Filed under: OS, Software, Mac 101
Mac 101: The Dock
Welcome back to Mac 101, our series of tips for new and novice Mac users.The Dock was introduced with Mac OS 10.0 in March of 2001. Switchers typically think of it as equivalent to the Windows Task Bar, and that's not an unfounded comparison. Both can launch applications, open directories and share information. But the Dock differs from the Task Bar in a number of ways. If you're new to the Mac, this post will get you acquainted with one of Mac OS X's prominent features.
First, let's look at the Dock's preference pane. Launch System Preferences and click (wait for it) Dock. Here, two sliders let you adjust the Dock's size and magnification level. That is to say, the degree to which docked icons "expand" as you mouse over them. They can get pretty darn large, so be sure that's what you want before dragging that slider all the way to the right.
You'll notice that you can adjust the Dock's position on the screen. The position of the Dock is the subject of great debate among Mac nerds, but I'll spare you the details by saying this: Some like it on the bottom, some like it on the left and some like it on the right. If you're running 10.5 or later, you'll notice that the Dock's appearance changes dramatically when moved from the bottom to the sides.
The so-called "Genie Effect" lets your windows appear to be rapidly "sucked" into the Dock when you click the yellow minimize button. That's strictly for looks, and you can disable it by selecting "Scale." If you're running an older Mac (like a PPC G4), selecting Scale will slightly reduce the graphics burden on your older machine. Fun tip: Hold down the Shift key while minimizing a window for some slow-mo action.
At last, you'll see a checkbox labeled "Animate opening applications." This refers to the bouncing that icons do as applications launch. I don't mind it, but some people (my sister included) can't stand it and disable it right away.
The final option will hide the Dock when not in use. Specifically, it "slides" off screen until you mouse over the area it typically occupies. This is handy for folks with small screens, like the 13" MacBook Pro or those who prefer a clean look. You can also hide the Dock at any time by pressing Command-Option-D.
Once you've set its behavior to your liking, it's time to populate the Dock. The Dock keeps applications on the left and folders and windows on the right. To add an item, be it an app's icon, a folder or a file, simply drag it in. You'll see the neighboring icons "move aside" to make room. As a rule, I add the hard drive, applications folder and documents folder for easy access. To remove an item, simply drag it out of the Dock and let go. Poof! It's gone.
Lastly, let's talk about stacks. Stacks is the method by which OS X displays the contents of a docked folder. Click on the hard drive in the Dock, for example, and you'll see a stack of folders like Users, System, Library, Applications, etc. As the number of items grows, the stack gets too high and defaults to Fan view, which presents a black square and the folder's contents. The final option is list view, which displays an alphabetical list of folder contents.
By default, OS X selects the optimal view automatically, based upon the number of items in a folder. However, you can force it to use the view of your choice by right-clicking (or left clicking and holding) on a folder icon in the Dock.
There are the basics of working with the Dock. We hope you found something here useful.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Heimbachae said 3:16PM on 8-12-2009
hah anytime i go into a mac store i try to turn on as many magnifying dock effects as i can.
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oliver hart said 3:21PM on 8-12-2009
go into the terminal and type -rm
Will said 3:23PM on 8-12-2009
I bet the employees just love that! :)
Abraham Vegh said 3:34PM on 8-12-2009
Thanks for this! I love these posts. I just learned two new valuable keyboard shortcuts.
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Rafe H. said 3:38PM on 8-12-2009
Thanks TUAW! I had no idea what the Dock was.
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Maverick said 4:04PM on 8-12-2009
Is there a way to put a delay on the dock showing up?
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Grant said 4:39PM on 8-12-2009
Don't you mean "Grid view" in the 3rd to last paragraph?
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MikeWard1701 said 5:55PM on 8-12-2009
Thanks for the article. I found it (and the other Mac 101s) very informative, as I'll soon be getting my first Mac (13" MBP).
I have a couple of questions;
1) Is there a way to put the dock at the top under the apple menu? I ask this because when using a laptop, I find having my taskbar/menus at the top of the screen much easier to use.
2) Is there a maximum number of ions you can have on the dock, and is this determined by dock size, icon size, or screen resolution?
Thanks once again :)
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macduke said 6:41PM on 8-12-2009
1. No
2. No, they just keep getting smaller and harder to read until you magnify them, which shifts a bunch of the ones on the end off the screen until you stop mousing over them.
I really like stacks. I can't wait for scrolling grid stacks in Snow Leopard. That and dock expose.
Isomorphic said 8:30PM on 8-12-2009
Thanks for the tips, I'm gonna be sure to get more informed in the Mac 101 section when i get my iMac tomorrow :D
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Schell said 10:14PM on 8-12-2009
How do I turn it off completely? IS there a way to do it without buying something? A terminal command, perhaps?
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rootlesscosmo said 12:35AM on 8-13-2009
When I try to drag folders (such as Applications or Documents) to the Dock, the screen displays a "puff of smoke" icon and they disappear from the open Finder window. What am I doing wrong?
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Bearxor said 11:07PM on 8-14-2009
Your question sounds like a test rather than a real question.
Regardless, don't drag them from the left pane of the finder window. Drag them from the right side where you actually browse to them. The left side works kind of like the dock. You can drag commonly used folders over there too and they'll show up in all of your finder windows.
brombl said 9:59AM on 8-13-2009
Since you specifically mention Applications and Documents, I suppose you're dragging them from the sidebar (the little chunk on the left side of the Finder window). You can't do that. Not sure why they haven't implemented it in such a way that you can, but bottom line is you can't. If you want something that's in your sidebar on your dock, the easiest way is to click it in the Finder window so that it's your active folder. Then drag the icon from the title bar of the window (the proxy icon) over to the dock. You may need to hold the mouse button down for a minute (wait for it to darken) before you can drag it. Also, be sure you're dragging to the right/lower portion of the dock, where the other folders, minimized windows, and trash live rather than the left/top where the applications live. Cheers!
matt b said 10:04AM on 8-13-2009
The Dock rots. See Bruce Tognazzini's site (asktog.com) for a detailed explanation. I put a completely empty* Dock on the left side of my screen and keep it hidden, so it's only used to switch among active applications. Go out and buy Drag Thing. Put it on the bottom of the screen with little tabs to sort your applications, folders, and files. Makes life much, much easier and saves real estate.
*The only item I keep in the dock is Drag Thing, because sometimes I accidentally quit it and this makes it easy to restart.
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rootlesscosmo said 10:19AM on 8-13-2009
No, it was an honest question, and I'm still having trouble. When I drag the icon from the Finder (not the sidebar) to the right (or bottom) where the Trash icon lives, the OS thinks I'm copying the folder to the Desktop, or warns me that the Docs folder can't be modified because it's part of the System. What's in my Dock now is my most frequently used apps, and if I have to open the Finder in order to find a folder or file, it's not the end of the world, but keeping folders in the Dock would be handy if I could figure out how. I keep thinking I must be overlooking some obvious step but what is it?
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Bearxor said 9:46PM on 8-16-2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XYAjE9hEBc
Chris Anderson said 11:20AM on 8-20-2009
Another fun little-known Dock trick is that there is a THIRD minimize animation in addition to Scale and Genie. Accessible only from the terminal, it's called "Suck" and acts exactly as you'd imagine - sort of like the genie effect but being all squashed at the same time.
Here's the command.
defaults write com.apple.dock mineffect suck
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