The Mac Dock is an iconic piece of Apple design, giving you instant, one-click access to all your favorite applications. However, if you are working on a smaller 13-inch MacBook Air, the Dock permanently steals a significant strip of valuable vertical screen real estate. When you are editing a long spreadsheet or trying to read a massive web page, every pixel matters. You can reclaim this lost space by instructing macOS to automatically hide the Dock when you are not actively using it.
How to Enable Dock Auto-Hiding
You can toggle this feature deep inside the System Settings.
- Click the Apple Logo in the extreme top left corner of your Mac screen.
- Select System Settings from the dropdown menu (if you are on an older Mac, this will be called System Preferences).
- In the left-hand navigation sidebar, scroll down and click on Desktop & Dock.
- Look at the very top section on the right side of the screen (under “Dock”).
- Find the toggle switch labeled Automatically hide and show the Dock.
- Click the switch to turn it On (it will turn blue).
The instant you flip that switch, your Dock will gracefully slide straight down and disappear off the bottom edge of your screen. Your current window will immediately expand downward to fill the newly available space.
How to Access the Hidden Dock
You do not have to turn the setting off to launch an app. When you need the Dock, simply move your mouse cursor all the way down until it aggressively bumps against the very bottom edge of the physical screen. The Dock will instantly pop back up, hovering over your open windows. Once you click an app (or move your mouse back up to the middle of the screen), the Dock will immediately sink back down out of sight.
The Ultra-Fast Keyboard Shortcut
If you find yourself constantly changing your mind about whether you want the Dock visible or hidden, you do not need to open the System Settings every time.
You can instantly toggle the auto-hide behavior on and off by pressing a secret keyboard combination: Option + Command (⌘) + D.