Do you have certain apps that you always open as soon as you restart or log in to your Mac? If so, it might be a good idea to make those apps auto-start upon logging in to your Mac. Thankfully, it’s very easy to add and remove auto-start items using System Preferences.
Why would you want to automatically launch apps when starting your Mac?
Every morning when I boot my Mac, I always go through the routine of launching the same apps. In my case, Safari, Mail, Tweetbot, Slack and the Messages app. Over the course of a year, this probably amounts to several minutes just spent launching the exact same apps every single day. It doesn’t make sense to not automate this.
By setting your Mac to automatically launch your most used applications, you’re just saving time. That is the main benefit.
How to set applications to automatically launch at boot up
To make an app launch automatically on your Mac, simply do the following:
Step 1: Open System Preferences.
Step 2: Click Users & Groups.
Step 3: Click Login Items. At the bottom left corner of the window, click on the lock icon and enter your admin password.
Step 4: Click the ‘+‘ sign and find the Application that you wish to auto-start via the Finder interface. You probably want to open the /Applications folder to do so. You can select multiple items by holding down the ⌘ key while selecting each item.
Step 5: Once your desired items are selected, click the Add button.
Verify the presence of the apps that you just added to the list, and reboot; or log out of macOS and log back in. Once you do, you should see the apps that you added automatically launch.
If you’d like to stop an app from automatically starting, follow steps 1-3, and highlight the app that you wish to remove and click the ‘-‘ sign to remove the app.
If you’d like an app to startup in hidden mode, then check the Hide box next to the name of the app under the Login Items tab.
It might be a good idea to think about your workflow when you fire up your machine. If you always find yourself launching the same apps, then why not automate the process? Let me know what you think down below in the comments, and sound off with your thoughts on automated app launching.