{"id":3025,"date":"2022-03-08T16:35:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T16:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/?p=3025"},"modified":"2022-03-08T16:36:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T16:36:00","slug":"tip-of-the-week-rearrange-googles-app-launcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/2022\/03\/08\/tip-of-the-week-rearrange-googles-app-launcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Tip of the week: Rearrange Google’s app launcher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jared Newman<\/div>
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March 8, 2022<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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You know the little 9×9 dot icon that appears at the top-right corner of every Google website, which brings up a mini launcher for Google apps such as Gmail and Calendar? I just realized, more than eight years the launcher’s debut<\/a>, that you can rearrange the order of those apps just by clicking and dragging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This only works if you’re signed into a Google account\u2014otherwise the apps will be stuck in place\u2014but it means that you can move your most frequently-used apps to the top off the list for easy access, while demoting the ones you never touch. The order you choose will then automatically sync across all your devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want more customization?<\/strong> A free Chrome extension called G App Launcher<\/a> goes even further by providing hundreds of additional shortcuts. That means you can add less popular Google services such as Google Voice, set up quick actions such as drafting a new message in Gmail, or even create custom shortcuts to any website, including those outside of Google’s domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you’ve installed the extension, click the the gear icon at the top of the launcher to enter the customization menu. Shortcuts that you drag into the right-side panel will then appear inside the launcher, while the ones in the left panel will be hidden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To add your own sites, click “Add custom shortcut” in the customization menu, then enter the site name and address. You can also add a custom icon by pasting the link to any image on the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

G App Launcher does have two major differences from Google’s launcher: Clicking an icon will launch the site in a new tab instead of your current one. But if the app is already open in another tab, it’ll switch to that tab instead. I actually like that behavior even better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Hat tip to reader Tim C.<\/strong>, who started me on this path by asking why Google’s launcher didn’t link to Google Voice in the first place.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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