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **How do I use an external SSD as extra storage on a MacBook?** Plug in a USB-C or Thunderbolt SSD and let Storage Studio pair it with your internal drive as one workspace. It moves big folders, libraries, and apps to the SSD with a shortcut left behind, so your MacBook behaves like it has a much bigger disk — fast enough to work directly off the external drive. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Can I move my Photos or Final Cut library to an external drive?** Yes — large Photos, Final Cut, and iMovie libraries are common space hogs. Storage Studio relocates them to an external drive while keeping them usable, leaving a shortcut so your apps still find them. Moving a folder to your fast drive keeps its files' modified and created dates, permissions,… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Will moving files to another drive break my apps or Spotlight?** Not the way Storage Studio does it. It leaves a shortcut (symlink) at the original location, so apps, Finder, and Spotlight resolve everything as if it never moved — and the move is fully reversible. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) ## What links here - [A moved app won't open](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-moved-app-wont-open) - [App safety level](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-app-safety-level) - [App safety levels](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/app-safety-levels) - [Apps that update or reinstall themselves](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/apps-that-update-or-reinstall-themselves) - [Freeing up space: the options](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/freeing-up-space-overview) - [How Storage Studio keeps every change reversible](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-storage-studio-keeps-you-safe) - [Letting another AI assistant read your storage](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/ai-access) - [Moved apps when the drive is disconnected](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moved-apps-when-the-drive-is-offline) - [Offloading and restoring an app](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/offloading-an-app) - [Relocate](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-relocate) - [Storage Studio and macOS Storage settings](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/compared-with-macos-storage-settings) - [The Apps window](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-apps-window) - [The Home folder in the Finder location](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-home-folder-in-finder) - [The shortcut left behind after a move](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-shortcut-left-behind) - [Uninstalling Storage Studio](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/uninstalling-storage-studio) - [Why some apps can't be moved](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/why-some-apps-cant-be-moved)