Open apps and documents on Mac

There are several ways to open apps and documents.

Open an app

On your Mac, do any of the following:

Ask Siri: Click the Siri icon in the menu bar (or use the Touch Bar), then say something like “Open Contacts”.
From the Dock: Click the app icon in the Dock.
From Launchpad: Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock (or use the Control Strip), then click the app icon.
From Spotlight: Click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar, enter the app’s name, then press Return.
From the Finder: Click the Finder icon in the Dock, click Applications in the Finder sidebar, then double-click the app icon.
From the Recent Items list: Choose Apple menu > Recent Items, then choose the app.

On your Mac, do any of the following:

Ask Siri: Click the Siri icon in the menu bar (or use the Touch Bar), then say something like “Open my file kitchen remodel”.
From an app: For some apps, an Open dialogue appears when you open the app. If you don’t see an Open dialogue, choose File > Open. Locate the document (you may need to show the sidebar to see additional folders), select it, then click Open.
In some apps, you can open recent documents by choosing File > Open Recent, then the document.
From the desktop: If there’s an icon for the document on the desktop, double-click the document’s icon.
From Spotlight: Click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar, enter the document’s name, then double-click the document.
From the Finder: Click the Finder icon in the Dock. In the Finder sidebar, click Recents, iCloud Drive, Documents or the folder where the document is located, then double-click the document’s icon or name.
From the Recent Items list: Choose Apple menu > Recent Items, then choose the document.

Note: To open documents in iCloud Drive, the iCloud Drive feature must be turned on. See Use iCloud Drive to store documents.

Helpful?