Shortcut & Gesture

Shortcut & Gesture groups every fast-launch input path in one place. Use it when you want LaunchNext to respond to a keyboard shortcut, a drag toward Dock, a screen corner, or a trackpad gesture.

Global shortcut

1. Click Set shortcut
2. Press the full key combination you want to use
3. Click Save

Use Clear to remove the saved shortcut. If you want to stop capture without saving, click Cancel or press Esc.

Validation rules

• Modifier-only input is rejected.
• LaunchNext expects one main key plus any modifiers you want.
• Shortcuts without modifiers are technically possible, but they are much more likely to conflict with other apps or normal typing.

Good shortcut candidates

• Option + Space
• Command + Shift + L
• Control + Space, only if Spotlight or another launcher is not already using it

Drag apps to Dock

This section controls how LaunchNext hands an app off to the macOS Dock while you are dragging. It is useful if you keep LaunchNext open and want to pin apps to Dock without leaving the grid.

What you can change

• Enable Dock drag: turns Dock handoff on or off.
• Dock side: choose Bottom, Left, or Right so LaunchNext matches your real Dock position.
• Trigger distance: sets how far you need to drag before LaunchNext stops holding the item and lets macOS take over.

The trigger distance range is 8 px to 72 px. The default is 50 px.

When to Raise or Lower the Distance

• Lower values feel faster, but can trigger accidentally.
• Higher values give you more control if you often reorganize apps inside LaunchNext before dropping them.

Hot Corner

Hot Corner opens LaunchNext when the pointer reaches a selected screen corner.

Main controls

• Enable Hot Corner: turns the feature on.
• Close when already open: uses the same corner as a toggle instead of open-only.
• Corner: choose Top left, Top right, Bottom left, or Bottom right.
• Trigger delay: how long the pointer must stay in the corner before LaunchNext opens.
• Trigger zone: the size of the active corner hitbox.

The trigger delay range is 0 ms to 1200 ms, with a default of 250 ms. The trigger zone range is 20 px to 120 px, with a default of 50 px.

Practical tuning

• Use a short delay if you want instant access.
• Increase delay first if the corner opens by accident.
• Increase the trigger zone only if the corner feels too hard to hit.

Experimental trackpad gestures

LaunchNext also includes an experimental low-level trackpad gesture section.

Available options

• Enable pinch gesture: lets a pinch gesture open LaunchNext.
• Close with spread gesture: lets the reverse gesture close it again.
• Tap gesture: choose Off, Open, or Toggle.
• Gesture fingers: choose 4 fingers or 5 fingers.
• Gesture input device: choose Auto or Selected devices.

Gesture input device

Auto listens to all available trackpads and uses the first one that triggers a valid gesture.

Selected devices lets you choose specific trackpads. This is useful when you use both a built-in trackpad and an external trackpad and want LaunchNext to listen to only one of them.

LaunchNext labels devices as Built-in or External. If a selected device is unavailable, reconnect it or choose another trackpad.

Important system conflict

Before using the gesture, turn off Show Desktop in System Settings > Trackpad > More Gestures. If the macOS gesture stays enabled, the system may intercept the same input before LaunchNext sees it.

Reliability notes

• Gesture support is marked experimental, so behavior can vary with different trackpads and gesture tools.
• Recent builds recover gesture monitoring more cleanly after sleep and wake, but if gestures stop responding entirely, relaunching LaunchNext is still the fastest reset.

Troubleshooting

Shortcut records but does not trigger

• Check for conflicts with Spotlight, Raycast, Alfred, or macOS keyboard shortcuts.
• Clear the shortcut and record it again.
• Prefer a combination with at least one modifier.

Drag to Dock does not hand off

• Confirm Enable Dock drag is on.
• Make sure Dock side matches your actual Dock position.
• Raise Trigger distance if handoff happens too early, or lower it if it never happens.

Hot Corner opens too often

Increase Trigger delay first. If that is not enough, move the trigger to a less busy corner.

Gesture does nothing

• Turn off Show Desktop in macOS trackpad settings.
• Confirm Tap gesture is not set to Off if you are testing tap.
• If using Selected devices, confirm at least one connected trackpad is selected.
• Restart LaunchNext if gesture monitoring was interrupted after sleep or a system input change.