Reset the Mac Dock to default: Terminal command, apps, size and position

Short answer: run defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock in Terminal.

That returns the Dock to how it looked on a brand new Mac: Apple's default apps, the default size, the default position. It also removes every app you added, so read the next section first.

Read this first

Resetting the Dock is not a repair that leaves your setup intact. It wipes every Dock preference you have, including:

Every app you added to the Dock. It comes back with Apple's default set.
Your size, magnification, position and auto-hide choices.
Any folders you dragged into the right-hand section, and their view settings.
The four locks, if you set them with Terminal.

What it does not touch is anything outside the Dock. Your apps are not uninstalled, your files are untouched, and nothing leaves your Mac. Only the Dock's own configuration is cleared.

If your Dock is merely the wrong size and otherwise fine, you do not need the full reset. Jump to the size or the position and fix just that.

Reset the Dock in Terminal

Open Terminal, from Applications then Utilities, or press Command and Space and type Terminal. Paste this and press Return:

defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock

The Dock disappears for a second and comes back at Apple's defaults. Two parts are doing the work. defaults delete com.apple.dock removes the stored preferences, and killall Dock restarts the Dock so it rebuilds from scratch. Without the second part nothing appears to happen.

If Terminal replies that the domain does not exist, the preferences were already cleared. Run killall Dock on its own.

The same command works on every macOS version Still Dock supports, from macOS 13 to macOS 26. It needs no sudo, and you should not add it: the Dock reads your user preferences, and sudo would write to the wrong account.

Prefer not to use Terminal? Move com.apple.dock.plist from ~/Library/Preferences to the Trash (in Finder press Command, Shift and G, then paste that folder), then log out and back in. macOS writes a fresh file with default values. A damaged file here is the usual reason a Dock refuses to keep a setting, and this fixes it.

Back up your Dock first

Two commands save the layout you have now, and put it back if you change your mind:

defaults export com.apple.dock ~/Desktop/dock-backup.plist

defaults import com.apple.dock ~/Desktop/dock-backup.plist; killall Dock

The first writes a copy to your Desktop. The second, run later, loads it back. Use export and import rather than copying the file by hand: macOS keeps a cached copy of preferences in memory, and a file copied in behind its back can be overwritten the next time the Dock writes.

Get the default apps back

After the reset command the Dock rebuilds Apple's default set of apps. If you only want the apps back and would like to keep your size and position, delete just the two lists that hold them:

defaults delete com.apple.dock persistent-apps; defaults delete com.apple.dock persistent-others; killall Dock

If the Dock comes back empty instead, run the full reset above. The step by step version, including adding apps by hand, is in how to restore the default Dock apps.

Put the size back to normal

You can drag the divider or use the slider in System Settings, then Desktop & Dock, but neither one tells you what normal is. Delete the size and macOS uses its own default:

defaults delete com.apple.dock tilesize; defaults delete com.apple.dock largesize; killall Dock

That clears the icon size and the size icons grow to under magnification, and leaves your apps where they are. To see what it is set to right now, run defaults read com.apple.dock tilesize. If Terminal answers that the key does not exist, the Dock is already using the default.

A Dock that keeps changing size on its own is a different problem: why your Dock keeps changing size.

Put the Dock back at the bottom

If the Dock is on the left or right edge, or on the wrong screen:

defaults write com.apple.dock orientation -string bottom; killall Dock

Or use System Settings, then Desktop & Dock, then Position on screen, and choose Bottom. The full set of causes, including a Dock stuck on another display, is in how to move the Dock back to the bottom.

Reset only part of it

You often do not need the full reset. Each piece can be put back on its own, without losing your apps:

Size and magnification: the size command above, or the slider in System Settings.
Position: the command above, or Position on screen set to Bottom.
Auto-hide: turn off Automatically hide and show the Dock in the same panel, or run defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide; killall Dock.
Recent apps, animation and delay: what each defaults key does and how to undo it.
Just restart the Dock: killall Dock on its own fixes a Dock that has become unresponsive, without changing any setting.

Stopping it from happening again

If you are resetting because the Dock keeps drifting from how you set it, the reset treats the symptom. The cause is that macOS lets the Dock be changed by an accidental drag, and offers no way to pin it.

You can pin it yourself. Once your Dock is how you want it, run:

defaults write com.apple.dock size-immutable -bool true; killall Dock

That freezes the size. There are equivalent settings for position, contents and auto-hide, listed in our guide to all four. Swap true for false to release any of them.

If you would rather not hold four commands in your head, Still Dock puts the same four locks in your menu bar as switches, and remembers the Dock you had before you locked it so you can always get back to it.

Using more than one screen? The Dock also jumps between them, which is a separate problem with its own fixes: how to keep the Mac Dock on one screen.

The killall Dock at the end of these commands is doing real work, and it is not the same as resetting: what killall Dock actually does.

Once it is back how you want it, you can stop it moving again: how to lock the Dock on a Mac.

Common questions

Will resetting the Dock delete my apps?

No. It only clears the Dock's preferences. Your applications stay installed and your files are untouched. You will need to drag your favorite apps back onto the Dock afterwards, unless they are among Apple's defaults.

What is the Terminal command to reset the Dock?

defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock. The first half clears every Dock preference, the second restarts the Dock so it rebuilds with the defaults.

My Dock resets itself every time I log in. Why?

Usually a damaged preference file, which the file-deletion method above fixes. On a managed Mac, from work or school, a configuration profile may be enforcing the Dock instead, and that cannot be overridden locally. If your Dock settings are also grayed out, see why macOS says a profile configured them.

Does this fix a Dock that will not appear at all?

Try killall Dock first, since that restarts it without losing anything. If the Dock still does not appear, the full reset is the next step. More in my Mac's Dock disappeared.

Does the reset also unlock Still Dock's locks?

The Terminal reset clears the four Dock lock keys, so yes, a Dock locked with commands is unlocked. If Still Dock is running with a lock switched on, it will apply that lock again, so switch it off in the app first.

If your Dock resets on its own rather than because you asked it to, that is a different problem with four possible causes. See why your Mac's Dock resets itself.