LaunchPad

LaunchPad is a macOS application organiser and launcher. It provides a tabbed grid interface for grouping macOS applications (.app bundles) into named categories and launching them with a double-click. It is a companion tool to the Commander4j suite, used to organise the suite's tools and supporting applications in a single place.

Purpose

LaunchPad replaces cluttered Dock folders and aliases with a structured, tabbed grid. Each tab is a named category and each cell in the grid holds one application. Applications are added by browsing or dragging from Finder.

Running LaunchPad

A native macOS install package is available from the Downloads page and is the preferred installation method.

Alternatively, LaunchPad can be run directly from the distribution archive. It is a Java 21 desktop (Swing) application for macOS:

java -jar JLaunchPad.jar

The window opens at 1300 × 900 pixels. Tabs are listed on the left edge; the grid fills the rest of the window.

Adding Applications

Single Application

Click the Add App toolbar button. A file chooser opens, defaulting to /Applications and your home directory. Select any .app bundle. If you select /Applications, LaunchPad also scans /System/Applications and /System/Applications/Utilities automatically.

Importing a Folder

Click Import Folder to scan a directory recursively for application bundles. LaunchPad filters out uninstall helpers, login item helpers, and background-only bundles, adding only user-facing applications.

Drag and Drop

Drag a .app bundle from Finder directly onto the grid or onto a tab. An application can only appear once across all tabs — dragging a duplicate has no effect.

Grid Layout

Each tab contains a 7-column grid of 150 × 150 pixel cells. Each cell displays the application icon (120 × 120 pixels) and the application's display name. Click Pack Icons to remove empty cells from the current tab, compacting the grid.

Applications can be reordered within the grid by dragging from one cell to another. The same drag operation works between tabs.

Tab Management

The toolbar provides buttons for:

Add Tab — create a new named category
Edit Tab — rename the selected tab
Delete Tab — remove the selected tab (with confirmation)
Move Up / Move Down — reorder tabs

Launching Applications

Double-click any application icon to launch it. LaunchPad uses the macOS open command to launch the bundle, so the application opens exactly as if you had double-clicked it in Finder.

Cell Context Menu

Right-click any cell or application to access:

Assign Custom Icon... — replace the icon with any PNG, JPG, GIF, or ICNS image
Remove App — clear the cell
Reveal in Finder — open the application's location in Finder

Icon Resolution

When an application is added, LaunchPad attempts to extract its icon automatically. It tries the following in order:

The .icns file named in the app's Info.plist
PNG icons listed in Info.plist under CFBundleIcons
The app's Assets.car (rendered via QuickLook)
A generic system icon as a last resort

Extracted icons are scaled to 120 × 120 pixels and cached to images/appIcons/ on disk. On subsequent launches the cached PNG is used unless the app itself has been updated.

Configuration

LaunchPad saves its state automatically on exit and restores it on the next launch.

launchpad.xml

Located at xml/config/launchpad.xml. This file records all tabs, their names, and the path of each application in the grid. It is written automatically — you do not need to edit it manually.

images/appIcons/

The icon cache directory. Each application has a <BundleName>.png file here. If you use Assign Custom Icon..., the cache file for that application is overwritten with your chosen image.

See also: Menu4j, ZPLRenderer, Downloads