Tips for changing the MacBook Dock Preferences


Change the dock preferences

The Dock is where you will be accessing the majority of your applications, folders, and files. You can customize the Dock to show the applications that you use most often and then, in the Dock pane, you can tweak some of the settings relating to its appearance and location on your desktop.

Add and remove icons from the dock

The Dock already contains the most commonly used applications included with your MacBook. Of course, these could include some programs that you rarely or never use. Why not replace them with applications that you do use?

To add an application to the Dock, just open the folder containing the application and drag the icon to the Dock. The left side of the Dock is for applications and the right side is for files, folders, and documents. Once placed, you can change the location of the icon on the Dock by dragging it to where you want it to appear. To remove an icon, just drag it off the Dock and it will disappear.

The icons on the Dock are aliases (aka shortcuts), so when you remove an icon, it doesn’t affect the actual program.

Dock Preferences

Just like with the Finder, you can change the settings of your Dock to suit your personal style. Open Apple > Dock > Dock Preferences to see those options, described here:

Size - You can use the slider to increase or decrease the size of your Dock.

Magnification - Turning on Magnification magnifies icons when you move your cursor over them. This is a great setting if you have eyesight trouble or if you’ve made your Dock very small or your monitor resolution very high.

Position on Screen - By default the Dock runs along the bottom of your screen, but you can change its location here. Click the appropriate button to move it to the right or left side of the screen.

Minimizing Windows Using - You can select how windows are minimized from this pull-down menu. The Genie effect is the default. You can slow down the effects by holding the shift key.

Minimize Windows into Application Icon - Normally, when you minimize a window it goes onto the Dock so that you can click it to open it again quickly. When this box is checked, the window is instead minimized into the icon of the associated application, saving you Dock space. To view your minimized windows, place your cursor over the application and hold down your trackpad or mouse button (or use your finger if you have no button). All of the windows will be displayed. Just move your cursor over the one you want to activate and release the button. The window will restore to its full size.

Animate Opening Applications - When this box is checked, your icons bounce when you open an application.

Automatically Hide and Show the Dock - Checking this box will cause the Dock to “disappear” when not in use. All you need to do to find it again is move your cursor to the bottom (or side, depending on where you’ve placed your Dock) of the screen and it will pop up to meet you!

Ctrl-click on an empty space on the Dock to see a shortcut menu where you can change many of these options without opening the Dock preferences pane.

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Note: This article was sent to us by: Chase D. Smiths at 11122010

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