LaunchPanel For Mac

If you have a bunch of applications and folders that you use frequently, but not enough to keep them in the Dock, an alternative method of launching them could prove helpful.

LaunchPanel is designed for just this scenario. As the name suggests, it is, essentially, a panel that holds your apps and folders and can be accessed with a hotkey. It can help reduce clutter in your Dock, and it is easily customizable.

The screenshots tell pretty much the whole story. The panel itself is minimalistic and translucent, and you can add items using drag and drop. Of course, it can also be resized freely.

The panel is accessed using a hotkey (⎇ + Space by default) but it can also be opened by clicking the Dock icon. However, it is also possible to remove the app from both the Dock and menu bar, and then open it using only the hotkey.

When you move the panel to a different location on your desktop, this position will be remembered when you bring it up again. If, for instance, you want it to stay in a screen corner, that’s where it will always be brought up.

Unfortunately, though, the app and folder icon size cannot be changed, which can become an issue if you add lots of them. You also can’t disable translucency, but this isn’t likely to be an issue.

LaunchPanel doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, as it offers nothing we haven’t seen from other application launchers. It does have a few things going for it, however, mainly its utter simplicity, which allows first-time users to figure everything out in seconds, as well as the fact that it’s free.