How to Make the Mac Dock Show Only Running Apps

How to Make the Mac Dock Show Only Running Apps

We'll use a handy Terminal command to set up your Mac to only show apps that are actively open and running. No matter what version of macOS your system is running, you can use the following steps.

1. First, you need to find and launch the Terminal application. If you haven't used Terminal before, click the Finder app on your Mac from the Dock.

   

2. Once the Finder window opens, select Applications from the left pane and locate the Utilities folder. Click on it to continue.

   

3. Here you will find the Terminal application. Click it to launch Terminal on your Mac.

   

4. Now, just enter the following command as shown in the screenshot and hit “Return” on your keyboard. You need to wait a few seconds for the desktop to refresh with the updated Dock.
   defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool true; killall Dock

   

5. As you can see below, Mac’s The Dock now only shows running applications. Finder appears because it's always running on your Mac, and Trash is necessary to drag and drop unwanted files.

   

That’s pretty much all you need to do to clean your Dock the easy way. Now the Mac Dock only shows running apps, and it's more like a taskbar than an app launcher.

This neat trick has been around for a while since Leopard and continues to work in macOS Monterey, Big Sur, and modern macOS versions.

How to restore Mac's Dock to default, showing all apps

If you change your mind and want the Dock to show inactive apps again as an app launcher, you can use another Terminal command to fulfill. let's see.

1. Launch Terminal again on your Mac. You can also use Spotlight Search (Command Spacebar) to quickly launch Terminal.

   

2. Now type the following command exactly as shown below to revert the changes.
   defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool false; killall Dock
   Alternatively, you can try:
   defaults delete com.apple.dock static-only ; killall Dock

   

Your desktop will now refresh and the Dock will reload. From now on, it will also show apps that are not actively running and return to the Dock's default behavior.

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