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David
David

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Install Mac Apps without admin rights

For some reasons, you are allowed to use a Mac computer, be it a MacBook, Mac Mini, Mac Studio..., however, you are not given the admin rights, but you want to install some apps which are your handy, productivity tools.

Sound familiar and frequent encountered scenarios?

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If you are interested to know how to Install software without Admin rights on Windows, refer to ⚙️Install anything without Admin rights.

Here is how to get it done on a Mac computer:

  • As usual, download the App installer to your local Mac computer, where you logged in as a user without admin rights. In this blog, I am using Notion App as an example, and the downloaded file is Notion-2.1.11.dmg

  • Before you double click the installer downloaded, create a folder in Finder, or using below command:

mkdir /Users/[YourUserName]/Applications //or
mkdir /Users/[YourUserName]/Tools
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where YourUserName is your login user name, as the name suggested.

  • In Mac Finder App, Press the shortcut key ⌘ + ⇧ + G to navigate to the folder created above.

  • Double click the installer, just like what you did as an admin user:

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Instead of drag the app to the system's Applications folder, drage the app to the folder which you just created.

Now you App is installed, and double click the App Icon (in my case, it is the notion desktop app), that is it!

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  • Once the app is started, you can pin it to the dock:

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  • You can pin your own Applications or Tools folder by dragging it to the Favorites folder

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If you are interested to know how to Install software without Admin rights on Windows, refer to ⚙️Install anything without Admin rights.

Some Apps that are useful to boost your produdctivities:

Top comments (1)

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leooooooo profile image
leo

i knew this before reading it and know sometimes it glitches the app