App Launchers - we each have our favorites. Here are 4 gems.
There are so many to choose from and some that warranted gem status in the past may be losing a bit of lustre. It’s not a bad idea to check out a few different apps to see which might suit your workflow best.
This group covers so many categories. There are freeware launchers, payware launchers, donationware... I’m sure I’m going to miss someone’s favorite but these are four that keep popping up to the top in conversation and recommendations. Do you have a favorite I didn’t list here? Add it to the comments so others can benefit from your recommendation!
Donationware / Freeware:
Butler - One of Many Tricks many app offerings. In their words “Butler's purpose is to make it easier for you to perform different — potentially recurring — tasks. Butler lets you arrange these tasks in its fully customizable configuration.”
It’s actually much more than an application launcher, along the lines of Quicksilver — which many have sworn by, but may be getting less useful as it ages?
Sapiens - “is an application launcher, it helps you access all the applications in your Mac. Sapiens is clever because it learns from you, so unlike any other launcher it predicts the applications you will likely need and offers a visualization of this prediction in an intuitive way.”
Payware:
Launchbar - in their words “LaunchBar is an award winning productivity utility that provides instant access to your applications, documents, contacts and bookmarks, to your iTunes library, to search engines and more, just by entering short abbreviations of the searched item’s name.”
Overflow - “is an application designed to quickly launch applications, open documents, or access folders while reducing the number of items needed in your Dock. Anything you want can be added to the Overflow interface, making it accessible through a few simple mouse clicks or keystrokes.”
I actually use Overflow in conjunction with Sapiens. It’s a great combination with Sapiens learning my most used apps and Overflow affording me a way to organize things I want to launch, or want access to, in a way that makes the most sense to me within my particular workflow.
Butler
Launchbar
Overflow
Sapiens
Donationware / Freeware:
Butler - One of Many Tricks many app offerings. In their words “Butler's purpose is to make it easier for you to perform different — potentially recurring — tasks. Butler lets you arrange these tasks in its fully customizable configuration.”
It’s actually much more than an application launcher, along the lines of Quicksilver — which many have sworn by, but may be getting less useful as it ages?
Sapiens - “is an application launcher, it helps you access all the applications in your Mac. Sapiens is clever because it learns from you, so unlike any other launcher it predicts the applications you will likely need and offers a visualization of this prediction in an intuitive way.”
Payware:
Launchbar - in their words “LaunchBar is an award winning productivity utility that provides instant access to your applications, documents, contacts and bookmarks, to your iTunes library, to search engines and more, just by entering short abbreviations of the searched item’s name.”
Overflow - “is an application designed to quickly launch applications, open documents, or access folders while reducing the number of items needed in your Dock. Anything you want can be added to the Overflow interface, making it accessible through a few simple mouse clicks or keystrokes.”
I actually use Overflow in conjunction with Sapiens. It’s a great combination with Sapiens learning my most used apps and Overflow affording me a way to organize things I want to launch, or want access to, in a way that makes the most sense to me within my particular workflow.
Butler
Launchbar
Overflow
Sapiens