Surely, not all macOS users are satisfied with the size and number of icons in Launchpad. Indeed, why did not Apple provide for the ability to change these seemingly simple parameters, after all, in the same Finder, this is possible? In our material, we will tell you how to change the size and number of application icons in Launchpad using the standard macOS tools.
♥ ON TOPIC: Launchpad on Mac: what it is and how to set it up correctly to use it.
In iOS, the number and position of icons also cannot be changed without jailbreak, but there, at least depending on the diagonal of the device, the number of icons in the grid varies. In macOS, it doesn’t matter what kind of Mac you have, with 11-inches on board or 27 – the same grid will be everywhere – 7 icons in a row and five in columns. Moreover, if on the compact 11 ” MacBook Air it looks just great, and the usability does not suffer at all, then on the 27 ” giant iMac one gets the impression that a person with low vision is working. It’s time to restore justice!
♥ ON TOPIC: How to change the icon of an application, folder or file on Mac (macOS).
How to customize the Launchpad icon grid on macOS
In order to implement your plan, you need to use the Terminal (you can find it through the explorer Finder → Programs → Utilities or by using the search Spotlight…
one… Indicate the number of icons in a row. The parameter “N“. By default, there are 7 icons:
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int N
Let’s put eight and press the key Enter (Return):
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int 8
2… Now change the number of icons in the columns. By default, there are 5 icons. We also change the parameter “N“:
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int N
Let’s put for example 6 and press the key Enter:
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int 6
3… You must restart Launchpad for any changes to take effect. This is done using the following command:
killall Dock
At the end press Enter (Return) and in a couple of moments get ready to taste the result of your activity.
When executing this command, the sorting of icons by folders will not be disturbed and you will not have to re-place all application icons to your liking (create folders, move icons to them and transfer icons between desktops).
If you don’t like the result and you want to return everything to square one, then everything is decided by entering the following commands (after entering each, press Enter (Return) on the keyboard):
defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-rows
defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-columns
killall Dock
Thus, having devoted 10 minutes to this moment, you can achieve an ideal result, in which both the icons will be of a comfortable size for you, and their number on the Launchpad field.
In the comments, you can write about what Mac you have and the ideal grid size that you have achieved experimentally. You look, and other users will not have to suffer =).
On my iMac 27 ’’, I’m most comfortable working with a 6×8 grid.
See also: