OS X Yosemite: The Missing Manual

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).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION: What’s with the Big “Duh”?

So I double-click an Excel document, and the Mac asks me: “You are opening ...