Mac Install Location

[bback3C2RW]

Every other program is able to install itself into the main /Applications folder on macs.  Literally every one.

Why does Fusion360 install to /users/(username)/Library/Application Support/Autodesk/webdeploy/production/kjsdahgtfi832q47t659823465792384579, where absolutely no one will ever be able to find it?

Previous solutions were "install from the Mac App Store," but now that it's no longer an option, users are forced to create an alias (which ruins the workflow), but only if they know to do this before they close the program and remove it from the dock.

I really don't care why this is the way it is, I have other Autodesk programs that were able to install themselves to the proper location.  Every other program I've ever installed has also installed itself into the proper location.  This is a problem unique to Fusion360 that I have never had to deal with and shouldn't even be a problem to begin with.

Just fix it.

[beananimal]

And here we are again -- another update and now duplicate installs and Dock icons.

Come on guys - get your heads outa your rears and follow industry standards, best practices and conventions.  

[fleedar]

Yep! Rebooted my Mac yesterday and when I logged in, the Fusion icon on the dock had been replaced with a big question mark. I had to once again Google to find its location and drag it back to my dock. This is such an irritating process to have to frequently repeat.

[acwrightdesign]

I can't believe the very flippant remark from the Autodesk employee in this thread. As to "why" we need this application to install itself in the same location as EVERY other application on a MacOS system? 

How about this? I'm paying you >$400 a year for a subscription.

This is a trivial request. As a MacOS developer myself (my main job), I can say that it can't be more than a few hours of work for you to AT THE VERY LEAST add a window / dialog to the installer that asks for an installation location. Default it to the ridiculous user location it currently uses if you must but at least let us CHOOSE. Or even easier, just change whatever line of code in your installer package that is defaulting to that location. Why is this hard??

If this is just not possible, instead of a flippant "why" from your employees, can we please have one of the Fusion 360 devs pop into this forum and give the community a technical explanation as to why this install location was chosen? I don't think that is too much to ask. Thank you in advance.

[markaudacity]

Still have to re-add Fusion to the Dock every time it updates.
Still have to deal with Fusion installing to ~/Applications, where nothing else lives, instead of /Applications.
Still have to add exceptions to my firewall for each of Fusion's components that needs to call home every time it updates.
Updates are still announced by hanging, crashing, and other chaotic behavior, instead of a of notification or any indication at all that updating is an expected, planned-for process and not a frequently-repeated mistake.

No other application on my computer is this unstable, unpredictable, or difficult. Including apps that are on version 0.89 and coded by one person in their free time.

This would be a laughable performance from a company like Autodesk if it weren't so infuriating.

[PhDEdd]

Just found this thread after again spending 15 minutes Googling how to find Fusion 360 after accidentally closing it without remembering to keep the new version in the dock again. All the versions Spotlight found were old bull**** files that I did not have permission to open.

To help pile on: why can't Autodesk just put the application into /Applications like every other app?

[andersen.jason]

I just wasted 20 minutes trying to track down the install location. It wasn't in /Applications and it wasn't in ~/Applications. It was buried in ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Autodesk/webdeploy/fe3fcaf80.....153f1a

This is baffling. Absolutely baffling. If there's a good reason, fine. But you're flying in the face of well-established Mac OS conventions and as far as I can tell, no good reason.

[beananimal]

They are "Autodesk" too big to follow convention and more worried about social media acceptance than they are about producing viable software.   Go look at my thread regarding the floating point issue baked into the core of this product... it is laughable but serious. They try to brush it under the rug by ignoring it. This product really is a toy, not a tool.

[beananimal]

Another update - same old mess.  So frustrating.

[petrikigor]

Based on the fact that this is still an issue over 2 years later and there hasn't been a response any time recently, I assume Autodesk just doesn't care, but I'm here to add my voice to the pack. This is ridiculous! As has been stated, there is no reason I should have to wonder where Fusion 360 got installed, spend 10 min looking for it, and the Google to figure it out... please just have the installer install the software where every Mac user expects applications to be installed: in /Applications

[WillHarrisProxy]

I am absolutely baffled as to why this thread needs to exist. I'm convinced that the Autodesk employees have misunderstood the reason we are upset. 

This is akin to an application installing in your photos directory. It's so clearly a mistake, that I don't understand how somebody could look at its current installation location (especially in comparison to other executables) and not see that this is not okay.

As an example, I will supply a list of directories. Please choose the one that you think is intended for applications:

• Videos
• Documents
• Photos
• Applications
• School
• Work
• Users
• /dev/null

I have never seen an application that does not choose the obviously correct option. Autodesk has not only chosen the incorrect option, but created an entirely new subdirectory. This is a gross misunderstanding of best practices.

If this is somehow a correct workflow for some, then it should be an additional option, not the default installation location. If this is a permissions issue, then that needs to be addressed immediately instead of finding sketchy workarounds.

Benefits of changing to the correct location include:

• Fusion 360 will show up amongst the other applications the user has installed. This makes it so the user can launch Fusion 360 in the same manner as other applications like Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, or any other application.
• Users will not have to go through a series of additional tasks every time you push an update. Currently, the user has to correct the mistake every update.
• Your application will appear more professional instead of looking like a panicked git push from an undergrad.

This is clearly a blunder when creating the OSX installer, can we at least get some reassurance that some developer understands why we are all commenting here?

In summary, the installation script just installs to the wrong directory under OSX! Please change it to the correct directory!

[PhDEdd]

I see this **** is still not fixed.

Fusion 360 just crashed again, after the very difficult task of a new sketch in a new project.

Now, the same executable I had in the dock is broken again, as are the other 3 Spotlight results. Ah well, back to this thread to find the hidden folder in which the new app can be found – until of course, it crashes again and the app breaks again.

Well done, Autodesk.

[milesstanfield]

agree this is annoying

[beananimal]

Don't expect it to change - their "roadpmap" does not appear to mention this issue..

https://app.mural.co/t/autodesk2145/m/timerahart2/1475171276107/0945259b7c22117012173ea2be3c9151fec1...

...or for that matter any meaningful bug fixes or fixes of horrendous interface problems. 

Still can't ESCAPE out of most commands or tools - still have to deal with "extrude to" creating floating point errors that show up in annotations, etc.   But hey- they have a roadmap where they have sprinkled in some user requests. Good for them - a manufacturing design program that has taken the better part of a decade to include welding symbols. Yay.

So much wish there was a viable alternative - but alas AD has pretty much purchased all of the competition.

[jeffjenkins1Y8BVV]

It's OK to have it in the User's application folder but that does limit it to that user. It's highly unusual to put it there though.  It's the only one installed there on my Mac and I have  a lot of applications installed./Applications is the normal place but ~/applications is an unusual choice.  The installer should really ask if you want it installed for all users or just the current user and I have no idea why Autodesk chose this location.  Obviously not used to delivering MacOS apps as there are other things it does that are non standard (such as taking over on startup even though you may be using a different application while it is starting bits of the UI come to the front which they shouldn't).

[lars.urban]

No tapping on brakes required. Same problem still present. Since I started using Fusion many years ago I had to reinstall million times. Just annoying and wasted time.

[nnelsonwood]

I just want to add another voice that this is a very frustrating time sync every time an update occurs. Add to that the fact it is unclear when an update occurs and it leads to random crashes when trying to open the old version once the new one has installed itself the the ~/Applications folder.

I can say that I never use my doc to open programs, rather I use spotlight as my hands are more often by my keyboard than my mouse (one reason I do appreciate the keyboard shortcuts in Fusion), but this means that every single time Fusion updates it breaks my workflow.

[meVM7KD]

Thanks to everyone who commented. I thought I was losing my mind. Went through the installation the other day, sat down to use it today and it was not to be found. I really hate to rag on what appears to be a wonderful product FOR FREE (thank you!) but man, you'd swear the installer was written by someone from Microsoft who doesn't really work on Macs. Sorry to throw stones but hey...!

[beananimal]

---

@meVM7KD wrote:

Thanks to everyone who commented. I thought I was losing my mind. Went through the installation the other day, sat down to use it today and it was not to be found. I really hate to rag on what appears to be a wonderful product FOR FREE (thank you!) but man, you'd swear the installer was written by someone from Microsoft who doesn't really work on Macs. Sorry to throw stones but hey...!

---

Well it really is not that wonderful after you have spent some time with it, it is just the only game in town because AD purchased the competition 😉

This is one of dozens of similar (mostly ignored) issues that have been around for years.  I will let you find them on your own... consider it an easy Easter Egg hunt.

[rodrigofd87]

I've been putting up with this for years until I decided to look around for a solution and found this thread.

What an absolute joke... It feels like their Product and UX team only tested the software from the point where it is open in front of the user and forgot that people need to get to it somehow before that is even relevant. I guess that didn't make the cut for their usability tests.

Imagine a car manufacturer that designs a great car with a beautiful interior, amazing trim, wonderful entertainment center but the driver needs to commando-crawl through the trunk to get in because they couldn't bother adding a door just like everyone else. This is the same thing!!!

To top it off, the even more baffling part of this whole thread is having an Autodesk employee replying in their user forum who clearly can't empathise with their user's problems, doesn't understand "why" it is a problem (obviously doesn't use the software himself) and refers to other posts about the same issue only to then offer a solution that has been shown to break after each update in those very same posts!

[beananimal]

Here we are with another Update and even more of a mess. 

Now every time F360 crashes, re-opening creates a new duplicate dock icon. 
Randomly opening F360 creates a duplicate dock icon. 

Autodesk - this has passed the point of absurdity - can we ever expect for this to get sorted out? It is getting worse, not better. 

Asking again - why are you not following Apple's application installation conventions?