Master Your Dock with These Tips, Tricks and Applications

If you find yourself using an application frequently, there is a good chance that it is in your dock. The dock is a very useful tool for when you need quick access to certain applications. It is very customizable if you have the right tools, so it is easy to conform the dock to your work-space. Here I will show you a few tips, tricks and applications to help you master your dock, and start getting the most out of it.

The most basic way to customize the dock is to change the applications that reside in it. If you drag an application into the dock from the desktop or Finder, it sits waiting to be opened. If you drag it out of the dock, then “poof” (literally) it disappears. This is something that every Mac user knows (or should know). If you don’t want to make the long journey into the Finder, ctrl-clicking on an open application will give you the option to keep it, or remove it from the dock. Ctrl-clicking on a closed application in the dock will give you the option to remove it (among others). You can open/close, add/remove, and show applications in the Finder just by ctrl-clicking in the dock. These are things that I am sure that most of you know already.

What you may not know, is that the dock is not just limited to applications. If you have ever wondered what that little divider between the Trash and you applications is there, you are about to find out. You can drag almost anything into the dock that you want quick access to. Files, folders and even websites can be put into the dock. To add a file/folder to the dock, just drag it from it’s current location (maybe the file is in a mail message, the Finder or the desktop) into the right side of the dock. The little divider separates your files and folders from your applications.

Adding a website to the dock is basically the same process as adding a file or a folder. To add a website from the address bar in your web browser, drag the favicon (the little image in the far-right of the address bar) into the right of the dock. This will add a little icon that looks like a spring with an “@” on the end of it. Clicking this icon will open the link in your default browser. You can add virtually any link to the dock that you want; it doesn’t have to be in the address bar. All you need to do is drag the link (which will produce a little gray box) into the dock and you are all set.

Now that you have your folders, .psd’s, pictures and presentations in the dock, what are you supposed to do with them? To launch a file in it’s native application all you need to do it click on it. It gets better though. Command-clicking a file/folder will show it in the Finder, which is the same for applications. The fun begins though, when you ctrl-click a folder. Ctrl-clicking a folder will show that folder’s contents in a drop down-style menu. You can then scroll down through the folder’s contents to launch an item, or drill down though folder trees to find the file you are looking for. In the past people have suggested putting your Applications Folder in the dock so that by ctrl-clicking it, you have a full list of all your applications and can choose one to launch.

Lastly, I would like to talk about customizing the appearance of your dock. You are not limited to having your dock in the same place and the same size as the default dock. From the dock prefpane you can choose the magnification of the dock, the position, minimizing effect, and whether to hide/show the dock, and animate application opening. You don’t have to open the prefpane to get at some of these options.

By ctrl-clicking on the little divider between the trash and your applications, you get all the options you do in the prefpane minus whether or not to animate the opening of applications, and adjusting the size of the dock. To adjust the size of the dock, click and hold (without any modifier keys) down on the divider. Dragging up or down will change the size of the dock.

To change the position of the dock without ctrl-clicking the divider or opening the prefpane, hold down shift and click and hold the divider. If you now drag your mouse (while still holding down on the mouse button) to the right, the dock automatically sticks itself to that side of the screen. The same goes to the bottom and the left side. All you need to do is shift-drag the divider to one of those sides, and the dock will follow. All of these things can be accomplished with only one part of the dock. This is where Apple shows it’s simple complexity (yes, it is an oxymoron).

Some things can be accomplished in the dock with only the keyboard. To hide the dock, hold down Command+Option+D and the dock will disappear. Dragging your mouse to the side of the screen where the dock just slid into, will pop the dock back out again. Moving your mouse away from the dock will let it slide back into it’s new home. Same shortcut to reverse the effect.

These are all of the things you can do to the dock (to my knowledge, if you know anymore hit us up in the comments!) without third-party software. That is exactly what I want to talk about next.

Apple will only let you do so much to the dock without having to open up the terminal or downloading third-party applications. We have went over the things that you can do out-of-the-box, and now it is time to take a look at a few of the things you can do with some of the great software that is out there.

You may have noticed in some of these screenshots that my dock is attached to the top of the screen and not the bottom, left or right. I achieved this using Cocktail, and I know other apps like MacPilot can do the same. If you know any others, or free alternatives, hit us up in the comments. These third-party applications can let you extend your control over the dock far more than Apple lets you by default. Other apps like ClearDock from Unsanity will let you change the color of the dock, or even get rid of the dock’s background. What software do you use to customize your dock?

These are just a few tips and tricks that can help you to master your dock, and have it look exactly as you want. The dock is a powerful application/file launcher and I hope I have demonstrated that here. I know a lot of you are devoted to Quicksilver, but I am sure that you could find a way to combine the two to benefit you.

Where do you like your dock placed? Do you always hide your dock? How often do you use it? Is it your main application launcher? These are a few questions I would love to discuss with you.

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