A guide to setting up a dock on macOS

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Useful tricks for both novice and avid Mac users.

Add icons to the dock

The first thing any user does with his Mac is add icons of his favorite programs to the dock. Simple drag and drop is used for this. Grab the app icon in Launchpad, in the Applications folder, or anywhere in the Finder and drag it to the dock. Then release and the icon will be where you put it. It couldn't be simpler.

Another option is to launch a program, then right-click its icon in the Dock and select Options → Leave in Dock.

In addition to programs, you can add files, folders and documents to the dock. They only need to be dragged to the right side of the dock.

And, of course, the icons in the dock can be moved around by customizing their order. It is done something like this.

Removing unnecessary icons

Removing icons from the dock is also very easy. Take the unnecessary icon by holding it with the left mouse button and drag it from the dock to any place. Then release and it will evaporate.

Alternatively, right-click the icon and click Options → Remove from Dock.

Add sites

You can pin in the dock not only icons, but also links to sites. Open any of them (for example, ours) in a browser, and drag the link from the address bar to the right side of the dock.

The link turns into a blue globe icon and stays in the dock. Unfortunately, macOS cannot set site icons as an image for such a link. So you won't add many sites to the dock: you will be confused in blue globes.

Adjusting the size of the dock

Open dock options. To do this, click System Preferences → Dock. The first thing you'll see is a slider that resizes the dock and its icons. With it, you can make the dock smaller or, conversely, larger.

Adjusting the magnification of icons

The next slider in the same section controls the magnification of the icons when the cursor is hovering over them. In principle, this function can be turned off so that the dock does not flicker when you move the mouse carelessly. To do this, just uncheck the box next to the "Increase" parameter.

But on a MacBook or MacBook Air, it is better to turn on the enlargement of icons, and extend the slider to the maximum. When the dock is not needed, it will take up less space. And when you need to launch an application, just hover over the dock and the icons will enlarge so it will be easier to see them.

By the way, there is a trick that allows you to enlarge the icons even more, even when the slider is turned to the limit. Open "Terminal" and enter the command:

defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -float 360; killall dock

By default, icon enlargement in macOS is set to 128. If the slider is at the maximum, the number is 256. You can substitute any arbitrary number into this command. In the example below, 360 is selected.

To reset this setting, move the Magnification slider.

Change the position of the dock on the screen

By default, the dock on macOS is at the bottom. On huge iMac screens, this is quite justified, but if you use a MacBook or even a MacBook Air, the dock starts to take up too much space. And the empty screen space to the left and right of it is used ineffectively.

Therefore, on laptops, it is reasonable to change the position of the dock by moving it to the left side of the screen and making it vertical. So it will resemble the application bar in some Linux with GNOME.

Open Dock options by clicking System Preferences → Dock. For Screen Layout, select Left.

In principle, the dock can also be placed on the right. But then it will overlap with the notification bar. Therefore, the location on the left side is ideal.

Changing the animation of windows

When you minimize a window, it pops into the dock and does it beautifully. By default, macOS uses the Genie animation. It looks impressive, but it can be replaced.

Go to System Preferences → Dock. Find the option "Hide in Dock with effect" there and click on the drop-down list. Select the "Simple reduction" option. The animation will change to a faster and less pretentious one. This will be more convenient for fans of Windows and adherents of minimalism.

But besides Genie and Simple Zoom Out, macOS has another hidden animation for windows. It's called Suck. You can enable it through the "Terminal" with the following command:

defaults write com.apple.dock mineffect suck; killall dock

This is what it looks like.

If you tried this animation and decided that it was not for you, just change it to another one in the settings.

Minimize windows to program icons

By default, minimized windows are moved to the right side of the dock, next to the "Trash". A separate preview icon is created for each of them. This is useful if you are working with a small number of windows, but when there are a lot of minimized programs, they start to fill up the dock.

Go to the dock settings and find there the checkbox "Hide the window in the Dock in the program icon". This will help conserve space on the dock. In addition, Windows and Linux users who have switched to macOS will be more familiar with this - clicking on the icon in the dock will not open a new instance of the program, but will deploy an already running one.

Turn on auto-hide dock

Save even more screen space with auto-hide dock. To do this, enable the checkbox "Automatically show or hide Dock" in its parameters.

Now, to make the dock appear, move the cursor to the edge of the screen where it is located. Windows in this mode will occupy the entire screen area, and space will not be wasted.

We remove the section with running applications

In macOS Mojave, a special section has appeared in the Dock, which contains icons of programs that have just been launched. Moreover, when you finish the program, the icon still remains there and takes up space, even if you do not need it. It can be fixed.

Open Settings, go to the Dock, and uncheck Show recent apps in the Dock. This will save space, and you can open frequently used programs in a more convenient way.

Show only active applications

There is one more special dock operating mode. If you enable it, the panel will display only those programs that are currently running. The icons left for later will disappear. Locked programs will also disappear from the dock.

To activate this mode, type the following command. Most importantly, do not forget to remember before that what you had fixed in the dock.

defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool true; killall dock

You will now have to launch programs through Launchpad, but you will not be distracted by unnecessary icons. You can disable the mode with the command:

defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool false; killall dock

Adding separators

By default, all icons in the dock are arranged one-to-one. But if you have a lot of different programs in it and you want to sort them out more clearly, use this command.

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type" = "small-spacer-tile";}'; killall dock

It will create a separator in the dock - a small white space. It can be dragged and dropped to separate one program group from another. You can repeat the command as many times as you like to create the required number of separators.

We've written about other commands for creating larger or folder separators.

Add recent files to the dock

If you've been constantly working on a bunch of files for some time, it's a good idea to have a way to quickly open them. And he is.

1. Open Finder and go to settings.
2. In the "Side Menu" section, activate the "Recent" item.
3. Drag the Recents folder from the Finder sidebar to the Dock.

Add recent items to the dock

In the above way, you will only get access to recent documents. But in the same way, you can open frequently used programs, and disks, and other items.

In order to create a stack with frequently used applications in the dock, open "Terminal" and enter the command:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{"tile-data" = {"list-type" = 1;}; "tile-type" = "recents-tile";} '; killall dock

A new stack will now appear in the dock. Right-click on it and choose what it should display: programs, drives, servers, or favorites.

By re-entering the command into the "Terminal", you can create several such stacks. Customize them through the context menu so that each one displays what you need.

Adding a swipe gesture

There is another hidden feature in the macOS dock that can be activated from Terminal. Enter the command:

defaults write com.apple.dock scroll-to-open -bool TRUE; killall dock

Now open multiple windows of the same program. Move the cursor over its icon in the dock and slide your finger over the mouse or touchbar, as if scrolling. And you will see all the windows of this application in the "Browse" mode. A useful thing for those who work with many windows at the same time.

You can turn off the function with the command:

defaults write com.apple.dock scroll-to-open -bool FALSE; killall dock

Returning the original dock view

If you get too carried away with shamanism with a dock, it will turn into something completely indigestible. In this case, you can reset it completely, making the dock the way it was when you first turned on your Mac. To do this, type in the "Terminal" command

defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall dock

Maybe you know some other tricks and tricks for working with the dock? Share in the comments.