Customizing the Dock

In this lesson for macOS Mojave on the Mac, I look at customize the Dock, including a look at the Dock’s preferences, changing the size of the Dock, and changing the location of the Dock.

Accessing the Docks Preferences
To access the Docks preferences, you need to open System Preferences, which is located under the Apple Menu in the upper left corner. In the window that opens, click on Dock to access the Doc’s preferences.

Changing the size of the Dock
The first option is for adjusting the size of the Dock. Drag the slider to the left or right to change the size of the icons in the Dock.

Using Magnification
When you turn this on, when you hover the cursor over the dock, the icon under the Dock will be magnified. For this to work, the slider must be set to be larger than the dock is set above it.

Changing the Location of the Dock
By default, the Dock is pinned to the bottom of your display. Select left or right to pin it to the left or right.

Minimize Windows Options
When you minimize a Finder window, by clicking on the yellow dot of a window, it minimizes into the Dock, the right side of the Dock where your documents and folders are. You can set the visual effect being used to minimize the window.

Prefer Tabs when Opening Documents
When selected, a window will open in a Tab as opposed to a new window.

Double-click a Window to Minimize or Zoom
When this is selected, you can set what happens when you double-click on a window toolbar. You can have it minimize into the Dock or Zoom to where you can see all the documents in a folder.

Minimize WIndows into Application Icon
When you minimize a window by clicking on the yellow dot, it minimizes into the documents and folders area on the right side of the Dock. When this is selected, it will minimize into the application icon. To open it again, you click on the application icon.

Animate Opening Applications
When this is selected, the icon in the Dock will animate while the application is being opened.

Automatically Hide and Show the Dock
When this is selected, the Dock will automatically hide. To see the Dock, you move your cursor to where the dock is placed, but default this is at the bottom.

Show Indicators for Open Applications
When selected, this will place a dot below the application icon in the Dock when the application is open.

Show Recent Applications in Dock
This is new in macOS Mojave. The dock shows your recent applications between your favorite applications and your documents and folders. To hide this section, you deselect this.

See this Lesson Action
To see this lesson in action, take a look at the video above.