On Boot, Activate MacOS Default Apps/Then hide those that need hiding/Then close front window(1) for those windows that need closing instead of hiding.
About & Download:
What will this App Do?
When used as a login item for Mac OS High Sierra, this app will open, then either hide the app, or close the first window of the app so your mac doesn’t boot with windows (such as the Calander app) loaded and showing. Instead this app will effectively load Mac OS commonly used Default Apps into your mac’s RAM (Random Access Memory), so when you actually do need to use this app, it loads up much faster then it would if it were to initially open it for the first time. Depending on what type of hard drive and how much ram you have, this could and should have the affect of speeding up your mac’s application load times (common default apps will now load into RAM at boot) after they first load at boot. This will have the overall affect of speeding up your Mac.
What Mac OS Sierra/High Sierra (Or even Older versions of Mac OS) Apps will this load at boot?
This will load the following apps into RAM at boot: Messages, FaceTime, Photos, iTunes, iBooks, Mail, Safari, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, & Notes
Who might find this app useful?
If you are using a mac with an old hard drive, a hybrid drive, or an SSHD, and you have extra RAM to keep your applications loaded in the background, then this app is for you, and will speed up the load time of your default application.
Why did you build this simple app?
I built this app for personal use because I wanted to squeeze as much juice out of my very old 2011 iMac as possible. When using the System Preferences Login Items window, and dragging default apps to the window, I got annoyed with apps (like Calendar) opening with open windows and just hiding the open windows, as opposed to loading them into ram and then closing their first window, effectively speeding up the apps for later use. This Script in App form is the workaround to this problem.
Can I donate to help support new apps and the upkeep of this site?
Yes. You can donate US Dollars, Z-Cash, or Bitcoin by clicking on the Donations page. Any amount is highly appreciated and welcome!
The Code Embedded in this App and Script
tell application "Messages" to launch
tell application "FaceTime" to launch
tell application "Photos" to launch
tell application "iTunes" to launch
tell application "iTunes" to launch
tell application "iBooks" to launch
tell application "Mail" to launch
tell application "Safari" to launch
tell application "Calendar" to launch
tell application "Contacts" to launch
tell application "Reminders" to launch
tell application "Notes" to launch
tell application "Messages" to activate
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Messages" to set visible to false
tell application "FaceTime" to activate
tell application "System Events" to tell process "FaceTime" to set visible to false
tell application "Photos" to activate
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Photos" to set visible to false
tell application "iTunes" to activate
tell application "System Events" to tell process "iTunes" to set visible to false
tell application "iBooks" to activate
tell application "System Events" to tell process "iBooks" to set visible to false
tell application "Mail" to activate
delay 15
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Mail"
click button 1 of window 1
end tell
end tell
tell application "Safari" to activate
delay 10
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Safari"
click button 1 of window 1
end tell
end tell
tell application "Calendar" to activate
delay 10
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Calendar"
click button 1 of window 1
end tell
end tell
tell application "Contacts" to activate
delay 5
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Contacts"
click button 1 of window 1
end tell
end tell
tell application "Reminders" to activate
delay 5
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Reminders"
click button 1 of window 1
end tell
end tell
tell application "Notes" to activate
delay 5
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Notes"
click button 1 of window 1
end tell
end tellInstructions:
Short Version:
1) Drag downloaded App File to Applications folder.
2) Add app to the Accessibility Menu in the System Preferences “Security & Privacy” pane.
3) Add app to “Login Items” menu located under “Users & Groups” in the System Preferences pane.
4) Reboot, if it works, do nothing, if it does not work, edit “Delay” commands in script, as necessary. Rinse and repeat.
Newbie Version (long version):
Drag the .app file to your applications folder. Once in your Application folder, open up System Preferences, then click on “Users and Groups”, and click on the “Login Items” tab. Once the Login items menu appears, press the plus sign to add an app to your boot up menu. Scroll to the app you just downloaded and dragged to your Application folder, then select it and click “Add”.
Next, go to System Preferences>Security & Privacy and click on the “Privacy Tab”. On the left side, scroll down to Accessibility and click on it. For the next step you may need to unlock your System preferences panel first by clicking the lock icon in the bottom left corner of the Security & Privacy preference pane. Once you enter your password and unlock, click the plus sign under “Allow the apps below to control your computer.” box. Then once again, scroll to your application folder, select the app you just downloaded, and click add. Reboot.
Thats it for now (unless you get errors on next boot, then scroll to the next set of directions below).
Fixing Timing Errors with apps opening:
If you are getting errors running this app at boot, it is because your computer loads the apps at different speeds then what the script assumes. Therefore, You will most likely need to custom edit this code in Script Editor on Mac OS to set the “Delays” to the proper time in between commands.
Essentially, I set a 5 or 10 second delay in between when each app activates, and when it is fully loaded and ready for the next command. There is no way for me to determine how long it takes for each app to load, since all computers run at different speeds. Therefore, you must go in and edit the delay times yourself, to suit your computer specifically. You will only need to set a delay for the apps that already have a delay set in the script. For example, for Mail.app, the first line of the below comm is the command to open the mail app, is tell application "Mail" to activate which tells your mac to open the Mail app. If it were not for the second command for this app delay 15 the third command click button 1 of window 1 would instantly attempt to execute, trying to hit the close button on a mail window that might not even have a close button, because the app hasn’t had enough time to fully load. Therefore, If it takes Mail.app 25 seconds to load at boot, and not 15, then you must open this applet or script up in Apple Script Editor, and replace “delay 15” with “Delay 25” after the command tell application "Mail" to activate. Do this for each Startup App that is causing the script to error out. This will fix the script for each app that is causing errors at boot. Trial and error, but it does eventually work, and when it does, it’s nice.
Lastly, if you edited the script file in Mac OS Script Editor, and want to re-save it as an app, just Click on “File” then “Export”. When the “export” window pops up, click on the “File Format” dropdown menu and click on “Application”. Then click the “Save” button. You should now have an app wherever you saved it, and can drop this app into your list of apps to start on boot.
Download the App file Below (in Zip Format)
Zip File Hashes:
Md5 for .app.zip file
BD9D2328DCE9F78C633567228F5D39F9SHA1 for .app.zip file
EDAAD2ECA5CA90FD0A6F9876B5C82C605D6AA66FSHA256 for .app.zip file
0420C0153E9D9BC90185A36F24999B0AC5B61BCD7CD5CA663C1A13F000953196Unpacked App (.app) File Hashes
Md5 for .app file
9B217EEB85362C6942622A28D4294121SHA1 .app file
45B9D7BE30416B5E46E5BAF4789AF2898656489ESHA256 .app file
00A8BE82BBB3B57E79BBA64DB58472A4CFF0857719D7FDF6B565F7DE2AA2827CDownload the Apple Script file below (in Zip Format)
Zip File Hashes:
Md5 for .scpt.zip file
B17E5CCBBD7B6BF570D708B4EF3D6903SHA1 for .scpt.zip file
995DAA85D01AC5FE142A1C1FED6CFFF2896F1635SHA256 for .scpt.zip file
2CA4111D6E53B8E6FAE4DF99DF429E1664512D61D0E5D5D885F9145FFA206443Unpacked scpt File Hashes:
Md5 for .scpt file
6E97A64AE6C3D3611D226ACB75BECE4ESHA1 for .scpt file
FF0C852EB4DF8778B3626E8B74E2D3120F83FEF8SHA256 for .scpt file
9989B8D8A0D36534A1D9985F167016161D51C4662A0166F81965EA97AD935EC9