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Add to SafariWhen comparing Spotlight vs OS X Launchpad, the Slant community recommends OS X Launchpad for most people. In the question“What are the best app launchers for Mac OS X?” OS X Launchpad is ranked 4th while Spotlight is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose OS X Launchpad is:
Built-in to OS X.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Native to OS X
Spotlight comes packaged with OS X and iOS.
Pro Intuitive
Pro Free
Built-in to OS X.
Pro Can add application collections
Pro Design, fade-in animation effect
Pro Searchable
Just start typing to narrow down your search.
Cons
Con Limited customization
Allows for very little customization, not theming, and no custom scripting.
Con No longer launches applications at all in Sierra
After updating to Sierra, typing an application name in Spotlight results in "No Results" or random wikipedia matches. True even after reloading com.apple.metadata.mds.plist and adding/removing "Macintosh HD" on the "Privacy" tab. Launchpad still works.
Con All apps are automatically included, even uninstallers
Con Limited configurability
You can customize a keyboard shortcut to Launchpad but that's about it.
Con Organize and ordering applications is a nightmare
App organisation in Launchpad is the same as the iPad. You can only move one app at a time, if you drop an app on a full page, it will offset all the icons on the pages to the right. As the total of apps could be very important, as all bundles are automatically added by the app, you have to drag each app icon, one after the other, and scroll through the pages, to put it in the wanted location. The difference with the iPad, is that on the iPad this can be done with iTunes.
Con Impossible to find an application by only typing part of the name
Con No expandability
