Update: This doesn't work on Mojave (Anyway to reset Mojave launchpad alphabetically?).
You can do this with terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock
This will arrange all apple stock/system applications on the first launchpad page in the default order. On the second, third etc. page all the other apps will be arranged alphabetically.
Source: Resolved – Is there anyway to sort the icons in Launchpad alphabetically? | MacRumors Forums
Doesn’t work on Mojave.
Thanks James, you are quite right.
Its only reset not shorting… tested on Catalina
It separates the Apple applications and system applications but it doesn’t sort them alphabetically on Mac OS Big Sur v11.1.
First, you can set your default Launchpad columns and rows with the following commands:
Notes:
1) If your icons are already sorted in a particular order, know that you will need to reorganize them from scratch afterwards.
2) This will move the Apple icons to the first page and all the others to following pages but not in alphabetical order.
3) Replace the X with your preferred numbers. I personally like 6 and 6, but you can try 10 and 8 or anything up to 24; the icons will get progressively smaller the larger the numbers you enter.
Here are the commands:
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int X;
defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int X;
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool TRUE;killall Dock
Second, now that they are placed on the launchpad you can sort them alphabetically manually:
You open the Launchpad, press and hold the fn key, select any app, the icons start to wiggle, you can drag the around with you mouse or trackpad. I personally keep my “favorites on the top row of the second page and then sort the others mostly by name but relegating the least used to the last/bottom.