With Lion, we got Launchpad, and though it's under utilized, its lack of customatization options makes it a little finicky to use. But, if you download Launchpad Control, you can sort, hide/unhide, and reorder your applications within Launchpad easily. This little app makes it easy to manually organize your apps in Launchpad.

What You’ll Need

>> Mac OS X Lion
>> Launchpad Control (free)

To begin using Launchpad Control, download the zip file from the developer’s website, and double-click on the System Preference pane once you unzip the download. Once installed, open the pane by navigating to System Preferences > Launchpad Control.

Hiding Applications

Uncheck the boxes beside the application name to hide it from view within Launchpad. You can uncheck multiple apps by unchecking an entire page of applications. When you’re done, click Apply to save the changes.

Sorting Applications

There are a few ways that you can sort your applications in Launchpad from the preference pane. First, you can use the option to “Sort all items A-Z”, or you can sort the items and folders of specific applications alphabetically using by selecting the page or folder and then selecting “Sort children A-Z.”

Creating Folders/Groups

Lastly, you can also drag and drop applications on top of one another to create a folder (or “group”). You can name this group whatever you like in the pop up dialog.

After you’ve created the group with an initial two applications, you can begin filling up the new folder by dragging and dropping additional apps into the group. When you’re done, click on the Apply button to have the changes saved.

Cory Bohon is a freelance technology writer, indie Mac and iOS developer, and amateur photographer. Follow this article's author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.