An open community 
of Macintosh users,
for Macintosh users.

FineTunedMac Dashboard widget now available! Download Here

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Disabling the Dock
#33661 04/01/15 05:52 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
deniro Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Sep 2009
I don't use the Dock to launch programs. Therefore it's annoying to have it pop up whenever I move my mouse to the bottom of the screen. Is there any way to disable the dock so it doesn't pop up?

Re: Disabling the Dock
deniro #33662 04/01/15 06:11 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
As far as I can tell, you can't disable (= permanently hide) the Dock; it's integral to OS X in all its iterations.
You can get rid of anything you choose to put in the Dock, but OS X wants you to see Finder and other 'open' items.

You have a couple options via System Preferences > Dock:
– Put the Dock on one side or the other to keep it out of the way.
– Set the size to small (which makes all the icons miniscule).

Re: Disabling the Dock
grelber #33664 04/01/15 06:20 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
deniro Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Sep 2009
Ok, thanks. I shrank it.

Re: Disabling the Dock
grelber #33666 04/01/15 06:54 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
I wonder if there isn't a way to stop it from showing. You can't KILL the dock, it's required by the OS and app switcher, but maybe there's a defaults you can use to stop it from showing at all?

you could pin it to somewhere else... left or right side? maybe that's something you'd like to try, in combination with changing its size, turning off the animation and magnification, and even turning off the glass table effect? there's also a less-used "pinning" option to change it from centered.


try hiding your dock, and then enter this in terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 20; killall Dock


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Disabling the Dock
Virtual1 #33667 04/01/15 06:59 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Given the integral nature of the Dock in OS X, it might not augur well to make it disappear into the ether ... you might not be able to retrieve it.

David Pogue's Missing Manual provides a lot of "tricks of the trade" vis-à-vis the Dock (and everything else, including "Easter eggs"). Dumping the Dock ain't one of them.

Re: Disabling the Dock
deniro #33668 04/01/15 07:14 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
You can put the dock along one side, if that helps. System Preferences > Dock


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Disabling the Dock
jchuzi #33669 04/01/15 07:19 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Originally Posted By: jchuzi
You can put the dock along one side, if that helps. System Preferences > Dock

Lotta folk not reading the whole thread ... see Post #33662. crazy smirk

Re: Disabling the Dock
grelber #33671 04/01/15 10:58 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Originally Posted By: grelber
Originally Posted By: jchuzi
You can put the dock along one side, if that helps. System Preferences > Dock

Lotta folk not reading the whole thread ... see Post #33662. crazy smirk
My bad! blush


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Disabling the Dock
grelber #33672 04/01/15 11:34 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
Originally Posted By: grelber
You have a couple options via System Preferences > Dock:
– Put the Dock on one side or the other to keep it out of the way.
– Set the size to small (which makes all the icons miniscule).

Add to that:
– Select Hide (after setting to small). It'll be pretty difficult for the cursor to touch the edge and activate its appearance, especially if the Dock is also on the side.

Re: Disabling the Dock
deniro #33674 04/02/15 06:32 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
I remember my immediate thought the first time I booted into OS X: "Oh my god; that's got to go!"

It was, of course, in reaction to the Dock, and I went on a mission...

The closest I ever came was when I beta-tested an app that, as opposed to grelber's assumption that the two must march in lockstep, totally got rid of the Dock, itself, while perpetuating its other functionality, but, unfortunately, its dev never got it to work at 100%, and it's no longer available for d/l.

The best I could ever do with no issues is this, after running KnockOutDock. (My Dock is that little thing in the lower right hand corner...Finder, 6 app icons, divider, Trash)

You can actually make the Dock one tick smaller, like this (Same configuration), but the tradeoff is that for some unknown reason, Trash disappears, and that can be a hassle if you ever want to click on it to see what's inside.

I just ran V1's Terminal command to see what it would do, and I like the way it slows down the Dock's rising up from, and descending back into, the mists of invisibility if my cursor accidentally touches an edge of my screen (or I hit command-D), but I don't really need it, because I'm running Wraparound, so if my cursor does hit an edge it goes right past it and comes out on the the other side/end. (Note: Takes some getting used to.)

If you want to opt for the Trash-less, smaller Dock, let me know and I'll help you out.

Note that I'm running OS X 10.6.8, so my fix is applicable to your 10.6.3 installation.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disabling the Dock
Virtual1 #33675 04/02/15 06:39 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Originally Posted By: Virtual1
try hiding your dock, and then enter this in terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 20; killall Dock

Neat! I like the effect, but as I just noted, I don't really need it, so would you please post the command to reverse it?

Thanks.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disabling the Dock
artie505 #33679 04/02/15 11:48 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: Virtual1
try hiding your dock, and then enter this in terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 20; killall Dock

Neat! I like the effect, but as I just noted, I don't really need it, so would you please post the command to reverse it?

Thanks.


defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 1; killall Dock


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: Disabling the Dock
Virtual1 #33686 04/02/15 04:40 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3

Or use

defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier; killall Dock

to get back to the default setting.

In my cursory research, the time values were expressed as floats rather than ints. I assume your version is like using 0 or 1 when a Boolean value is expected (i.e. the int is coerced to a float).



dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: Disabling the Dock
dkmarsh #33688 04/02/15 07:43 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Thanks, guys. smile


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire

Moderated by  alternaut, dkmarsh, joemikeb 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4
(Release build 20200307)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.4.33 Page Time: 0.024s Queries: 42 (0.019s) Memory: 0.6389 MB (Peak: 0.7488 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 09:47:46 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS