How to Customise the Dock on a Mac

Quick answer: Open System Settings and click Desktop & Dock. That is where you change the Dock's size, turn on magnification, move it to the left or right edge, hide it automatically and stop recent apps cluttering it. Drag icons in, out or along the Dock to rearrange them, and use Terminal for extras like spacer tiles.

The Dock you got with your Mac was set up for everyone, which means it suits nobody in particular. Apps you have never opened, a Downloads stack fanned across half the screen, icons the size of biscuits.

Most of it takes a minute to fix. Everything below is for macOS 27, including the two Terminal tweaks worth having and the bits Apple will not let you touch.

Where are the Dock settings on a Mac?

Open System Settings and click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar. You may need to scroll to find it. The Dock options sit at the top of that pane, and Apple's Desktop & Dock settings guide lists each one.

You can also change the common Dock settings without opening System Settings. Control-click the thin separator line in the Dock, near the Bin end, and a menu appears with options such as turning hiding on or off.

How do you change the Dock's size and magnification?

Drag the Size slider in Desktop & Dock, or drag the separator line itself. Apple's Dock guide says to hover over the separator until a double arrow appears, then drag up or down. Dragging is quicker because you can watch the icons shrink.

Dock magnification makes icons swell as the pointer passes over them. Switch on Magnification in Desktop & Dock, then drag its slider to set how far icons grow. A small Dock with strong magnification works well, because it takes up little room until you reach for it.

If you only want magnification now and then, Apple's keyboard shortcuts list has a trick. Hold Control-Shift while the pointer is over the Dock to switch magnification on or off for that moment.

How do you move or hide the Dock?

Use "Dock position on screen" to put it on the left, bottom or right edge. Bottom is the default. A side Dock suits wide displays, where vertical space is scarcer than horizontal.

To hide the Dock, switch on "Automatically hide and show the Dock" in Desktop & Dock. The Dock slides away until you move the pointer to that edge of the screen. Option-Command-D toggles hiding from the keyboard, which is handy when a full-screen app wants the room.

Which other Dock settings are worth changing?

The rest of the Dock section is switches. These are the ones worth a look:

• "Minimised windows animation" picks the effect used when a window shrinks into the Dock. Genie is the famous one; Scale is quicker and less dramatic.
• "Minimise windows into application icon" sends minimised windows into their app's icon instead of a separate slot by the Bin. It keeps the Dock from growing every time you minimise something.
• "Show suggested and recent apps in Dock" adds recently opened apps that are not already in the Dock. Apple's Dock guide says it shows up to three. Switch it off if you like a Dock that stays put.
• "Show indicators for open applications" puts a small dot under each running app.
• "Animate opening applications" makes icons bounce while their app opens. Turning it off makes for a calmer Dock.

How do you add, remove and rearrange Dock icons?

Drag an app into the Dock to add it, and drag it out until "Remove" appears to take it away. Apple's Dock guide explains that removing an icon only removes the shortcut. The app stays in your Applications folder.

Apps go on the left side of the separator line, with files and folders on the right (or above and below it on a side Dock). To rearrange, drag any icon to a new spot. If you remove something by accident, open the app, then Control-click its icon and choose Options > Keep in Dock.

Folders on the right become stacks. Your Downloads folder is there by default. Control-click a stack to choose whether it shows as a folder icon or a pile of its contents, and whether it opens as a fan, a grid or a list.

How do you change the look of Dock icons?

In macOS 27, icon style lives in System Settings > Appearance, not in Desktop & Dock. Apple's Appearance settings guide lists four options for "Icon & widget style": Default, Dark, Clear and Tinted. Tinted recolours icons in a colour you choose, and Clear makes them translucent.

For a fully custom icon, Apple's guide to changing icons for files and folders describes the Get Info method. Copy an image in Preview, select the app or folder, choose File > Get Info, click the small icon at the top of the window and choose Edit > Paste. To undo it, select that icon again and choose Edit > Cut.

It does not work on everything. Apple notes that some folders that come with your Mac cannot be customised, and a custom icon may need redoing after the app updates.

Which Terminal tweaks customise the Dock further?

Two hidden settings are worth having. They come from third-party write-ups rather than Apple's documentation. Both use the defaults command, and each needs killall Dock afterwards to restart the Dock so the change appears.

Add spacer tiles

A spacer is a blank tile that splits the Dock into groups. Project Wizards' Dock fine-tuning guide gives the command:

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

Swap spacer-tile for small-spacer-tile for a narrower gap. A spacer can be dragged around like any icon and dragged out to remove it.

Remove the auto-hide delay

A hidden Dock waits a moment before sliding in. Jonas Gruber's guide to Dock animations shows how to remove the wait:

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0
killall Dock

To restore the normal delay, run defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay, then killall Dock. Both tweaks use undocumented settings, so a future macOS update may change or ignore them.

Why can't you remove the Bin or Finder from the Dock?

You cannot remove Finder or the Bin (the Trash, in US English) from the Mac Dock. Neither can be dragged out like other icons, and neither can be replaced. Finder always sits at the start of the Dock and the Bin at the end.

The Bin, at least, has a good reason to stay. Deleted files wait there until you empty it, and it is where Put Back returns them from, so losing it by accident would be a bad day. Our guide to what happens when you delete a file on a Mac covers what the Bin actually does with your files.

A ten-minute Dock makeover

1. Clear out the apps. Drag out every icon you have not clicked this month. They stay installed.
2. Turn off recent apps. Switch off "Show suggested and recent apps in Dock" so the Dock stops rearranging itself.
3. Set the size. Shrink the Dock with the separator line, then add a little magnification.
4. Group what is left. Add a spacer tile or two between work apps, everyday apps and stacks.
5. Pick a style. Try Tinted or Clear in Appearance, or give one favourite app a custom icon.

Something for the Bin end of the Dock

If you have got this far, you probably care how your Dock looks. The Bin is the one icon you cannot touch, but you can put something next to it.

Spellbin is our own small paid Mac app: a pixel-art cauldron that sits beside the Bin. Drop a file on it and a green flame carrying the file's thumbnail rises out and dissolves, and by default the file goes to the real Bin underneath. Every drop counts towards achievements that unlock new cauldron skins. It won't clean your Mac or speed it up. It makes deleting things a bit more fun, which is the whole point. The getting started guide shows how it works.

The Dock is the one part of macOS you look at all day. It should look like yours.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I reset the Mac Dock to its default settings?

The Mac Dock can be reset from Terminal with defaults delete com.apple.dock followed by killall Dock, as TechRadar's guide explains. This puts back Apple's default apps and settings and removes everything you added, including spacers. Make a note of your favourite apps first, because you will need to add them again by hand.

Can you put the Mac Dock at the top of the screen?

No. The Mac Dock can only sit on the left, bottom or right edge, chosen with "Dock position on screen" in System Settings > Desktop & Dock. To keep it out of the way, turn on "Automatically hide and show the Dock" so it appears only when you point at that edge.

Why does my Mac Dock keep changing?

A Mac Dock that keeps changing is usually showing suggested and recent apps. macOS adds up to three recently opened apps that are not already in the Dock. Switch off "Show suggested and recent apps in Dock" in Desktop & Dock and the Dock will only show the apps you put there yourself.

How do I change an app's icon in the Dock?

An app's Dock icon can be changed with Get Info. Copy an image in Preview, select the app in Finder, choose File > Get Info, click the small icon at the top of the window and paste. The Dock picks up the new icon. Not every app accepts a custom one, and updates can reset it.

How do I make the Dock appear faster when it is hidden?

A hidden Mac Dock waits briefly before appearing. Remove the wait in Terminal with defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0, then killall Dock. The setting is undocumented, so it may stop working in a future macOS. Run defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay, then killall Dock, to restore the normal timing.

Final Takeaways

• Start in Desktop & Dock. Size, magnification, position and hiding all live there.
• Turn off recent apps if you want a Dock that stays the way you left it.
• Use Appearance for icon style, and Get Info for one-off custom icons.
• Spacer tiles are the more useful Terminal tweak. One command, and you can drag them out again.
• Leave Finder and the Bin alone. They are fixed, so decorate around them.