Computing with Bifocals - Four Ways To Quickly Find Your Applications

by
August 31st, 2007

There are four ways to quickly get to a specific application when you are using OS X Tiger.  I have mentioned a couple of these before, but I want to list all four at the same time so that all your options are before you.  

When you add applications to your Mac running OS X they should always be placed in your Applications folder on your hard drive.  If you place them somewhere else your Mac is not going to stop working, but you will certainly be complicating your life unnecessarily. 

Without a shortcut of some kind you have to open a finder window (File > New Finder Window).  Then find the Applications folder in the list on the left side of the window, and then click on the folder to open it and search for the specific application that you want. 

Your four shortcuts are:  put an application icon on your Dock, create an applications folder on your dock, use Spotlight as a search tool, or use recent items.

Put The Icon On Your Dock

This one is simple, but if you are really new to a Mac you may not know about it.  Icons on the Dock are "linked" to the actual item which is stored somewhere on your computer.  When you click on the Dock icon it sends a message to the application.  Therefore, to place an icon on the Dock you have to start where the application is stored - your Applications folder.     You can also add an application icon to the Dock by opening the application, then placing the pointer over its icon in the Dock, pressing the mouse button until a pop-up menu appears, and choosing "Keep in Dock".  If you keep your Dock on the bottom, put application icons to the left of the line in the Dock.  If you keep your Dock on the left or right, put application icons above the line. 

This happens to be my favorite shortcut to get to my applications.  To use this technique you create a special folder that is kept  to the right of the vertical line on the Dock. 

Find the original of your Applications Folder, not a copy or an alias.  You should be able to find the Applications Folder by simply double clicking on your hard drive icon and looking for it.

Drag the original icon for the Applications Folder to the Dock.  Again, you are using this method to "link" back to the original.

To open the folder, place your cursor over the folder and click once.  The folder will open.  If you wish, you can type the first letter of the application you want to launch and it becomes highlighted and you just click to open it.

Use Spotlight

Click on Spotlight in the upper right corner of your screen.  When the small window opens, type in the first couple of letters of the application you want.  Chances are very good that your application will pop up as the top  entry in the list.  Click on it and the application will open and you are set to go.  In the following example I only had to type a "g" and Spotlight immediately placed GraphicConverter at the top of the list of options.

Some long time users have lamented the loss of an OS 9 feature that allowed them to list all their applications under the Apple menu (found in the upper left corner of your screen.), but a version of that option is still available.  Under the Apple menu is an option to view "Recent Items."  One of the subheadings under that is "Applications" and you can set it to retain the last 50 applications you have opened.  The default is 10.  To change it to 50, you open System Preferences from the Apple menu and then click on "Appearance".  Find "Number of Recent Items" and use the menu to select the number you want.

• In the Finder, choose File > New Smart Folder.
• Choose your search criteria. 

• To search your files' names, contents, and attributes for text, type in the search field. To limit where the Smart Folder searches, click one of the listed locations (Servers, Computer, Home, etc.), or click Others to choose another location. To search on a specific metadata attribute, use the pop-up menus.

• Click Save, and choose the name and location for your Smart Folder. You can place a smart folder anywhere you can place a folder.

Saving A Smart Folder

If you do not want your Smart Folder to be be in the sidebar, deselect Add To Sidebar.

That's it for today's tips.  I hope you find them useful.

Talking to a generation that remembers what the world was like before there was color, covers issues for people who don't care how their computer works, but rather what their computer and the internet can do for them.

Nancy has a Master's degree in Human Services Administration and prior to her retirement she worked for almost 30 years in field of mental health and mental retardation. She has been a Mac user for 11 years, and has recently developed an avocation of teaching basic computer skills in both group and one-to-one settings.

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