To make the Mac Dock more convenient, you can customize from the following four aspects: 1. Resize and position: Enter the system settings to modify the Dock position to the left, right or bottom. It is recommended to select medium or large to adjust the size, and enable automatic hiding to save space; 2. Add or remove applications and folders: Drag the commonly used apps to the Dock, right-click to remove non-essential icons, and create the "Frequently Used Tools" folder to classify secondary applications; 3. Use separators to sort space: add blank separators to achieve visual classification and drag to adjust position; 4. Modify behavior and animation effects: Enable hovering and zooming function and adjust size, use terminal commands to speed up Mission Control animation, and use third-party tools to change window arrangement.

The Mac's Dock is one of the most commonly used features in daily use, but many people only use it as it defaults. In fact, you can customize it according to your habits and needs to make it easier. The key lies in "simplification, classification, and rapid access".

1. Resize and position

Dock is in the middle of the bottom of the screen by default, but can be adjusted to the position and size according to the usage scenario.

• If you work in full screen often, it may be more appropriate to put the Dock on the side. Click System Settings > Desktop & Screen Saver > Dock Position to select left, right, or bottom.
• The size can also be adjusted: go to System Settings > Desktop and Screen Saver > Dock size , drag the slider. It is recommended to select "Medium" or "Large", the icons are clear and do not take up too much space.

A small trick is to turn on "Auto Hidden Dock" to save screen space when not in use. Just check "Auto Hide and Show Dock".

2. Add or remove apps and folders

The core function of Dock is to quickly start common programs and don't turn it into a messy "trash can".

• It is very easy to add an app: open the "Applications" folder in Launchpad or Finder, and drag the App directly to the Dock.
• Removal is just as simple: Right-click the app icon you don't want to keep and select "Remove from Dock".
• You can create a "common tools" folder and put in less commonly used but occasionally used apps, such as disk tools, terminals, keychain, etc.

If you are using multiple monitors, note that the Dock will only display on the main monitor unless you turn on "Show on All Monitors".

3. Use "separator" to organize space

Dock does not have grouping functionality by default, but can be visually classified by adding "delimiters".

How to operate:

• Open Terminal and enter the following command:

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

• Then restart Dock:

   killall Dock

• This will add a blank partition at the end of the Dock, and you can drag and adjust the position.

You can add multiple separators to separate different categories of apps, such as "office software", "development tools", and "entertainment apps" with spaces to make them look cleaner.

4. Modify behavior and animation effects

Dock is not just a static display, but its behavior can also be more conveniently trained.

• Zoom in effect : Turn on "Zoom in hover" to make the icon bigger when the mouse passes by, making it easier to identify. At the same time, the enlarged size can be adjusted.
• Animation speed : Although macOS does not directly provide adjustment options, animation speed can be fine-tuned through terminal commands. For example:

   defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0.1
  killall Dock

  This will make the animation faster when opening Mission Control.

There is another detail: If there are multiple windows when clicking the Dock icon, the thumbnail pops up by default. If you want to change to "cascading arrangement", you can use a third-party tool such as HyperDock to implement it.

Basically that's it. Custom Docks are not complicated, but they are easily overlooked. Taking a few minutes to adjust will make it easier for you to use your Mac every day.

The above is the detailed content of How to customize the Dock on Mac. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!