Unlike iOS, macOS on Mac offers quite a bit of customization to change the look, feel, and function of the operating system. For starters, you can choose the preferred web browser as the default, customize the keyboard keys, and use third-party apps to optimize your Mac experience. The default dock on the Mac is one area where Apple hasn’t made any significant changes. However, you can choose the default settings on Mac to customize the dock. And if that’s not enough, you can go with third-party options from the web.
macOS Dock normally appears at the bottom of your screen. The dock is customizable in a few ways you might not be aware of, especially if you’re a new Mac user.
In this article, we will discuss all the built-in ways to tweak the Mac Dock, and if you want to go further, you can install third-party dock replacements from the web. Lets start.
What is Dock on Mac?
The Dock has been with the Mac for over a decade. It gives you a quick way to access the Finder (Mac’s built-in file manager), as well as your currently running apps, favorite apps, favorite files or folders, and of course the Trash.
When you first set up your Mac, your Dock is located at the bottom of your screen in a translucent rectangle. Most users don’t care about its location, size or default settings. However, macOS provides a special Dock menu in System Preferences for making changes to the dock. Let’s go through each option with step-by-step instructions.
First, we’ll talk about ways to change the Dock location, appearance, size, and then talk about the tricks of customizing it with a third-party app.
Resize the Dock on Your Mac
Mac ecosystem; It consists of hardware such as MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iMac and dedicated desktop. Accordingly, you may find the default slot size too small or too large. Follow the steps to change the dock size on Mac.
Stage 1: Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac’s screen.
Step 2: Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Stage 3: Click Dock.
Step 4: Drag the Size slider left or right to increase or decrease the size of the Dock.
Step 5: Check the Zoom box to enable an animation that makes Dock items larger when your cursor hovers over it.
Step 6: Drag the Magnification slider left or right to increase or decrease how big the icons get when your cursor is hovering over them.
Zoom is useful when using the dock on the big screen, and the dock has a lot of apps.
Now that you’ve set your preferred Dock Size and magnification, it’s time to change the orientation of the dock.
Pro Tip: You can change the size of the dock by hovering the cursor over the dock divider, which separates apps from files and folders. The cursor will change to a double-sided arrow; Click and drag to increase or decrease the size of the dock. No need to go to system settings to make changes.
Change Dock Position on Mac
I’m happy with the bottom default location of the Dock. The majority also stick with the default dock orientation, but if you’re coming from Linux, you’ll appreciate Apple’s added customization option. Follow the steps below to change dock position left/right on Mac.
Stage 1: Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac’s screen.
Step 2: Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Stage 3: Click Dock.
Step 4: Select Left, Bottom or Right to change the orientation of the Dock.
Pro Tip: You can change the position of the Dock by holding down the shift key, clicking the divider, and dragging the Dock to the left, bottom, or right of the screen.
Hide or Show Dock on Mac
Similar to the Taskbar in Windows, you can completely hide the Dock on a Mac to maximize screen space. If you don’t want the Dock to get in the way of your productivity, you can keep it private until you want to access it; at this point you can search for it again by hovering your cursor over where it would normally be.
Stage 1: Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac’s screen.
Step 2: Go to System Preferences > Dock.
Stage 3: Enable Automatically hide and show the dock option.
Pro Tip: You can enable/disable most of these options from the Dock itself. Right-click an empty area of the Dock and make changes.
Hide Recent Apps in Dock on macOS
Much like iPadOS on iPad, macOS puts users’ recently used apps in a special section of the Dock. If you’re not a fan, turn off the option from the Dock menu.
Stage 1: Go to the Dock menu in the System Preferences menu.
Step 2: Click the checkbox next to Show recent apps in the Dock to lose control (it’s on by default).
Why Do You Need Third-Party Docking Station Replacement?
As you can see, you can make a few changes to the appearance of the dock, but it’s not enough. Sometimes you need a dock that blends in with your other UI and stuff. Apple does not offer this now.
Apple hasn’t brought any major changes to the docking station in the last decade. On the other hand, Windows and Linux have made their startup systems pretty awesome. For example, Windows gives you an overview of the PC via the Start Menu.
Third-party Dock replacement does not completely remove the default Dock from the operating system. You can only hide and rearrange the dock. This is because the dock relies on some native functionality in macOS. Removing the docking station will not be very pleasant on some features.
Instead, these third-party apps hide the default macOS dock so well that you won’t notice the old dock during simple browsing. One such application is ActiveDock.
ActiveDock
ActiveDock is a complete replacement for Apple Launchpad and Dock with many new features. ActiveDock allows grouping documents and applications, switching between applications and windows faster, and managing windows directly from the Window Previews panel.
You can also customize the appearance of the icons and the dock itself as you wish. At the same time, ActiveDock looks and behaves just like Apple Dock. So you won’t have to get used to it. Same Dock, but better.
My favorite feature is window previews that quickly identify open apps when switching between them. But it doesn’t end there. It allows you to resize windows to different preset sizes directly from the preview of an application.
ActiveDock lets you group different items into a single view. This comes in handy when you want to keep all the resources associated with a project accessible from the dock. You can add apps, files, folders and photos; any item works as long as it’s accessible via Finder.
As for customization, you can switch to a different theme for the dock and add custom icons for apps. You can choose new icons from one of the available presets for the Start Menu, Trash, and Show Desktop. Regular!
ActiveDock offers a trial version with a $25 price tag to unlock all features.
Level Up the Docking Experience on Mac
Using the tricks mentioned above, you can easily change the default look and feel of macOS Dock on Mac. If you’re not satisfied with the built-in options, choose a third-party Dock app to enhance the Mac experience. How do you optimize the Dock on Mac? Mute the sound in the comments section below.
Next: Want to be productive with your new Mac? Read the post below to find the seven best Mac apps to stay organized.
Support our work ❤️
If you enjoyed this article, consider leaving a tip to help us keep publishing great content.
