Straight answers about the macOS Dock. No sign-up, nothing gated, and every Terminal command you need is on the page.
defaults commandA complete reference to the settings behind the Dock. Every key, what values it takes, what it does, and how to put it back. Including the four that lock it.
On the side, on the wrong screen or floating mid-screen. The settings path, the one-line Terminal command, and how to keep it there.
Get Apple's default apps back with one command or by hand, and save the Dock you have now first so you can return to it.
Cmd Tab, Cmd Q, Cmd ` and Cmd O in the middle of a game. What System Settings can switch off, and what needs an app.
For work and school Macs where installing apps is not allowed. Four Terminal commands, the undo, and what stops them from holding.
Add the Still Dock plugin, say lock my Dock, and your Mac does it. How to connect it, what it can switch, and what it needs.
At login, after an update, when a monitor moves, or seemingly at random. Four different causes, and the fix for each one.
Start with Option Command D. If that does nothing, six causes in order of likelihood, ending with the one that needs a clean preference file.
The commands are unchanged. The settings pane is not. What moved, and three claims about macOS 26 that are simply wrong.
Chrome and Firefox each have a built-in guard. Safari has none. Where each setting lives, and what to do about every other app.
Two Mac utilities built around different problems. What each covers, what it costs, when DockLock is the better choice, and where LockMyDock fits.
The divider is a drag handle sitting exactly where your pointer travels, and macOS has no undo. Why it happens, why your windows move too, and three ways to stop it.
The whole reset in one place: the Terminal command, the default apps, the normal size and the bottom edge. What it clears, how to back up first, and how to reset only part of it.
Tick which parts of the Dock to lock and get the exact Terminal commands, including the fourth one most guides leave out, plus the commands to undo them.
macOS says the settings were configured by a profile, even when no profile exists. How to tell which of the two causes it is, and how to reverse each one.
The Dock follows your pointer, so it lands on whichever screen you last reached across. The three built-in workarounds, what each one costs you, and the Terminal fix that stopped working.
Family Mac, front desk, classroom or kiosk. The four locks, why anyone with Terminal can undo them, what Screen Time cannot do, and the profile that actually holds.
School and lab Macs. What students change, which locks survive a restart, and the one thing that survives a student who knows Terminal.
Walk-up and public access Macs. Why the drift is never reported, the restore image that undoes your locks overnight, and the Dock section that shows the last person’s work.
Reception counters and showroom units. The four locks, the second screen problem no Terminal command can fix, and why staff turnover is the real risk.
Kids and one Mac. Why Screen Time cannot touch the Dock, why the locks live in each account, and why the removable kind is the right one at home.
Demo units customers touch. The contents lock that keeps your apps in place, and how to keep a bank of machines identical to each other.
Coming from Windows. What the bar at the bottom is called, why there is no lock checkbox, and the five other things that are not the same.
Terminal commands, a configuration profile, or an app. All three use the same macOS settings underneath. What each one costs you, and which to pick.
The command every Dock tutorial ends with. What it really does, what it does not reset, and why it is safe.
No, and there is no workaround. Why macOS allows only one Dock, and what to do instead on a multi-monitor setup.
macOS has no setting for the app switcher anywhere, and most of the advice online edits a preference that does not exist. What actually turns it off, everywhere or in one app.
Cmd W closes the front tab with no warning, and it sits right beside Cmd Q. Reassign it, recover the tab, or make it ask first.
Q sits next to W, and one of them closes a tab while the other closes everything. Why Command Q quits without asking, how to reassign it in System Settings, and how to stop losing Safari tabs.
Four working locks for size, position, contents and auto-hide, with the commands to undo each one. Plus the fifth setting everyone repeats that does nothing at all.
Why the Dock is a different size on an external display, what macOS is really doing with tilesize, and the setting that stops the value drifting.
Turn off the section that adds apps you never put there, and make it hold on a Mac other people use, where a per user setting will not.
Four different things get called this, with four different fixes. How to tell which one you have before changing anything.
The free companion app for iPhone and Apple Watch. How it connects over iCloud, what you can switch remotely, and what you need.
Switch a shared Mac's ⌘Q protection on or off without walking over to it, and what happens if the Mac is asleep when you send the change.