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Create a Sorted Applications Launcher & App Menu for the Mac OS X Dock

Jun 5, 2012 - 11 Comments
Group Applications by Category and use a sorted app launcher in the Mac OS X Dock

If you keep the Applications folder in the OS X Dock for quick app launching you’ve probably noticed it’s just a giant list of all the apps installed. Sure you can change the display to use a grid, list, or fan, but if you have a lot of apps you’ll still end up with a … Read More

Quickly Minimize Windows in Mac OS X with a Keyboard Shortcut or Double-Click

May 21, 2012 - 19 Comments
Double Click a Window Title Bar to Minimize it in Mac OS X

Virtually everyone knows you can click the yellow pill button in the upper left corner of a window to minimize a window in Mac OS X, but there are actually a few other ways minimize windows faster than that. The first is my preferred method which is a quick keystroke, and the other lets you … Read More

Navigate the Dock in Mac OS X with These 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

May 8, 2012 - 8 Comments
Navigate the Dock in Mac OS X with the Keyboard

For the power users out there who prefer to leave their hands on the keyboard as much as possible, you’ll be pleased to know that the Dock in Mac OS X can be used exclusively from the keyboard with full functionality. With just the right keys pressed and keystroke combinations, you can navigate around Dock … Read More

Watch System Activity and CPU Usage from the Mac OS X Dock

Mar 30, 2012 - 9 Comments
Enable the Dock Activity Monitor in Mac OS X

Activity Monitor can be used for more than just managing tasks and killing processes, it can also turn the Mac OS X Dock into a live system monitor where you can keep an eye on processor usage, CPU history, network activity, disk activity, or RAM use.

Change the Animation Speed of Hiding & Displaying the Mac OS X Dock

Mar 28, 2012 - 8 Comments
Change the Dock Animation Speed

Automatically hiding the Dock is one of the more useful features you can enable if you work on a Mac with limited screen space. That experience can be improved by removing the auto-hide delay from the Dock in OS X, which reduces the delay from when a mouse is hovered near the Dock to when … Read More

Remove the Auto-Hiding Dock Delay in Mac OS X

Mar 27, 2012 - 39 Comments
Hidden Dock in Mac OS X displays faster

Want to access the Dock faster on the Mac? If you use a hidden Dock in Mac OS X, you can speed up the time it takes to show the Dock with a defaults write command. This command removes the delay from when a cursor is hovered near the Dock location and to when the … Read More

How to Change Dock Stacks Icon Size in Grid View of OS X

Jan 19, 2012 - 7 Comments
Increase stack icon size

Stacks are a Dock feature in Mac OS X which allows for an easy way to see the contents of Applications, Documents, Downloads, and whatever other folder placed into the Dock. There are a few different ways to view the Stacks, which appear on the right side of the Mac Dock, like grid, automatic, list, … Read More

Change & Customize the Dock in Mac OS X Lion with Docker

Jan 13, 2012 - 10 Comments
3D Transparent Dock in Mac OS X Lion

We have gone through tons of OS X Dock tips before, but with the help of a free Lion compatible app called Docker, we can apply many changes to the Docks behavior and customizations to the Docks appearance easily with just a few clicks. What exactly can you customize? Using Docker, you can: change Dock … Read More

Show the Dock in Full Screen Apps in Mac OS X

Jan 3, 2012 - 12 Comments
Show Dock in Full Screen Apps

The Dock disappears whenever an app is put into Mac OS X full screen mode, but that doesn’t mean you can’t access the Dock if you need it. To show the Dock in a full screen app, swipe twice at the bottom of the screen, the first swipe won’t show anything but the second swipe … Read More

Add Spacers to the Right-Side of the Dock in Mac OS X

Dec 16, 2011 - 5 Comments
Spacers on the Right Side of the Dock in Mac OS X

Just like you can add spacers between app icons in the OS X Dock (the left side), we can also add these same spacers to the right-side of the Dock, where the Applications, Documents, Downloads, and Trash icons live.

How to Enable Hidden Dock Stack Gestures in Mac OS X

Nov 30, 2011 - 6 Comments
Mouse Spring gesture from the OS X Dock

This is a neat little hack that lets you activate any stack within the Mac Dock by hovering over it and making the scroll gesture on a multitouch trackpad or Magic Mouse, or by rolling the scroll wheel on a mouse. Do the same trick while hovering the mouse cursor over an app icon in … Read More

Show Recent Items Per App with a Two-Fingered Double Tap in Mac OS X

Oct 25, 2011 - 8 Comments
Show Recent Items per application in OS X Lion

Want to see recent items on a per app basis? The Mac makes this easy with a variety of ways, but perhaps one of the most convenient involves a simple tap gesture. This is particularly fast and simple, and here’s how it works.

Super-Size Dock Icon Magnification in Mac OS X

May 9, 2011 - 2 Comments
Super Size Mac OS X Dock Icon Magnification

For those using larger displays you may wish the Mac OS X Dock icon magnification was greater on the Mac, but it turns out this can be achieved easily with a defaults write command. With a little effort, you can super magnify the size of Dock icons on Mac.

Show Only Currently Active Apps in the Mac OS X Dock

Apr 28, 2011 - 13 Comments
Finder icon on the Mac

You can set the Mac Dock to only show actively running apps, making it perform a bit like a task manager rather than an application launcher. This is a great trick if you prefer a minimalist Mac OS X desktop and Dock. In order to set the Dock to only display currently active apps, you’ll … Read More

How to Add a Recent Items Menu Stack to the Dock of Mac OS X

Apr 15, 2011 - 18 Comments

You can add a Recent Items menu Stack to the Mac OS X Dock by using a defaults write command. The default is set to “Recent Applications” but once the Dock item exists you can adjust it to feature other recent items too, like Recent Files, Recent Items, Recent Servers. This is a neat feature … Read More

Mac OS X Lion adds iOS style notifications to Dock icons

Feb 28, 2011 - 20 Comments

Mac OS X Lion includes more iOS style notifications on apps Dock icons. In this screenshot you can see them on the iChat app, showing how many unread messages are available. There are a lot of neat features appearing in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (at least in the Developer Preview), and although some people … Read More

How to Quit & Force Quit Apps from Dock Icons in Mac OS X

Feb 27, 2011 - 4 Comments

Did you know that you can quickly quit out of an application from the Dock of Mac OS X? And did you know that you can also force quit out of an app in Mac OS X by using the Dock icon too? Perhaps not well known, but the Dock of Mac OS can function … Read More

How to Add a Spacer to the Mac OS X Dock

Jan 19, 2011 - 6 Comments

You can add blank spacers to the Mac OS Dock as a way of customizing the appearance a bit. This is accomplished by issuing a defaults write command in the Terminal. Each spacer is about the same width as an icon would be, except nothing takes the place of the space, it simply separates other … Read More

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