How to Customize Mac Dock and Enhance Its Functionality

The Dock'south value is cardinal in macOS since it has been around for more than a decade. The Dock is the placeholder at the bottom of your Mac'south screen that shows open applications and allows you lot to pivot apps and folders to apace access them. The Dock wasn't crafted to be a customizer's paradise only it gains subtle features in every macOS update. If yous're looking to jazz up your Mac'due south Dock, you lot're in the right place. Hither are several means to customize the Mac:

Customize the macOS Dock Using Inbuilt System Preferences

First, allow's customize the Dock using inbuilt settings. To open the Dock settings, click CMD+infinite to bring up the Spotlight search, type in "Dock" and printing enter. Alternatively, you tin access Dock settings by going toSystem Preferences > Dock.

Change Dock Size, Magnification and Position on Screen

Yous can adapt the size and magnification of the Dock using the sliders on this screen. The magnification, as its name implies, magnifies the Dock icons to make them larger when you hover the cursor over them. If yous want, you tin completely turn off magnification by unchecking the corresponding checkbox.

By default, the Dock appears on the lesser of the screen. Y'all can change its position to the left or right of the screen if you similar.

Modify or Disable Animations

You lot can choose between ii different animations when minimizing a window to the Dock. Y'all can as well choose to enable/disable "Breathing opening applications" which makes the apps bounciness when you cold start them.

Other Tidbits

In the aforementioned pane, you can cull to automatically hibernate and show the Dock. This selection hides the Dock on the desktop and brings it back to life equally soon as you hover over the Dock area.

Yous can also choose to enable/disable indicator for open applications. By default, a small black dot volition be placed below the open app's icon, so that you tin distinguish running apps from "pinned" apps.

If you lot'd like to enable a night groundwork for the Dock, head overSystem preferences > Generaland check the box where it says "Utilise dark menu bar and Dock".

Pro-tip:You can speedily access Dock preferences by right clicking on the divider line in the Dock. You can too elevate the divider line to change the Dock'south size on the fly, without having to navigate to the Dock preferences every time.

Customize macOS Dock Using cDock

cDock is a robust app that tin can dramatically modify the Dock's looks and behaviour. It's a free download for ~~Os X~~ macOS 10.9 and above, but if yous're on macOS ten.11 El Capitan or after, you'd have to disable "Arrangement Integrity Protection" (AKA rootless) earlier you install it. Refer to our older commodity and follow the outset step there to disable SIP on macOS ten.11 El Capitan or later. Once yous've disabled SIP, you tin can download and install cDock every bit you normally would.

Ready Custom Themes For the Dock

cDock comes with over 12 great-looking themes pre-installed. If none of them suits your mode, you can even search the web for third-political party cDock themes and apply them. Here's a quick look of some of the themes you tin can ready for the Dock.

Customize Dock Icons

If you're looking to change the icons of the apps in the Dock, there's an piece of cake style to practice so in macOS, without using third-party apps. Afterward you change the app icon, the change should exist reflected in the Dock. If information technology isn't reflected immediately, yous tin can ever manually drag and drop the app to the Dock.

cDock provides some additional options to customize the icons like icon reflections, icon labels, icon shadows, color indicator lights, etc.

Customize Dock groundwork

If yous're non a fan of themes, you can manually configure the colour of the Dock background or gear up a custom background image for the Dock.

cDock likewise uncovers a subconscious blitheness in macOS, called every bit "Suck". And so, now you lot can choose between three different animations when minimizing a window to the Dock. Here's how the "Suck" animation looks similar in case you're wondering:

Other than these, there are a lot of other miscellaneous settings related to the Dock.

Alter Dock Behaviour

The "Dock" tab in cDock reveals a lot of settings that can modify the Dock's behaviour. Some of the settings like autohide, magnification and size can exist changed from the "Organisation Preferences" while others are exclusive to cDock.

To de-ataxia your Dock, you can choose to testify only active apps, dim subconscious apps or set the Dock to a single app mode. When single app manner is enabled, clicking on an app volition open it, while as well hiding all the other open up windows. For instance, here'due south how the Dock looks similar when yous cull to dim subconscious apps (apps with translucent icons are hidden):

Y'all tin can also add a "Recent Applications" folder to the Dock for quick access to recent applications.

When you're finally done customizing the Dock to your liking, there's an option to "Lock Dock contents", and then that nobody can add or remove icons in the Dock (and upset the established order!).

Of course, y'all volition demand to uncheck this setting if you decide to make more than modifications to the Dock onetime later on.

Some of the above-mentioned tricks can be accomplished with a Final command too. The reason why I chose to use cDock over it is because information technology provides an easy-to-use interface to enable/disable these settings. This eliminates the need to fumble around and search the web for specific Final tricks.

Other Tertiary-party Apps to Customize Mac Dock

A few years agone, there was no shortage of customization apps for the Mac. But, most of the developers dropped support for them after the introduction of SIP in macOS El Capitan x.11. Today, there are a limited number of Dock customization apps compatible with macOS Sierra 10.12 with proper product support. I am listing down a couple of good ones below:

HyperDock for Mac

Unlike Windows, Mac doesn't show you the preview of a window in the Dock. If you lot'd rather like information technology Windows-fashion, enter HyperDock. It adds window previews while you lot hover over a Dock icon, so Windows converts would definitely feel at abode.

Download ($9.95)

nine. uBar 3

If you lot're not a fan of macOS' Dock bar, you should consider a total replacement of the Dock. uBar is a fully featured Dock replacement with features like window previews, app badges, app flashes and a lot more.

(Alternating description: It replaces the macOS Dock with Windows'south taskbar).

Download ($20)

Come across Besides: How to Customize Impact Bar in the new MacBook Pro 2016

Customize the Mac Dock Using These Tips

Using these tips and third political party apps, you can customizee the (otherwise pretty vanilla) Dock in macOS and have it to the next level. If y'all think I've missed whatsoever method to customize the Mac Dock or if you lot have doubt, do permit me know. Also, do you love customizing the Dock or exercise you lot prefer to leave information technology as-is? Sound off your thoughts in the comments section below.

Source: https://beebom.com/how-customize-mac-dock-enhance-functionality/

Posted by: millertwerefy.blogspot.com