How to Organize Mac Apps by Project or Workflow

When you switch from video editing to writing to coding, you need a different set of apps each time, but macOS shows them all as one list. To organize Mac apps by project, you need a place where each project's apps, folders and files sit together, and where you can switch between projects with a click.

Short answer: the best app for grouping your apps by project, in my opinion as its developer, is Jetty: it adds up to four extra docks to the edges of your screen, or floating anywhere, each with tabs of one-click tiles for apps, files, folders, websites and Shortcuts. It is a $9.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store and needs macOS 14 or later.

Disclosure: I build Jetty.

What macOS gives you for workflows

The Dock, Spotlight and (on macOS 15 and earlier) Launchpad all treat your apps as a single collection. Launchpad lets you make folders, but they are shallow and sit behind an extra click. On macOS 26 Tahoe, Launchpad is replaced by the Apps view, which is a different approach again; see what happened to Launchpad.

Spaces, the virtual desktops in Mission Control, can help you keep project windows apart. But Spaces organize windows, not launchers. If an app is not open yet, a Space does not help you find it.

A Focus mode can quiet notifications per project, which is useful, but it does not change which apps you see or how you launch them.

Project groups with Jetty

In Jetty, each bar has tabs, and each tab is a set of tiles. A tile can be an app, a file, a folder, a website or a Shortcut from the Shortcuts app. So one tab can hold everything a project needs: the editor, the project folder, the brief, the staging site.

You build the tab once. When you switch projects, you click another tab.

Moving between those groups is covered in how to switch between app groups on Mac; a developer setup is in a developer app launcher for Mac, and other organizer apps in app organizer for Mac: options compared.

Example: freelance designer

A bar with three tabs:

• Client work: Figma, Slack, the client's shared folder, the project's website.
• Personal: your side-project tools.
• Admin: Calendar, Mail, your accounting app.

Example: developer

• Backend: your code editor, Terminal, a database client, the repository folder.
• Frontend: a browser, Figma for reference, the local dev URL as a website tile.

Folders open as a list

A folder tile opens a popup that lists the folder's contents, and you click an item to open it. That makes a project directory useful as a tile, not just as a shortcut to Finder.

Where the bars live

Each bar is pinned to the top, bottom, left or right edge of your main screen, in one of three positions along that edge (start, centre or end). You can also unlock a bar and drag it anywhere; lock it again and it snaps to the nearest edge. You can run up to four bars, so you could give each major project area its own bar instead of its own tab.

Bars stay on screen when you switch desktops. If a bar gets in your way, the close button on it hides it, and the menu-bar item brings it back.

What this does not do

Jetty does not open a whole set of apps at once with one click, and it does not hide or arrange windows. It also does not track which apps are running. It is a set of launch tiles, organized the way you choose. For window management, use macOS tools such as Spaces or Stage Manager.

If you want a broader overview of tools in this space, read our Dock app comparison.

How we checked

Jetty's details on this page were checked against the app's source code and its App Store listing on 2026-10-10 and are collected on the facts page; I build Jetty. For built-in macOS steps, Apple's Mac User Guide is the reference for your version of macOS.

FAQ

How do I group apps on a Mac?

macOS has no built-in app groups outside Launchpad folders on older versions. A launcher that supports named groups, such as Jetty with its tabs, lets you build your own.

Can I add folders and files, not just apps?

In Jetty, yes. Tiles can be apps, files, folders, websites and Shortcuts.

Do Spaces help me organize apps by project?

Spaces help you keep windows apart on different desktops. They do not launch apps for you.

Can I open all apps in a group at once?

Not with Jetty. Each tile opens when you click it.

Get Jetty on the Mac App Store. $9.99 one-time purchase, macOS 14 or later.