How to Add Startup Items to Your Mac

We all have our Mac packed with a plethora of documents and applications. Some of them are quite useful and need to be accessed on a regular basis. Some examples of such applications are, Safari, Apple Mail etc.

So, wouldn’t it be a great idea to open all these applications or documents automatically once you log on to your Mac? In this article we will learn how to add these items at startup of your Mac.

This means once you add the items as startup items on Mac, you do not need to open them manually after each login of your Mac.

How to Add Startup Items?

Before we learn to add startup items to Mac, let’s just quickly learn what exactly Startup items are?

Startup items, that are also known as login items, are the applications, documents, or may be any other items that a user wishes should start on its own at the login of Mac.

1. To get started, login to your Mac.
2. Now, click the Apple menu and select the System Preference. You can also open System Preference by clicking on its icon in Dock.
3. In the System Preference window click on System Section > User and Groups.
4. Now, click on Login Items Tab.
5. Now, to add the startup items click on the ‘+’ button located just under the Login Items window.
6. In the window that opens, select the items that you wish to add at startup and then click on Add button.

The items that you have selected are now added to the startup list. Going forward, whenever you start your Mac the items that are added at startup will automatically launch.

Use Dock Menus to Add Startup Items- Another Way for Adding Startup Items in Mac

This is another option using which you can add startup items even without going to System Preferences. The only condition is that the item which you wish to set as login item must be present in Dock menu.

1. To get started right click on the app icon that is presented in Dock.
2. Now from the menu click on Options.
3. From the popup menu select Open at Login.

That’s it. So, guys, following these simple steps you can add the frequently used items to automatically start.

Bonus Tip: Since adding items at startup makes the process automated we recommend you only add those apps at which you use frequently after logging into your Mac.