MacFormat UK – June 2019

Mac software APPLE SKILLS

macformat.com @macformat JUNE 2019 | MACFORMAT | 41

Supercharge Launchpad

Beautify opening Mac apps with iPad-like simplicity

IT WILL TAKE

15 minutes

YOU WILL LEARN

How to organise

Launchpad to better

suit your needs

YOU’LL NEED

OS X 10.11 or later

Launchpad is a simple but

effective way to open apps

on your Mac. If you often find

yourself wishing that your Mac

resembled or functioned like the Home screen

on iOS, Launchpad is the feature for you.

Rather than scouring through the

Applications folder, or typing app names in

Spotlight and being distracted by irrelevant

results, Launchpad focuses solely on your

apps. Browsing its pages is a good way to

review what’s installed on your Mac – you

might realise you no longer need a space-

hogging app any more, or that you meant

to finish a game but got distracted by life.

Open Launchpad by pressing its special

key on an Apple keyboard – the one whose

icon shows a 3x2 grid of squares: in the $

position on modern Apple keyboards. Or, set

your own key combo in  > System Prefs >

Keyboard > Shortcuts > Launchpad & Dock.

Brittany Vincent

HOW TO Do more with Launchpad >

4

Remove certain apps

While the icons are jiggling, click the

‘X’ at the top left of one to uninstall that

app from your Mac. Some apps – those

not from the Mac App Store – lack an ‘X’;

refer to each one’s documentation for

the proper steps to uninstall them.

1

Open Launchpad

Using a non-Apple keyboard, or have

a trackpad? Click the rocket icon in the

Dock – if you removed it, drag Launchpad

from the Applications folder into the left

side of the Dock. On a trackpad, pinch a

thumb and three fingers together.

5

Easier icon management

If you have many apps, arranging

Launchpad gets old fast. In Launchpad

Manager (about £6, bit.ly/mflpm), click

one or more icons to select them – even

from different pages. Use the Cut/Paste

buttons to move to another page/folder.

2

Click and hold to move

Click and hold on any app icon and

they’ll all start to jiggle, like on an iPhone

or iPad’s Home screen. Drag an icon to

reorder items, to the left or right screen

edge to move to another page, or hold

over another icon to add them to a folder.

6

Easier folder creation

Dragging icons into folders can also

get tedious. Again, Launchpad Manager’s

paid version offers a shortcut that knocks

Apple’s app launcher into shape quickly.

Select multiple icons and click Group

in the toolbar to put them in a folder.

3

Search for apps

Start typing an app’s name – you

don’t have to click Launchpad’s search

bar. Launchpad starts filtering the icons

to show only matches (from all pages).

See the app you want to open? Select

it using the arrow keys, and press ®.