Moving Applications folder into Library was a Mistake

[meroporan]

Is it possible to recover the histories of applications once they are moved into Library?

After doing so all of my system settings have reverted to their original state. I can't access data such as ichat transcripts, notes on stickies, etc and I would like to return to the configurations that I customized.

Mac OS X
10.4.11
Processor 2.16GHz
Memory 1 GB

I appreciate any help! Thanks!

 

[Egidio]

What do you mean by "histories" of applications? The term is new to me. If you're referring to settings and preferences, there are preference files called plist that are kept in the Preferences folder inside your user Library. There are also other application support files that are kept in the appropriately called Application Support folder, also inside your user Library folder.

 

[meroporan]

By histories, yes, I mean settings and preferences and application data. Is there a way to restore data from the plist files?

 

[Egidio]

The plist files are not stored in the Applications folder. Did you also move the Preferences folder from its default location? If all you did was move the Applications folder, just move it back to its original location.

 

[meroporan]

To my knowledge, my preferences folder has always been in my library. When I moved Applications out of the library then all of those settings reverted back to default.

Sorry if my explanation is not very clear.

 

[Egidio]

Have you moved the Applications folder back to where it was originally, i.e., at the root level (Macintosh HD > Applications)?

 

[meroporan]

Yes, that doesn't seem to work either...

 

[Egidio]

If you didn't have a back of your preferences before you made this move, I'm afraid you'll end up having to recreate your application preferences. Backups are a good idea, especially when you are trying something unusual, such as moving default locations of files in you Mac.