How to open multiple apps at once on Windows
If you open the same handful of apps every morning, doing it by hand is wasted motion. Windows gives you a few ways to launch programs together - the Startup folder, Task Scheduler, a batch file - but each gets clumsy fast. Here is what each one does, and the cleaner way: build the launch once as a visual sequence and fire it from a single hotkey.
Installs from the Microsoft Store, no SmartScreen prompt. Free Starter plan, no account.
Direct installer for Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit, v0.16.0.
The native ways - and where they get clumsy
Drop shortcuts in shell:startup and they open on every boot. No control over order, no delays, and it fires whether you are starting work or just rebooting after an update. One fixed set, always on.
Can launch a program on a trigger, but each task runs a single action. To open five apps in order you are wiring up five tasks (or a script), through a dialog that has not changed since 2003.
Works, and can add timeouts - but now you are maintaining a script, editing paths by hand, and you get no UI, no per-app status, and nothing to click when you just want your "work" set vs your "stream" set.
Build it once in Seqtrix
- 1Install Seqtrix and create a sequence
Download Seqtrix for Windows, open the builder, and start a new sequence (or open the "Monday morning start" template and swap in your own apps).
- 2Add an Open Application step for each app
Drag in an Open Application action for every program - VS Code, your browser, Slack, Spotify - using the registry-aware dropdown or browsing to the .exe.
- 3Add Wait steps to control order and timing
Drop Wait actions between launches so apps that depend on each other open in the right order instead of all racing at once.
- 4Save and bind a trigger
Save the sequence, then bind it to a global hotkey, a daily schedule, or a Mini Mode slot so your whole workspace opens with one action.
Then fire it your way
- • Global hotkey - sit down, press it, your whole workspace opens.
- • Schedule - have it open at 9am on weekdays via schedule triggers.
- • Mini Mode ring - keep “Work”, “Stream”, and “Focus” sets one click apart in the floating launcher.
FAQ
Windows has no native "launch a group of apps from one shortcut" feature - a desktop shortcut can only point at a single program. The clean way is to put all the launches in one sequence and bind that sequence to a global hotkey. In Seqtrix, one hotkey can open as many apps as you want, in order.
Yes, and that is the main reason to use a sequence instead of the Startup folder. Add a Wait step between launches so a dependency (say, a VPN or a database) is ready before the next app starts. The Startup folder and a plain .bat file give you no reliable ordering or timing control.
The Startup folder opens its apps on every single boot, in no guaranteed order, whether you want them or not. A Seqtrix sequence runs only when you trigger it - a hotkey when you sit down, a schedule at 9am on weekdays, or a click on the floating Mini Mode ring - and you can have different sets for "work", "streaming", or "focus".
Yes. A sequence is not limited to opening apps - the same flow can type text, press keys, run a CMD or PowerShell command (like git pull), control media, and even encrypt a file. Opening apps is usually just the first few steps of a real morning routine.
Yes. Bind the sequence to a schedule trigger - one-shot or recurring (daily, weekly, a cron expression) - and your workspace opens itself at, say, 9:00am every weekday without you pressing anything.
Keep going
Two built-in templates already open a workspace in order. Open either from the Templates tab in the app and swap in your own apps:
- Monday morning start - opens mail, opens the calendar in a second tab, creates the week's plan file and opens it.
- Start of a remote day - checks you are online, notes the state of your network adapters, starts the day log, then opens team chat, mail, the calendar and today's plan. Its guide walks through every step and puts it on one hotkey.
- Close all apps at once on Windows 11 - the other end of the day: one key saves, closes the programs you name and locks the PC.
- Run a program at a specific time on Windows - a time instead of a key: what Task Scheduler does for free, then one step on a Seqtrix schedule.
- Password-protect a folder on Windows 11
- Seqtrix vs Windows Task Scheduler
Open your whole workspace with one key
15-day Advanced trial on every install. No credit card, no scripting.
Installs from the Microsoft Store, no SmartScreen prompt. Free Starter plan, no account.
Direct installer for Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit, v0.16.0.