How to fix a disappearing Dock on Mac

The macOS Dock is a great way to access your favourite apps quickly and easily. But if you’re having problems with it disappearing then there are a few ways to ensure that it sticks around.

In this article we show how to keep your Dock in view.

Use System Preferences to set up the Dock

The simplest way to adjust the settings for the Dock is by using System Preferences. Click the Apple icon in the top-left corner of the screen and then select System Preferences from the dropdown menu.

In the window that appears, you’ll find an option for the Dock on the top line between Desktop & Screen Saver and Mission Control. Click on it.

You’ll now be presented with various settings for the Dock, including its size and position on the screen. Look at the column of tick boxes at the bottom of the window.

Here you’ll find one called ‘Automatically hide and show the Dock’. Ensure that it is unticked, and then the Dock should now remain visible at all times (unless you choose to go full-screen on an app).

Right-clicking on the Dock

Another way to access the Hide setting is to right-click on the dock itself. As there are icons for various apps already in place, you’ll need to find the vertical line on the right hand side that separates the apps from the Downloads and Trash section.

Hovering the cursor over this will change it into a double-ended arrow. When you see this, right-click to open the quick settings menu.

In here you’ll see the option to Turn Hiding Off. Select this and your Dock should stay present on screen whenever you’re not in full-screen mode.

Resetting the Preferences list

If you’re still getting issues with the Dock disappearing after you’ve followed the steps above, then it could be problem with a corrupted file or other non-settings based issue.

The first thing to do is check if there are any system updates available that you can install. This is easy to do: click on the Apple icon in the top-left corner, select App Store, and when it opens click on the Updates tab.

Should this be empty then it might be worth deleting the preferences file instead. This will reset your Dock back to the way it was when you first got your Mac, so any app shortcuts you’ve since placed there will need to be added again afterwards.

Open Finder, then hold down the Option key and click on the Go option in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen. This shows a few options that are usually hidden, one of which is Library. Click this and then select the Preferences folder.

Scroll down until you find a file named com.apple.dock.plist. You’ll need to delete this file (either by using the Backspace key or dragging it to the Trash).

Now reboot your machine and macOS will create a new default preferences list which should hopefully clear the problem.

If you’re still getting issues then we’d recommend contacting Apple customer support.

We also look at How to Hide Recent Apps from Dock in MacOS here.