@donfarrar, @mikekaganski is always a fount of useful information, all you have to do is adapt his information to the pertaining OS, in this case macOS.
Here’s my convoluted-but-functioning method to solve your problem.
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Open Automator and click New > Application.
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In the middle column of the window that opens, find “Execute Shell Script” and drag it to the rightmost column.
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In the text area presented enter the following command:
/Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --writer
- The parameters of this next step are all up to you – Save this new application somewhere, give it a name and a new icon. I saved mine in my home directory’s Applications folder just for organization’s sake.
As for the icon, I first did a CMD-I
on my new application (named “LOWriter.app”). Then I found /Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/Resources/text.icns
and dragged that icon directly onto the LOWriter.app’s Get Info window’s icon. I didn’t do a copy icon and paste icon which is the usual procedure because text.icns
itself has a generic icon. This method extracts the actual icon information inside the icon file.
For your “PowerPoint.app” and “Excel.app”, lather, rinse and repeat. At this point you can alias them anywhere you’d like.
I’m sure there are other methods, possibly more streamlined or efficient, but like the old joke…
“How do you spell ‘Mississippi’?”
“M-I-S-I-SS-I-P-I.”
“That’s not right. That can’t be right.”
“Hey…you asked me how I spell 'Mississippi!”