Additional Autostart Settings

Autostarter’s advanced settings are only visible when you click the disclosure triangle at the bottom left of the window. Additional controls can be shown or hidden using this button.

Launch Delay

Sometimes, an application can only be started correctly after certain conditions are met. For example, a program might be set up to process data stored on a file server. This program should only be started after a connection to this server has been established first, for example by specifying the related network address (URL) in the Login Items of System Settings.

As an app from the App Store, Autostarter is not permitted to establish network connections itself. Likewise, it is not allowed to “watch” other apps, so it generally cannot determine whether certain prerequisites that would be necessary for the launch of a particular program are met. Such mutual control or influence of apps is prohibited by Apple in the App Store. Autostarter is therefore forced to use simpler means to organize the start of applications that depend on each other.

Many mutual dependencies can already be resolved by having programs start in a specific sequence. You can drag the individual rows in the table of autostart objects into the desired order. Autostarter only launches a program after all programs that are previously in the list have already received start commands.

If this is not enough, you can set Autostarter to additionally delay the start of certain applications. It is usually easy to estimate how much time the operating system needs after login so that certain services can be assumed to be ready at this point. A program that requires these services for launch can then simply be started “later” without Autostarter needing to know the exact state of the system. Delays between 1 and 60 seconds can be defined for each application.

Perform the following steps to set a delayed launch for one or more applications in the list:

1. In the Autostarter control window, click the disclosure triangle in the lower left corner.
2. Click Delayed Start….
3. In the table that appears, look for the application whose start should be delayed.
4. Choose the desired delay time with the associated slider.
5. Click OK for the changes to take effect.

Please note the following:

• As soon as you set a delay for an application, it will be automatically moved to the end of the list of startup entries. Autostarter ensures that the entries appear in the correct order, which corresponds to later startup behavior.
• The delay time begins to run from the point in time at which the respective program would have been started without a delay. The delay is therefore not measured relative to login or relative to the start of the first program in the list.
• You can switch off all delays with the Clear all delays button.
• If you close the dialog sheet with the Cancel button, the changes won’t take effect. The previous status will be retained.

Aggressive Hide Mode

Unfortunately, there are applications that do not properly support starting with hidden windows. This is usually due to the following reasons:

• The application initially starts correctly without a window, but carries out certain activities immediately after launch, which prompts it to put itself into the foreground a short time later. An example of this would be the arrival of new messages or a password entry required to log on to a network service.
• The program is not a native macOS application and does not comply with the rules for starting with hidden windows. A typical example are “Web Apps”, i.e. programs that were not developed for macOS but for many different platforms and, for cost reasons, actually use a web browser to provide their functionality on any operating system, running “like a web page”. Such web apps may launch web browsers that are not recognizable as such, with windows visible even though the main controlling program has been properly hidden.

In such cases, Autostarter can still try to hide the windows in a way that becomes actually effective: If the affected application otherwise adheres to macOS guidelines, it will probably react to repeated commands from outside to put itself in the background, taking its windows off screen. If necessary, you can set a time for each problematic application where Autostarter should repeatedly flood it with hide commands after startup. We refer to this as Aggressive Hide Mode.

Perform the following steps if you like to try to force problematic applications to hide after startup:

1. In the Autostarter control window, click the disclosure triangle in the lower left corner.
2. Click Aggressive Hide….
3. In the table, find the application to hide that is not working correctly.
4. Use the associated slider to set a time between one second and 30 seconds. During this time, Autostarter will continue to send hide commands to the respective application after starting. The time interval should not be longer than necessary.
5. Click OK for the changes to take effect.

Please note the following:

• Use Aggressive Hide only when necessary. Leave properly working applications in the Off setting.
• During the time interval you set, the respective application can no longer put windows in the foreground, so it becomes unusable during that period, even if it continues to work in the background. Therefore, the time should be as short as possible so that the desired effect is just achieved.
• If you close the dialog sheet with the Cancel button, the changes won’t take effect. The previous status will be retained.