Mac Tips: launch an app

Learn three ways to launch apps in this first post of the app and window management mini series.

Launching, managing, and closing app windows are core your productivity. On its surface, these seem easy. In some cases they are easy - in others, though, the actions can be unecessarily counterintuitive. Additionally, MacOS often gives more than one way to do something. That’s generally positive as each person can find the method that works best for them. As you learn, though, the options can be a bit overwhelming.

This Mac Tips mini-series presents the various options for each of these steps and how to accomplish them.

This first post in the series identifies three ways to launch an app; the keyboard (via Spotlight), in the Finder, and from the Dock.

Keyboard

The fastest way to launch an app is by pressing cmd + spacebar to start Spolight. Type the name of the app, use the up and down arrow keys to select the desired app and press enter.

Finder

Click the Finder icon in the dock. Click Applications on the left under Favorites. Scroll through, find, and double-click the desired app.

Dock

Some app icons remain on the doc even when closed. To open it, click the icon. If the app is not on the dock click the Launchpad icon. Find the app (there may be multiple screens of apps) and click to launch it.

Tip: The small dot underneath the app indicates that the app is open.

Bonus method: Siri

Use Siri to open an app by clicking the Siri icon in the menu bar and speak the name of the app. Siri will launch it.

See the Mac Tips post for links to other tips in the series.