100 Tips #16: How To Get By Without The Start Menu

Giles Turnbull ()

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One thing a lot of Windows users miss is the Start Menu. How do you find your way around a Mac without a Start Menu to help?

If you stop to think about it, the Start button is a visual aide-memoire; you click on it to start the process of figuring out where to go next. If you’re looking for a particular file, you can navigate to it using the default locations listed in it. And if you want to open a particular piece of software, the likelihood is that you’ll find it there too. The Start button is there for you to click on when you don’t know where else to begin. No matter what you want, you can find it (eventually) from the Start button.

Unfortunately for switchers, Mac OS X doesn’t really have a single button that completely replaces Start. But I can suggest a couple of alternatives.

One is the Finder icon in your computer’s Dock. By default it’s always on the leftmost end of the Dock, down at the bottom of your screen – so, not dissimilar to the location of the Windows Start Menu.

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Assuming you’ve not changed any of the default settings, a single click on this Finder icon will open a new Finder window for you. From there, you can drill down to the thing you’re looking for, be it a document or an application.

There’s a faster way to get to applications, though. Over on the right side of the Dock there are things called Stacks. A Stack is just a representation of a folder on your system. When you click it, it displays its contents for you to pick out what you want. (If you’re still confused about Stacks, don’t worry, we’ll cover them in a later post in this series.)

By default, your Mac comes with an Applications stack on the Dock. The blue folder with the “A” icon on it. Click that, and you’ll see all your apps in a grid like this:

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Just click to open the one you want.

Another possible where-do-I-begin starting point is the Spotlight search menu in the top-right corner of your screen. This is good when you know the name of what you’re looking for, but aren’t sure where to look for it. Just start typing and Spotlight will dig around – most of the time, it does a pretty good job, irrespective of what you’re searching for.

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In summary, then: don’t worry about not having a Start Menu. If you’re lost and don’t know where to begin, try clicking the Finder icon to go to a Finder window, and navigate your way from there. If you want to get to an application quickly, try the Applications Stack in the Dock. And if you don’t want to hunt around for stuff, get Spotlight to search for you.

This is, of course, just my personal view of how to live without a Start Menu. If you have other suggestions, by all means post them in the comments.

(You’re reading the 16th post in our series, 100 Essential Mac Tips And Tricks For Windows Switchers. Find out more.)

15 comments »

About the author

gilest

Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. He has a website you can ignore and a Twitter account you needn't follow.

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Posted in 100 Tips, 7, Tips & Tricks |

  • DCJ001

    Giles. This “tip” is really not good. Clicking the Finder icon to start the search for things in a Mac is not something that I would ever show to anyone because this method is inefficient.

    Commonly used apps should be kept in the dock. And commonly used folders should also be kept in the dock. Navigation can also be made within the docked folders to locate files or folders within the docked folders.

  • Sario Nunes

    The biggest problem that every switcher faces is to “think PC”, in my case I figured out the Mac OS more quickly, by forgetting about PC. So I almost recommend (lol!) everybody doing this, and you will get used to Mac OS sooner than you think. :)

    The great thing about finder vs windows’ own explorer, is that everything is displayed on a very friendly mode. You click on the finder’s icon, and boom there it is your Apps, your hard drives, you personal folder that contains all sub folders like documents, movies, music, etc.. and of course it’s very customizable, you can simply drag and drop for quick access, your favorite folders, apps, etc.. on the left column.

    Soon or later you will figure out that almost everything on Mac OS is easy to customize in order to provide your a quick and better workflow.

  • Chris

    You can drag you hard drive to the dock and change it to list view and folder. Even better hit the command key, space bar combo to use Spotlight to find any app or file

  • Michael Hahn

    Apple icon in menubar. Recent items.
    Customizable in system prefs>appearance.

  • Mat

    Agreed; you missed the boat. Applications folder in dock, then converted to LIST, and also viewed as a FOLDER not a stack.

    Then go get Alfred (search alfredapp) and you’ll make the conversion easier. That said, it will be a long, long time before I ditch the apps folder in the doc. It’s too convenient.

    Better tip next time. :)

  • Propeller

    I find the Start Menu very useless and cumbersome.

  • Michael Salmon

    I use Spark to defines keys that open the most common apps or folders that I use. For less common apps I use Himmelbar or Recent Items which I have as a stack in the dock. Using the finder doesn’t sound like an option, even the dock seems quaint.

  • http://gilest.org Giles Turnbull

    Mat: thanks for your comment, but remember these tips are supposed to be for complete beginners. The aim is to show them the simplest thing possible, the most basic of basics.

    Personally, I agree about using Alfred. And I agree about displaying Stacks as lists. But I’m not going to recommend those things to beginners – not until I’ve explained to them how to use Stacks and how to install software. Both of which are coming in later posts in this series.

  • Nathan

    I would compare the dock as comparable to the Start Menu. You can add pretty much anything to the dock that would be in the Windows Start Menu (minus maybe a few Windows-only things).

  • J

    If you don’t know where to start, something is really wrong.
    The ‘start menu’ is a inefficient and wrong way to fix it.

    Apple has the dock and it provides an immediate access to all things you want to do. I never missed the ‘start menu’ and its awkward ‘start to finish’. Brrr.

  • http://tommypetersbicycles.blogspot.com Tommy Peters

    Giles, I’m with Mat, although I ditched the apps folder a while back. Switchers are neither nostalgic nor daft. Raise the bar. Show them how to lose the mouse. Show them how you do things and they will appreciate that you’re not condescending. We need your level too.

  • http://gilest.org Giles Turnbull

    Tommy: thanks for your input. (I appreciate it when people make reasoned responses and not thoughtless flames.)

    I completely understand your point. I would never consider switchers to be nostalgic or daft. Indeed, there’s no single skill-level that defines all switchers; some are experienced computer users and confident when trying new things. Others, however, are total beginners and need every bit of guidance they can get.

    A number of people in the latter category have emailed me directly to express their thanks for the posts in this series. So I know there are some people who find this low-level help useful.

    Finally, don’t forget that this series is intended to total 100 posts, and we’re only on number 16. The aim is to gradually increase the skill level as we go along.

    Thanks to all for your feedback. If anyone has any suggestions for post topics, please let me know.

  • Glenn Gore

    A tiny little application called Himmelbar puts a little icon/launcher in the toolbar that you can click on and customize to feature any or all of the applications and utilites on your Mac. I use this as a replacement for the Start Menu and it works great. Clicking on the Applications Folder in the Dock is nice but you cannot customize it to only include the programs you might use most often like Himmelbar can.

  • Ignignokt

    Whenever I first brought my Macbook to a friends, I was greatly amused to see how much he struggled. “Where’s the Start Button! Apple button, yeah…” He clicks on it, gets even more confused. Clicked “Mac OS X Software” looking for All Programs.

    Then again, this is the same person who sneered at me when I was using Chrome and couldn’t connect where there was no WiFi. “See, I told you Internet Explorer is better!”. He can’t use the internet on my Macbook because he cannot find the blue E that means the internet.

  • Patrick

    I think Spotlight is the way to go. Hit Apple+Space and type away. The name of your application, your file, system setting or whatever you are looking for.
    It is by far the fastest and most convenient way of getting somewhere I’ve ever seenin a desktop OS
    In windows I use Launchy for the same purpose, in Linux GnomeDo.