Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition

Opening OS X Programs

You can launch (open) an application in any of several ways:

• Single-click an icon on the Launchpad, described on the following pages.

• Single-click a program’s icon on the Dock, the Sidebar, or the Finder toolbar.

• Use Spotlight. Hit ⌘-space bar, type the first letters of the program’s name, and then press Return.

• Double-click an app’s icon in the Finder.

• If you’ve added the Applications folder to your Dock, click the Dock icon to open the pop-up fan, grid, or list of icons. Then click the program you want (or even type the first few letters of its name and then press Return).

• Highlight an application icon and then press ⌘-O (short for File→Open) or ⌘-↓.

• Use the submenus of the menu’s Recent Items→Applications command.

Note

OS X stores a list of your recently used programs in a text file called com.apple.recentitems.plist, located in your Home folder→Library→Preferences folder. And, with about a dollar, that information will buy you a cup of coffee in most restaurants.

• Open a document icon in any of these ways, or drag a document onto the icon of a program that can open it (whether in the Dock, the Finder toolbar, the Sidebar, or a folder window).

Tip

If you press Option as you open an application (or anything else) in the Finder, you automatically close the window that contains its icon. Later, when you return to the Finder, you find a neat, clean desktop—no loitering windows.