In this guide, we will show you various methods to fix the issue of the Dock not working on your Mac. The bottom bar on your Mac that houses various apps, files, and folders, the Dock is perhaps the most interactive component of the OS. Beholding a slew of nifty features, its use case scenario encompasses various domains.
So it is anything but obvious that it would spell trouble for the end users if the Dock stops functioning along the expected lines. Unfortunately, that has been the case in the past for many and could well happen in the near future as well, irrespective of the macOS version that you are using.
From the Dock getting frozen, to its application switcher not working, its non-responsiveness to clicks, or its sudden disappearance, there could be quite a few issues that it might get bugged with. Fortunately, you could easily rectify most of these issues by either restarting or resetting it to its default state. And in this guide, we will show you how to do just that. Follow along.
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How to Fix Dock not working in Mac
It is recommended that you try out each of the below-mentioned workarounds and then see which one spells out success for you. So with that in mind, let’s get started.
FIX 1: Restart Dock by Restarting Mac
While this is the most straightforward method to get the job done, however, it is the most time-consuming as well. If you wish to give it a try, then just click on the Apple logo situated at the top left and select Restart. Your Mac will now restart and so will the Dock. Once that happens, check if it fixes the Dock not working on your Mac.
FIX 2: Restart Dock via Terminal
You could also restart the Doc just by executing a single line of command in the Terminal. Here’s how.
- Open Launchpad, go to the Others folder, and launch Terminal.
- Then copy-paste the below command in the Terminal and hit Enter
killall Dock
- Check if it fixes the Dock not working issue on your Mac.
FIX 3: Restart Dock via Activity Monitor
You could also restart Dock by killing and restarting its background service. Here’s how:
- To begin with, bring up Spotlight Search via Command+Space.
- Then type in Activity Monitor and open it from the search results.
- Now type in Dock in the search bar situated at the top right.
- Then select Dock and hit the cross icon situated at the top.
- The dock will undergo a restart and it should then work on your Mac without any issues.
FIX 4: Toggle Dock Auto-Hide Settings
Some users have reported that the Dock is behaving in a rather strange manner- it is unexpectedly disappearing before coming back up all of a sudden. If you are facing a similar issue then you should consider toggling its auto-hide settings. Here’s how-
- Click on the Apple logo situated at the top left and select System Preferences.
- Then go to Dock and Menu Bar.
- Now uncheck “Automatically hide and show the Dock”.
- Check if it fixes the Dock not working issue on your Mac.
FIX 5: Delete Dock Plist
If the dock’s preferences and settings have got corrupted, then your best course of action is to delete its list file and then let the OS repopulate a fresh one from scratch. Here’s how it could be done:
- Launch Finder and go to the Library > Preferences folder.
- Then delete the com.apple.dock.plist file and restart your Mac.
- Once it boots up, the OS will now create a new copy of that file.
- Now check if it fixes the Dock not working issue on your Mac.
FIX 6: Reset Dock
If none of the aforementioned methods spelled out success, then your last course of action should be to reset the Dock back to its factory default state. Do keep in mind that it will remove all the customized settings that you have implemented in the Dock. So with that in mind, let’s get started
- Open Launchpad, go to the Others folder, and launch Terminal.
- Then copy-paste the below command in the Terminal and hit Enter
defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock
- This should rectify the underlying Dock-related issues on your Mac.
- Furthermore, you may now re-configure it as per your need via the System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar.
