MacMost: LaunchPad

There are many ways to launch apps on your Mac: LauncPad, Spotlight, double-clicking apps or documents, the Dock, Siri and more. So which is best? Let's look at each one of them and weigh the advantages and disadvantages.

Most Mac users avoid Launchpad and instead use Spotlight, the Dock or some other method to launch apps. However, with a change and some tips, Launchpad can be a decent app launcher. First, you'll want to assign a keyboard shortcut. Then, you'll want to organize your Launchpad screens so you can find apps easily. You can also use the keyboard to easily search for apps and get more refined results than in Spotlight.

New Mac users may have trouble figuring out how to uninstall apps. For most apps, it is just a matter of using LaunchPad. This will allow you to easily and cleanly uninstall apps that you obtained from the Mac App Store. You can also usually just put applications in the trash and delete them like normal files. In some situations you may need to run an uninstaller that came with the original app, or follow some instructions at the official app website. But you should not use any third-party special uninstaller or cleaner apps.

LaunchPad is an app launcher that resides in the Dock. From LaunchPad you can view all of your installed applications. You can search for an app and use the keyboard to launch it. You can also organize your apps by re-arranging them and placing them into folders to group them. LaunchPad is also an uninstaller, allowing you to remove apps that were installed by the Mac App Store.

While Launchpad isn't the first choice for launching apps for many Mac users, it is useful for those that want to organize and arrange their apps into groups of app folders. A well-arranged set of Launchpad screens can make working with apps easier.

If an app isn't in your Dock, you can easily find it and launch it one of several common ways. You can look for it in the Applications folder, use LaunchPad or search with Spotlight. If you use an app often, add it to the Dock to easier access.

The LaunchPad app is a quick way to launch applications on your Mac. You can use keyboard shortcuts and the search function to launch any app in seconds. You can also use LaunchPad to arrange your apps, group them, and even uninstall some apps. Learn for unusual tips and tricks for using LaunchPad.

Learn many different ways you can launch apps on your Mac. You can use LaunchPad or access the apps right from the Applications folder. You can use the Dock, and create custom Stacks of apps in the Dock for access to even more apps. You can also use the Spotlight Menu or open documents to run apps. Some more obscure ways to launch apps include the Terminal window and using Speakable Items.

In Mountain Lion you can now quickly search for apps by name in LaunchPad. This, in conjunction with the keyboard shortcut for LaunchPad, can make it quick and easy to launch apps. Organizing your apps in LaunchPad is limited, but the search function makes it irrelevant as you no longer have to look for apps by icon.

Lion includes Launchpad, a new way to find and run applications. You can view the icons of all your applications quickly by running Launchpad and flipping between pages of icons similar to the Home screens on the iPad and iPhone. You can organize your icons in app folders. Apps purchased in the Mac App Store are automatically added to Launchpad. But using Launchpad is optional as you can still run applications using the Dock and other methods.

You can launch an application using the Finder, Dock, keyboard, Terminal and even your voice. See how many of these you knew about.