Weird Applications folder problem

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All I did was download Adobe's Kular and it was set to install in the applications folder. I then open the Finder and click on the Applications folder in the middle not on the left side, the folder is EMPTY but only has the Kular program it in. I then get freaked out thinking I lost all my programs and go to the hard-drive icon and open applications from there on the left side and everything is still there. I moved the Kular application to the apps folder where everything is but the apps folder in the finder is still EMPTY.

What is going on, can it be fixed?

Edited: sorry if this is in the wrong section.
 
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Run a Spotlight search for Applications, and see how many folders with that name turn up.

It might be just an ordinary, empty folder taking up residence on the drive.
 
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Run a Spotlight search for Applications, and see how many folders with that name turn up.

It might be just an ordinary, empty folder taking up residence on the drive.

Applications with the normal icon was created yesterday and same type of folder created in January. The one created yesterday is empty. Can I delete it?

3 other application folders with no mac apps icon.
 
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NOTE: Not a hardware issue. Moved to appropriate software forum.
 
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Applications with the normal icon was created yesterday and same type of folder created in January. The one created yesterday is empty. Can I delete it?

3 other application folders with no mac apps icon.
Strange you have so many apps folders.

If the folder with the icon is visible as soon as you click on the hard-drive icon, that's the correct one. Drag any apps from the others into it.

Make sure the others are empty before you trash them. But if you're concerned about doing this, compress the folders with Create Archive under the File menu, so they can't interact with the system. Run the computer for a while to see what happens. If and when nothing does, you'll know it's safe to trash them.
 
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Aren't you just looking at the root level Applications folder and your User Application folder? The root level Applications folder is at the first level when you double-click your hard drive icon. The User's Application folder is in the Users folder, double-click your Home directory. They both have the stylized "A" icon and they both can store applications, but generally all programs should be installed in the root level Applications folder.
 
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There is a screen shot attached and here are the locations of all my apps folders

"/Users/myname"
"/"
"/Users/myname/Library/Workflows"
"/Library/Application Support/Apple/Automator/Workflows"
"/Library/Documentation"

In the finder the applications folder in the middle goes to the blank screen. Under the hard drive icon the applications folder works fine.

appfolders.jpg
 
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If you didn't create them by accident, they probably belong there. I did a search of my drive just now and came up with three or four, as well. But nothing is in them.

Perhaps installers use them, because I haven't.
 
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If you didn't create them by accident, they probably belong there. I did a search of my drive just now and came up with three or four, as well. But nothing is in them.

Perhaps installers use them, because I haven't.

Can I just copy the full apps folder and paste it over the empty one?
 
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I'm not sure what you meant about "the middle" and "the left side" when you said:
I then open the Finder and click on the Applications folder in the middle not on the left side, the folder is EMPTY but only has the Kular program it in.
Are you referring to the icons on the left side of an open folder?

If so, it is only an alias/shortcut, so that particular Applications icon might be an alias of the wrong folder, not the main Applications folder, which is why it's empty or has only one app in it.
 
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Yes the icon on the left side and the icons in the middle of the finder window.
 
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OK. Those icons on the left are merely aliases. You can drag the Application-folder icon that's there now out of the window to the desktop, and it will disappear in a puff of smoke. This doesn't affect the real folder. Or you can leave it, if you want.

To put an alias of the main Applications folder in the same list of icons, open the hard drive and drag that Applications folder over to the open-folder window where the other aliases are, like you would if you were adding it to the dock.

From then on, when you click that particular icon alias, the main Applications folder will open.
 
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OK. Those icons on the left are merely aliases. You can drag the Application-folder icon that's there now out of the window to the desktop, and it will disappear in a puff of smoke. This doesn't affect the real folder. Or you can leave it, if you want.

To put an alias of the main Applications folder in the same list of icons, open the hard drive and drag that Applications folder over to the open-folder window where the other aliases are, like you would if you were adding it to the dock.

From then on, when you click that particular icon alias, the main Applications folder will open.

I probably did this backwards but I made an alias of the apps folder in the finder, so it would show the real apps folder from the hard drive icon. I take it the alias will update when the real folder updates?

So if this seems repetitive but I don't want to mess up my Mac since I don't know what I am doing?
 
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An alias is like another door to the same room. It's just a door, so if a sofa is added to the room, it's there no matter which door you use to enter the room.
 
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Now all my applications icons are switching to folder icons and only 1 has stayed the same. I have attached screenshots. How do I get them back to normal looking?

mac1.jpg

mac2.jpg
 
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The arrow shows that the icon is an alias/shortcut that you put there rather than dragging the original folder there.

(The original folder would create an alias there, too; it just wouldn't look like one.)
 
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The arrow shows that the icon is an alias/shortcut that you put there rather than dragging the original folder there.

(The original folder would create an alias there, too; it just wouldn't look like one.)

It was just weird that they all changed the folder icon without the apps icon.
 
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It was just weird that they all changed the folder icon without the apps icon.
By all, you mean every Finder window/folder? That's normal. Add or remove any icon, and every window/folder shows the change.

if you place two open folders side by side and add an icon to the sidebar in one, the icon also appears in the other sidebar.
 

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