How to open multiple Screaming Frog windows on Mac

Screaming Frog is awesome – no doubt about it. But it can be frustrating on Macs to not be able to open multiple instances of it by default.

But fear not, here at NOVOS we have some simple instructions to make your Screaming Frog dreams a reality!

• Open the Terminal via your applications
• Type open -n /Applications/Screaming\ Frog\ SEO\ Spider.app 
• Press enter
• Enjoy

This is actually very easy to do, so easy that I had to create a 4th step just to make it seem like there was more to do. The only problem I found with this was that I would always forget what to type in the Terminal, leading to more frustration.

That’s when I did some research into how to create a keyboard shortcut to do the same job!

• Open Automator in your applications

• Choose “Quick Action”

• Choose “Run Shell Script” and add “open -n /Applications/Screaming\ Frog\ SEO\ Spider.app” as shown below. Save the Automation.

• Next up is to add your keyboard shortcut to make it easy to open whenever you need it! To do this open System Preferences>Keyboard>Shortcuts>Services – find your recently saved Automation, select and add shortcut. (NB – click “Add Shortcut”, perform your desired keyboard shortcut, then click “Add Shortcut” again.)

5. Enjoy!

Now you’ve set up your shortcut, you can use it to open as many Screaming Frog windows as you want. I have found that this only doesn’t work if you already have Screaming Frog open as your main application, otherwise it works a dream.

The only problem you’ll have now is trying to limit how many Screaming Frogs you have open…!