macOS includes a Dock bar which commonly shows up at the bottom of your MacBook’s screen. The Dock is among those essential features of macOS, providing a quick launch bar to open applications and including entire running applications.
With the System Preferences menu, you can change the settings on a MacBook to have the Dock bar automatically hide and show. Once you turn this setting on, the dock bar will only show up whenever you move the mouse over the bottom of your MacBook’s screen. Or, you can use the keyboard shortcut to hide or show it quickly on macOS
Read also: How To Show Hidden Files on Mac
What is Dock?
Dock is a feature of the macOS operating system that allows users to access and launch applications from a fixed location on the desktop. The Dock can be customized by the user to include their favorite apps, and it also provides access to key functions of the macOS operating system, such as Finder, Launchpad, Mission Control, and more.
Using the System Preferences
Step 1: Click on the Apple icon and select the “System Preferences” option.
Step 2: Click on the “Dock” icon from System Preferences window.
Step 3: Then, you can see the option “Automatically hide and show the Dock.”. Check the box for hiding and showing the dock.
Using a Keyboard Shortcuts
To auto hide and show the Dock bar, you can use the Command + Option + D button on your keyboard. It will hide or show the Dock on Macbook Pro, Macbook Air immediately.
Using the keyboard shortcut is easily and efficiently to switch the dock hides and shows.
Set The Time You Want To Show The Dock
To establish the amount of the needed time to show the Dock (for this example, for 4 seconds), just open the Terminal and enter the following command into a Terminal window:
defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 4 && killall Dock
This will make the Dock keep hidden until you move the mouse at the Dock’s screen edge for a full 4 seconds. You can modify a number of seconds that you want.
More:
You use the following command to show the dock immediately without any delay
defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0 && killall Dock
To bring the default setting back, just enter this command below:
defaults delete com.apple.Dock autohide-delay && killall Dock
How to change the Dock size on macOS
To change the size of the Dock on your Mac, simply go to System Preferences > Dock. From here, you can adjust the size of the Dock by using the slider at the bottom of the window. You can also choose to have the Dock automatically hide when not in use, which can help keep your desktop tidy and uncluttered and more space for other app.
You can also enable “Dock Magnification” to make your apps and icons appear larger when you hover your mouse over them. To enable Dock Magnification, check the box above “Magnification.” Then, you can adjust the slider to change the size of the icons.
You can see my setting in the screenshot below.
Bonus: Automatically Hide And Show The Menu Bar
To enable auto-hide Menu Bar on macOS Big Sur, open System Preferences and go to Dock & Menu Bar. From here, check the box for “Automatically hide and show the menu bar.” This will minimize the Menu Bar when you’re not using it, giving you more space on your screen.
The menu bar is hidden.
