These useful tips should help any Mac user get a little more from OS X’s Dock.
Learn the basics
It’s worth taking the time to explore what you already have, read this guide to Dock Essentials, as this collection is a little more advanced and requires your use Terminal.
Bigger icons
Perhaps you’d like to make the icons in your Dock much larger than you can by default? In Terminal type:
defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -int 512; killall Dock
Hit Return and increase the size of the icons. You can use numbers larger than 512, but you’ll find most app icons look lousy when you do. This is how to make a Mac more usable for partially sighted people. To reset it back to normal type
defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -float 128; killall Dock
Active apps
Ex-Windows users may like this tip as it changes Dock behavior so only active apps are visible there. This means that when you launch an app it will appear in the Dock and disappear when you quit that app.
Type
defaults write com.apple.dock static-only –bool TRUE; killall Dock
Press return
Hidden apps
You can tweak the Dock so any active but hidden (Command + H) apps you might have running on your Mac are shown as transparent icons in your dock.
In Terminal, type
defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES; killall Dock
Hit return. (Replace YES with NO to reverse this effect.)
Give Dock icons a little space
Add blank space between icons in your Dock using a Terminal command. This creates a blank app icon – effectively a blank space -- in your Dock that you can drag and drop to wherever on the Dock you want it to go.
Launch Terminal
Type
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type"="spacer-tile";}'; killall Dock
Press return
You should repeat this sequence for each blank space you wish to create. To get rid of these spaces simply drag and drop them out of your Dock in the usual way.
Source: iMore
Add recent items
This script creates a folder (actually a ‘Stack’) called “Recent Applications” in the right-hand section of your Dock. To create it:
Launch Terminal
Type
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }';killall Dock
Source: Macworld
There’s a little more to this trick:
Control-click on the folder icon in the Dock and you’ll get the option to see Recent Applications, Documents, Servers, Volumes or Items. If you want shortcuts to each of these just create a new folder by repeating the command. This invaluable tool makes it incredibly easy to get back to what you were doing last time you used your Mac.
Reset your Dock
If you’ve used one script too many and yearn to get your old Dock back launch Terminal and type:
defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock
Contextual text
A little extra from the it's so incredibly obvious once you learn it dept., try this: Highlight text in any application window on your Mac and and drag it to another application on your dock and the application will begin working with that text. This lets you drag a URL from a document straight into Safari, grab text from a document to chuck into an automatically created new email, or take text from one document to use directly in a creative app.
Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple?
Got a story?Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld.