Terminal Tips: Make hidden Dock icons transparent

Without using Exposé, it is hard to tell which Mac OS X applications are hidden and which aren't. But, with a simple Terminal hack, you can have all your application icons displayed as transparent. Simply open Terminal.app (Applications > Utilities) and type the following command exactly:

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES

Once you type the command and press enter, you need to restart the Dock by typing "killall Dock" and pressing enter. Once the Dock restarts and you hide applications, you will notice that hidden applications have a transparent look. If you want to reverse the command, just replace the "YES" with a "NO" and restart the Dock again.

Like these tips and tricks? Why not take a look at TUAW's Mac 101 and Terminal Tips category.

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Without using Exposé, it is hard to tell which Mac OS X applications are hidden and which aren't. But, with a simple Terminal hack,...

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Tony

I've been doing this for years with TinkerTool. I dunno why the Dock isn't set up to do this by default.

August 26 2008 at 11:03 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

cam

you can also download tweak freak with this option and loads more.

August 24 2008 at 6:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Carter Allen

You can use xMod to enable this preference if you have an aversion to the command line...

http://opt-6.com/xmod.html

August 23 2008 at 4:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

trentrenta

what is the program directly to the right of ichat?!

August 22 2008 at 5:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Steven

Yeah, I thought this was just standard behavior. Who knows when I changed it, probably in Tiger on my last MBP, before an OS & machine upgrade (thanks, Apple, for making it so easy to move data)

August 22 2008 at 5:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

contact

Bit of shameless self promotion here, but in addition to allowing you to tweak other Dock settings, Docker allows you to turn this setting on and off. Docker can be downloaded for free from http://www.blocksoft.net. Hopefully this helps people who don't like to tinker in the terminal.

August 22 2008 at 1:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Caitlin

Or TinkerTool.

August 22 2008 at 1:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joe

Does anyone know how to get this effect for when you hold down apple and tab?

Thanks

August 22 2008 at 1:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

(01)

Leopard doesn't do this automatically? In Tiger, hidden apps' icons are transparent (translucent?).

August 22 2008 at 12:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Luigi193

This is one of the best customization tips out there.
I've used this one for year(s)! IT RULEZ!