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Resolved Is there anyway to sort the icons in Launchpad alphabetically?
- Thread starter didgmd
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Click on one icon, hold down the mouse button and wait till they start to jiggle. Drag the icons into alphabetical order.
Yeah, sorry, that's the only way to do it. *shrug* Launchpad is crap anyway.
You can do this with this terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock
This will arrange all apple stock/system applications on the first launchpad page in the default order. On the second, third etc. page all the other apps will be arranged alphabetically.
English is not my first language so be prepared for mistakes
You can do this with this terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock
This will arrange all apple stock/system applications on the first launchpad page in the default order. On the second, third etc. page all the other apps will be arranged alphabetically.
English is not my first language so be prepared for mistakes
The command really works. Thank you so much.
It shouldn't be, though; all they need to add is some very basic functionality that I'm sure it would be incredible easy to add:
- Ability to sort the icons by the same criteria you can sort them in Finder
- Ability to use smaller icons AND ability to show the icons in a list format -- wonderful to stop navigating through the different Launchpad screens
- Ability to set a different background, for better contrast
May be a change in High Sierra, but this no longer sorts applications alphabetically. Still separates the Apple applications onto the first page, but neither are sorted.
If anyone finds a work around let me know, and if I run into one myself I'll update.
If anyone finds a work around let me know, and if I run into one myself I'll update.
You can do this with this terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock
This will arrange all apple stock/system applications on the first launchpad page in the default order. On the second, third etc. page all the other apps will be arranged alphabetically.
English is not my first language so be prepared for mistakes
Click and hold Launchpad icon in desktop the list of Apps will be displayed in alphabetical order.
.You can do this with this terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock
This will arrange all apple stock/system applications on the first launchpad page in the default order. On the second, third etc. page all the other apps will be arranged alphabetically.
English is not my first language so be prepared for mistakes
Tobias sir, you are a star. This worked for the OS Catalina just now, insofar as it binned all broken icons, moved all Apple apps to page 1 and then sorted all of the others following on from that. Thank you
This is a pretty old thread, but if it can be useful to someone. In fact, the option of using bigger or smaller icons already exists. Before you try it though, be aware that when you run the command in terminal, it resets your launchpad altogether. If your icons are already sorted in a particular order, know that you will need to reorganize them from scratch afterwards.
If you wish to go ahead and try it, open a terminal window and here are the commands. You can pick any number of rows and columns that best suits your need and your screen dimensions. There is a maximum superior value though, but I can't remember what it is precisely. Something around 25-30 rows or columns max.
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int X;
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int X;
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool TRUE;killall Dock
You only have to replace the X variables by the number of columns and rows you wish to have respectively.
I personally use a 10 x 7 grid, so 70 icons per page for which you would write:
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int 10;
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int 7;
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool TRUE;killall Dock
Depending on the computer model and in accordance with screen size and resolution, the number of rows and columns by default is not the same for all Macs. Make sure you take a note of what's the default on your Mac in case you ever want to revert the changes you've made. You use the same command in order to do that and replace the variables with the size of your original grid.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for this, I'm a very infrequent mac user but picked one up for lightweight working OTG. This is a REALLY frustrating missing feature that should JUST EXIST.
Hi!
Is there a way to sort alphabetically the apps in the launchpad menu (I mean, when I right click the icon Launchpad in the dock) with the letter A on the top instead of at the bottom, please?
Is there a way to sort alphabetically the apps in the launchpad menu (I mean, when I right click the icon Launchpad in the dock) with the letter A on the top instead of at the bottom, please?
After following Alex Metz' guidance on organizing the Launchpad from the terminal commands, you can sort them manually:
Note: confirmed on Monterey
Open the Launchpad, press and hold the fn key, select any app and hold it until the icons start to wiggle, you can then drag them around with you mouse or trackpad while continuing to hold down the fn key. I personally keep my "favorites” on the top row of the second page and then sort the others mostly by name but relegating the least used to the last/bottom.
Note: confirmed on Monterey
Open the Launchpad, press and hold the fn key, select any app and hold it until the icons start to wiggle, you can then drag them around with you mouse or trackpad while continuing to hold down the fn key. I personally keep my "favorites” on the top row of the second page and then sort the others mostly by name but relegating the least used to the last/bottom.
I know this thread is old but I'm running Catalina and I've found two ways to get Launchpad to display apps alphabetically. First method: If you right-click the Launchpad Icon on the dock it will list apps alphabetically in list form similar to the Windows Start menu. Second method: Open a Finder window, right-click on applications in the side bar, select Add to Dock, click on the new application that was added to the dock and it will show the application icons in alphabetical order. The only difference in the two is that the 1st method shows a folder named "others" and the 2nd method shows the icon "utilities", both contain the same apps but have different names, but the apps inside will still be in A-Z order. Hope this is helpful, if so, please leave a reply.
there's a much better version of the launchpad. go into finder and drag and drop the application folder into the dock. you can sort it any way you want just by right clicking. then drag launchpad out of the dock.