Is there a way to click a single icon and open multiple application at once?

Question

When I use Mac, I tend to have to open a stack of applications at once, specifically:

• Unity Hub
• Visual Studio
• Terminal
• Opera

OR

• MAMP
• Visual Studio Code
• Opera
• Terminal

So I was thinking about adding an icon on the dock or on the desktop to start all these applications with a single click. Is there a way?

Up to now I just found a way to do this with BASH, but I should run it from the terminal...

Answer 1

Yes, you can use Automator to create a workflow as an application, adding as many Launch Application actions as you wish. I'd also add a Pause action in between.

You can then drag the application from Finder onto the Dock if you wish.

---

Or you could use AppleScript in Script Editor, saved as an application, using as many tell application "appName" to launch statements. I'd also add a delay command in-between each.

Example AppleScript code:

property appNamesList : {"Chess", "Contacts", "Dictionary", "Font Book"}

repeat with appName in appNamesList
    tell application appName to launch
    delay 2
end repeat

Answer 2

If you did not have a bash script already, I'd tell you to do as per the answer given by user3439894.

But if your already have a bash script (say, named ~/open_apps.sh), you can create an Apple Script with the Script Editor application that says:

do shell script "~/open_apps.sh"

And then, Save the script to your Desktop, for instance, using Application as the file format, leaving unchecked the checkboxes for Show startup screen and Stay open after run handler.

After that, you can now launch that script (and hence your applications) by double clicking your new AppleScript application.

Answer 3

I do this by adding apps to the Login Items for my user in the Users & groups panel in System Settings.

When I log in they start.

Answer 4

One option is to make a .command file. This is a shell script, but you can run it by opening it from the Finder.

Put this in a text file called openThings.command:

open /Applications/TextEdit.app
open /Applications/Stocks.app

If you want to be gentle, you could:

open /Applications/TextEdit.app
sleep 1
open /Applications/Stocks.app

And make it executable: chmod +x openThings.command.

Now you can double-click that in the Finder to run it.