---
title: "The Apps window"
url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-apps-window
category: "Apps"
tags: ["apps", "external drive", "free up space"]
summary: "The Apps window lists every app on your Mac and lets you open, move, offload or uninstall each one. It has four tabs: All Apps, Internal, Moved and Offloaded."
updated: 2026-10-01T05:31:24.000Z
---

# The Apps window

The Apps window lists every app on your Mac and lets you open, move, offload or uninstall each one. It has four tabs: All Apps, Internal, Moved and Offloaded.

The **Apps** window is where you manage the apps on your Mac. It shows every app in one place, tells you how safe each one is to move, and gives each app its own buttons to **Open**, **Move**, **Offload** or **Uninstall** it. Apps that you have moved or offloaded have their own tabs, so you can always bring them back.

## Opening it

- **In the Intelligence view**, click the **Manage Apps** card on the Home screen to open the full window. The **Apps** tab at the top of the main window shows the same app grid without the other tabs.
- **In the Advanced view**, click **Apps** in the menu bar popover.
- **From anywhere**, press the Apps shortcut (**⌃ Space** unless you've changed it). See [The All Apps grid and its shortcut](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-all-apps-grid).

Storage Studio calls your external drive your **fast drive** in this window, and some labels still say **NVMe**. Both mean the external drive you set up for Storage Studio.

## The four tabs

Each tab shows a count, so you can see at a glance how many apps are in each state.

| Tab | What it shows | What you can do there |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **All Apps** | Every app, as a grid of large icons | Search, open, and right-click for every other action |
| **Internal** | Apps still on your Mac's built-in disk, as a list | See each app's safety badge, then **Open**, **Move**, **Offload** or **Uninstall** |
| **Moved** | Apps you moved to your external drive | **Open**, **Move back**, **Offload** or **Uninstall** |
| **Offloaded** | Apps archived on your external drive | **Restore** or **Remove** |

```mermaid
%% caption: The Apps window at a glance
mindmap
  root((Apps window))
    All Apps
      Search
      Open with Return
      Right-click actions
    Internal
      Safety badge
      Move
      Offload
      Uninstall
    Moved
      Move back
      Reinstalled by vendor label
    Offloaded
      Restore
      Remove
```

*Mind map — The Apps window at a glance. Outline:*

- Apps window
  - All Apps
    - Search
    - Open with Return
    - Right-click actions
  - Internal
    - Safety badge
    - Move
    - Offload
    - Uninstall
  - Moved
    - Move back
    - Reinstalled by vendor label
  - Offloaded
    - Restore
    - Remove

## The Internal tab's filters

The **Internal** tab is built for finding apps worth moving, so it starts filtered:

- **Older than** shows only apps you haven't opened for at least that many days. It starts at 30 days. The stepper goes from **Any age** to 365 days, and the **All**, **30d**, **60d**, **90d**, **180d** and **365d** buttons jump straight to a value. Apps with no record of being opened are always shown.
- **Hide running** is on by default. Apps that are open can't be moved, so hiding them keeps the list short.
- The count on the right says how many apps the filters are hiding, and why.

If the list is empty, you'll see **No apps match the current filter**. Lower the **Older than** value or turn off **Hide running**.

## Sorting and filtering

The sort menu sorts by **Name**, **Last used**, **Size** or **Safety**. It can also filter by app category and, on the All Apps grid, by location (**All locations**, **Internal**, **Moved** or **Offloaded**). Sorting by **Safety** puts all the apps you can move freely together, then the ones with a caveat, then the ones that need an override, then the blocked ones. [App safety levels](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/app-safety-levels) explains the badges.

## The header

- **Scanning…** and **Classifying … of …** show progress while Storage Studio reads your apps and works out how safe each one is to move. Rows show **Classifying…** until their badge is ready.
- The **?** button opens a guide to every badge and label in the window.
- **Refresh** scans your apps again. Do this after you quit an app that was blocked because it was running.

## Messages you might see

- A red line at the bottom of the window explains anything that couldn't be done, such as a move that failed. Nothing fails silently.
- An orange banner, **An app you moved is missing from your fast drive.**, appears when a moved app's files are gone from a connected drive. Its **Review…** button opens the steps in [Missing moved apps: hide, recover or remove](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/missing-moved-apps).
- When several moves are running, a banner shows which app is moving and how many are done.

## Which action to choose

- **Move** keeps the app working exactly as before, from your external drive. See [Moving an app to your external drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-an-app).
- **Offload** frees the most space, but the app can't open until you restore it. See [Offloading and restoring an app](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/offloading-an-app).
- **Uninstall** removes the app and its leftover files. See [Uninstalling an app completely](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/uninstalling-an-app).

See also: [Why some apps can't be moved](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/why-some-apps-cant-be-moved) · [Moved apps when the drive is disconnected](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moved-apps-when-the-drive-is-offline) · [App safety level](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-app-safety-level)

- **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)
- [A tour of the Data Parking window](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-data-parking-window)
- [App safety levels](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/app-safety-levels)
- [Drive formats: APFS, Mac OS Extended and exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-formats)
- [Missing moved apps: hide, recover or remove](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/missing-moved-apps)
- [Move, Merge or Relocate: which to choose](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/move-merge-or-relocate)
- [Moving an app to your external drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-an-app)
- [Offload](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-offload)
- [Offloading and restoring an app](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/offloading-an-app)
- [Show in Dock](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/show-apps-in-dock)
- [The All Apps grid and its shortcut](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-all-apps-grid)
- [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 an app completely](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/uninstalling-an-app)
- [Uninstalling an app versus dragging it to the Trash](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/compared-with-dragging-an-app-to-the-trash)
- [What Storage Studio does](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-storage-studio-does)
- [What to know about exFAT drives](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/exfat-drives)
- [Where to start: pick your goal](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/where-to-start)