Uninstalled Program Icon Stuck on Launchpad in Mac OS X Lion

I am currently running OS X 10.7.2 on a MacBook Air. As a quick note, while this program was installed through Steam, I don't think it's a Steam issue.

Background: Through Steam, I recently downloaded the Team Fortress 2 Beta to this Mac and then removed it via Steam's "Delete Local Game Content." This has left the "Team Fortress 2 Beta" icon stuck on the Launchpad, and I cannot remove it.

All of the typical methods for removing an icon have not worked (i.e., dragging to trash, Control+Option+Command+Left-Click, holding down left-click over the icon until icons start shaking, et cetera). I have uninstalled Steam (dragging icon in "Application" folder to trash) and removed all game content (deleted associated Steam directory in "Application Support") and that has not deleted the icon.

I have deleted the "Application Support" folder to try and force the Launchpad to reset itself; it did reset, but the icon remained there. There is also not an icon in the Application folder for the game. Clicking on the icon in the Launchpad does nothing, now that Steam is removed.

How do I remove this orphan icon from the Launchpad?

Chance

Posted 2011-12-29T18:59:43.973

Reputation: 343

Please do not crosspost the same question on multiple sites. If you don't get a satisfying answer on one site, you can flag your question for migration to a different site after a day or two. – Daniel Beck – 2011-12-30T18:34:35.893

Answers

The same thing happened to me and I finally got it out of Launchpad and in the trash bin. You have to go to Finder > Go in the tool bar > Computer > Macintosh HD (or whatever hard drive you have) > Users > your username > applications and it should be there. For some reason this application folder is different then the standard and thats where mine was put. Hope this helps.

Declan

Posted 2011-12-29T18:59:43.973

Reputation: 246

+1 this worked for me rather than @Razor's answer. Thanks. – therobyouknow – 2014-09-07T10:02:34.287

Thanks this helped me – Glitchd – 2020-01-21T20:51:00.370

While in Launchpad hold down Ctrl+⌥ then click on the icon you wish to delete until a question mark appears over the icon. Drag to the trash. Empty Trash.

Razor

Posted 2011-12-29T18:59:43.973

Reputation: 121

2Thanks @Razor but this did not work for me on Mavericks 10.9.4. What happened was that, while in Launcher, when I pressed: <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>⌥</kbd> all the icons wobbled. Some of them had a white x on a black circle on the corner of them. Others did not, including the one I wanted to remove. I clicked and held down the click on the one I wished to delete as you instructed but a question mark never showed, then all the icons stopped wobbling. I used Declan's answer below and that worked for me. I did not need to restart the machine. I would need to do this for each user on my mac though. – therobyouknow – 2014-09-07T10:10:13.310

This is the better answer – Alexandros – 2019-11-23T00:38:00.323

This should be used when the accepted answer fails... – Michal Gow – 2020-02-25T16:41:09.453

This worked for me, but only after a reboot (on 10.9.1) – Matthematics – 2014-02-21T18:38:12.000

Had the same problem. Drag the icon from launchpad to the dock. Then right click the icon you just dragged to the dock and select show in finder. Delete the Icon in finder and then remove it from the dock. The icon should no longer be in launchpad.

Hackl

Posted 2011-12-29T18:59:43.973

Reputation: 31

Just search the game on spotlight (Once you've deleted it from Steam) and drag it to trash. Delete it from there and voila, the app's disappeared from launchpad.

Wizardof_Oz

Posted 2011-12-29T18:59:43.973

Reputation: 31

This is an excellent solution as sometimes Launchpad apps are not actually located in the default Applications folder (Steam games for example) and some apps can't be dragged to the trash from Launchpad. Using Spotlight gets right to the source, great idea. – Andrew – 2016-02-17T00:09:35.230

Search for "Team Fortress 2" in Spotlight, hold down ⌃⌥⌘, and left click "Team Fortress 2" beside "Top Hit".

Anonymous

Posted 2011-12-29T18:59:43.973

Reputation: 21

How about just holding control and left clicking (or right clicking) on the icon and saying "Remove from Dock"?

Paperlantern

Posted 2011-12-29T18:59:43.973

Reputation: 3 592

1Unfortunately, no. Holding down control, command, option or any permutation thereof and then clicking either does nothing, or attempts to open the program. – Chance – 2011-12-29T21:14:35.367