How to remove an icon from launchpad that does not appear in the Finder?

Question

I have moved an installer into the launchpad (uTorrent-Installer). The problem is that I would like to remove it now but as it is an installer it doesn't appear in "Applications" in the Finder. I can't right-click the icon to remove it nor can I drag and drop it into the trash.

Can I delete apps from launchpad?

Answer 1

If you are using Yosemite here is the surgical approach to remove only what you want to, instead of wiping out all of Launchpad.

Open up your Terminal app of choice, then use the following command:

sqlite3 $(find /private/var/folders \( -name com.apple.dock.launchpad -a -user $USER \) 2> /dev/null)/db/db "DELETE FROM apps WHERE title='APP_NAME_CASE_SENSITIVE';" && killall Dock

to remove an application from the Launchpad.

Answer 2

Drag the icon or icons to the dock, then right click the icon on dock, select "option" - "show in finder", system will open a window to show you where the app located, then you can just threw it/them to the Trash.

Answer 3

By default, Launchpad shows you all the apps installed on your Mac.

To remove a Mac App Store app that appears in Launchpad

Follow these steps while you are logged in with an administrator account:

1. Enter Launchpad.
2. Click and hold on an icon until you see all icons jiggle.
3. Click the "x" button in the upper-left of the Mac App Store app icon you want to delete.

Note: If you do not see an "x" button, either the app is not from the Mac App Store or you are logged in as a standard user.

4. Click "Delete" in the confirmation dialog to delete the app.

Tip: If you want to reinstall a deleted app, open Mac App Store, click the Purchases icon, then click on the "Install" button for the app.

This post is a shameless copy from: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4673

Check your Downloads folder

As you are talking about an installer, this might be located in your Downloads folder. If so, you need to remove it there.

Another way to delete an app from the launchpad:

1. start your app from the launchpad
2. right click you app in the Dock
3. choose for 'options' -> 'Show in Finder'
4. now you can also delete it

Answer 4

Check both of your Applications folders — there is an OS application folder (Shift+Command+A) and there is a user-based Application folder which is in the users home folder (Shift+Command+H).

Answer 5

1. open finder
2. go to your home or root directory (Icon looks like a house, may have your name or the name of your mac on it)
3. Open the applications folder located in that directory.
4. Drag the offending icon to the trash
5. Check Launchpad and watch it fade away

Answer 6

When an app has been uninstalled, often the icons are still in Launchpad. You still can not remove it. To remove click it and it will show with an question mark: drag it to the trash then.

Answer 7

macOS Sierra 10.12.3:

If it's a .dmg file:

1. Eject it in desktop
2. Delete it in finder
3. Open it in launchpad: It will show "?" in the icon
4. You can now drag and drop it to Trash

Answer 8

I noticed while trying to figure this out that some of the apps displayed in LaunchPad aren't MacOS apps at all- but Chrome extensions that I added to the browser.

To delete these, you can either:

1) Open a finder folder and enter (Shift+Command+H) to see the applications folder there- you can delete these items by dragging to the trash - or;

2) Load Chrome and going to settings/extensions and deleting them from the browser itself.

Answer 9

Check the Chrome Apps folder to see if the app you're trying to delete is showing up on Launcher but n ot in Application.

Your HDD> Users> [YOU]> Applications> Chrome Apps.

This worked for me, I hope it works for someone else.

Answer 10

For Sierra first run this:

sqlite3 $(sudo find /private/var/folders -name com.apple.dock.launchpad)/db/db "DELETE FROM apps WHERE title='APP_NAME_CASE_SENSITIVE';" && killall Dock

which will result in an "unable to open database file" error response. Copy the database file name which is within the begin and end double quotes in the error response.

Next run this:

sqlite3 PASTE_WHAT_YOU_COPIED/db/db "DELETE FROM apps WHERE title='APP_NAME_CASE_SENSITIVE';" && killall Dock

Answer 11

I had the same problem as you, but I fixed it with these steps (the app wasn't from the Mac App Store):

1. Delete the app using Finder.
2. Empty your trash.
3. App will now have a question mark icon which you can drag to the trash.

Answer 12

In difficult cases, you may need to have the Launchpad rebuilt from scratch. I had to do this when I found an app in my Launchpad that could not be opened "because it may be damaged or incomplete," but I was unable to find the app anywhere on my system.

This hack requires executing commands from the Darwin command line with the Terminal app. You can do some real damage in the command line if you're not experienced with it (sometimes even when you are experienced). If you still want to try this but you are at all hesitant about it, do as you would with any potentially dangerous operation and make sure you have a current backup of your system.

I really mean it when I say the Launchpad icons will be rebuilt from scratch. They will probably end up in completely different places than what you remember, which could be a hassle if you have spent a lot of time organizing them into folders or otherwise arranging them "just so."

1. Open a terminal window.
2. Enter cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock.
3. Enter ls.
4. You should see a filename that looks something like 283F028F-D4F3-42D1-90E7-4337AEC50818.db (You may see other files ending with .db, but the important one will have a pattern like that.)
5. Rename the file with the mv command. I like to copy-and-paste the filename, then add {,.backup} to the end of it, a little Bash trick. So in this example, I would use this command: mv 283F028F-D4F3-42D1-90E7-4337AEC50818.db{,.backup}.
6. Enter killall Dock. Your desktop and icons will disappear momentarily, but don't panic. They should come back after a few seconds. (If they don't after a minute or so, you should be able to recover by logging out and back in.)
7. Open Launchpad.

If you used the killall Dock command in step 6, the Launchpad should come up fairly quickly. If you had to log out and back in, you may have to wait a minute or so while watching a "Loading Applications…" message, then watching a grid of empty placeholder icons get filled in little by little. Either way, you should eventually see a cleanly reorganized Launchpad without any extraneous app icons.

Answer 13

I had uninstalled an application but the icon still appeared in the launchpad. What removed the icon was to try to launch the application by choosing the icon (see LexS). Of course nothing launched because the application was already uninstalled. When I brought up the launchpad again there was a "?" on the icon. When I chose and held the mouse on the application the "X" appeared. Select the "X" and it's gone.

Answer 14

I just get my Mac yesterday, and we have exactly the same problems. I installed a virtual machine to run Windows and then I deleted the program. However, there is a folder called "Windows 8 tools" left in the launchpad. I couldn't drag it to the trashcan nor could I right click it to delete. Then I just dragged it to the dock, right click it, and choose Options-show in the folder. I dragged the program to the trash and deleted it.

Answer 15

If you have an application that does not 'jiggle' when you try to delete it - go to Finder, click on Applications, find the app, right press on your Apple mouse, and click 'moved to trash'. A window will open up saying.....before you delete....IGNORE IT! Go to Waste and empty it! Go back to your LaunchPad.....and the app is no longer there....it's gone!

Answer 16

Press control+option+command+application icon in launchpad

Answer 17

i just using cleanymac to complete uninstalling deleted program thats still showing in launchpad.

Answer 18

Press Cmd ⌘ Shift ⇧ H in Applications (Finder), then just drag the items to the Trash.