Cannot Type in Launchpad

If I activate Launchpad on my MacBook Pro, I can type in the first few letters of an application's name to find its icon. On my iMac, it doesn't take the keyboard input at all.

It is too hard to find the application by inspection, because Launchpad produces a visual jungle of icons spread over many pages, all applications have the same importance (uninstall is just as important to Launchpad as my word processor is), organizing them is manual and tedious, and "folders" of icons can only go one level deep. So I want to use Launchpad's command-line feature to find applications.

How can I fix Launchpad to enable the typing feature?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Mid-2007

Posted on Nov 17, 2012 11:40 AM

47 replies

May 21, 2014 1:22 PM in response to Dale451

This is a very interesting problem. There are so many employees at Apple headquarters that this problem must affect a good number of them. Why has this problem survived the transition from Mountain Lion to Mavericks? Why hasn't it been fixed yet? What workaround does Apple use?

Devvyn

Level 1

5 points

Oct 5, 2014 10:21 AM in response to Kenneth Collins1

There are so many employees at Apple headquarters that this problem must affect a good number of them. Why has this problem survived the transition from Mountain Lion to Mavericks? Why hasn't it been fixed yet?

That's a very good question. Presumably, certain people in charge of QA are under unreasonable restrictions or pulled away from projects which still need old bugs ironed out. Can only speculate at this point, but I share your sense of frustration, and I hope Apple finds a way.

Apr 22, 2016 1:47 AM in response to G. K. Chesterton

I agree

was a decent and relevant post

I use launchpad all the time , works great until I just lost the ability to type, but I can still use the (microsoft) mouse scroll.

I am using El Capitan, so is not just Mountain Lion

The fix for me - thanks to the post - was hit the tab a few times and that cleared it 🙂

I guess a re-start may have done too

Launchpad is great, long may it continue for us mere mortals to use

Nov 18, 2012 5:39 AM in response to babowa

I've got you beat. I have even more icons in the dock, arranged to take up as little space as possible:

Apr 11, 2014 6:35 AM in response to Devvyn

Thanks for the tip Devvyn! I was growing more and more frustrated with this irritating bug. 🙂

Munas

Level 4

1,270 points

Nov 17, 2012 11:42 AM in response to Kenneth Collins1

I do not know how to solve Launchpad typing problem, but until the problem is solved, why you not to try to type app names to Spotlight field?

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Nov 17, 2012 11:59 AM in response to Kenneth Collins1

Have you tried running Disk Utility/Repair Permissions? Information only - I can type in the Launchpad search box on my 2008 iMac.

Munas

Level 4

1,270 points

Nov 17, 2012 12:01 PM in response to Eric Root

Another possibility is, that you have light background and since letters are white you could not see it. Try type something "blindly" - does it affect Launchpad results?

Munas

Level 4

1,270 points

Nov 17, 2012 12:12 PM in response to Kenneth Collins1

simply try to type, without paying attention that you could not see anything... does it work?

Nov 17, 2012 3:41 PM in response to Munas

Launchpad just ignores any typing. It doesn't display what I typed and the icons aren't narrowed down.

markwmsn

Level 6

16,715 points

Nov 17, 2012 8:48 PM in response to Kenneth Collins1

Just to be clear, are both computers running Mountain Lion?

Also, I sometimes find I have to tab into the search box. (I haven't figured out when or why.)

markwmsn

Level 6

16,715 points

Nov 17, 2012 9:15 PM in response to Kenneth Collins1

Sorry. You just reached the edge of my limited experiences with Launchpad.

babowa

Level 9

78,556 points

Nov 17, 2012 9:59 PM in response to babowa

Addendum:

I just realized that you did earlier say that both machines are on Mountain Lion - missed that; sorry about that.

Nov 18, 2012 9:20 AM in response to the0pticnerve

I'm aware of this method. My question is not how to launch applications, but how to fix a broken feature.

Nov 18, 2012 9:23 AM in response to babowa

Right-click on the folder in the dock and select how you want it displayed by default.

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Cannot Type in Launchpad