After I upgraded to macOS Catalina, every time I restart my MacBook, the Apps used to be in Others folder all come out to the main page. I've tried to use the following command and it worked temporarily, after a restart, the problem comes up again. Any suggestions for that?
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool
killall Dock
MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.15
My analysis was that it's only a limited number of built-in apps which belonged in the "other" folder which show this behavior in Launchpad in Catalina.
Steps I took:
1) take note of the apps which appear after the "other" folder in launchpad (also on the second page), and which shouldn't appear there but rather in the "other" folder itself
2) within the Applications folder in Finder, drag the apps you took note of to the "other" folder (you'll have to type your local password)
3) I tried this several times and it seemed like one or two apps weren't coming back in Launchpad after automatic "resets" of Launchpad, so I carried on the dragging and dropping from the Applications folder to the "Other" folder in Finder until Launchpad was "back to normal"
For me, the apps seem to remain in the Applications folder in Finder after I move them, but at least they don't come back in Launchpad, and it seems to be fixed for me, for a week or two now. In past months, the "reset" of Launchpad occurred everyday or so. I am still curious as to what prompts this bug.
Hopefully some of you will be able to build on this and perhaps simplify this process. Best of luck!
Hello Tmcgradymvp,
Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities. I believe you are asking about apps and documents reopening when you restart your Mac, is this correct?
This feature is called Resume, and this article has more info and options: Automatically re-open windows, apps, and documents on your Mac - Apple Support
If this is not correct, please provide more info and we will do what we can to help. Thanks and have a wonderful day.
Hello Tmcgradymvp,
Thanks for clarifying the info.
The Launchpad pulls those apps from the built-in Applications folder that comes with macOS.
You can delete stuff from it using these steps: How to delete apps on your Mac - Apple Support
If this is not working, is the same problem happening in another test user? How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support
It will also help us to know what folder you moved the apps to. If it is not in the macOS Applications folder, this may be the cause of the problem. Thanks and have a wonderful day.
same issue here after shutdown and power on the macos, launchpad apps will reset like this
after that need rearrange all the launchpad app layout again
screenshot after rearrange launchpad layout
Hi Sterling,
Thanks for the reply. Sorry I may not state clearly about the issue. I'm not referring about apps and documents reopening when you restart your Mac. Instead, I'm referring to the layout of LaunchPad. I've moved apps, like Automator, Disk Utility, etc, to the folder named Others in order to keep the LaunchPad clean. However, whenever I restart my MacBook, all those apps go back out of the folder. Not sure what causes that issue.
Lots of people having this issue including me with Catalina. The Launchpad applications REARRANGE every time I restart. They don't stay in the same place I have moved them in Launchpad.
I have the same problem and I suspect it's a bug in OS. Resetting the launchpad (either via Onyx, Terminal commands, etc) only works temporarily and after rebooting a few times it show all apps again in a random (?) order, both on my Macbook Pro and my Mac mini. This issue only began when I upgrade my OS to Catalina, I believe.
I've been having this same issue. I want to say it started with the Catalina update as well. No Terminal commands have helped me.
LaunchPad automatically reset
