Essential macOS Dock and System Customizations
macOS Dock and System Customizations
These terminal commands help customize macOS behavior for a more efficient workflow. All commands use the defaults utility to modify system preferences.
Faster Dock Auto-Hide Animation
Speed up the Dock’s hide and show animation for instant response when you move your cursor to the screen edge.
Enable Instant Dock Auto-Hide
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defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 0
killall Dock
Restore Default Dock Auto-Hide Speed
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defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0.5
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 0.5
killall Dock
Add Dock Spacers
Organize your Dock by adding visual spacers between app icons. You can run these commands multiple times to add multiple spacers.
Full-Height Dock Spacer
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defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{tile-data={}; tile-type="spacer-tile";}' && killall Dock
Half-Height Dock Spacer
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defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type"="small-spacer-tile";}' && killall Dock
Tip: Drag spacers in the Dock to position them where you want. Remove them by dragging them out of the Dock.
Disable External Disk Eject Warning
Stop the “Disk Not Ejected Properly” warning message when disconnecting external drives.
Warning: This disables the safety warning. Make sure you properly eject drives before disconnecting to avoid data corruption.
Disable the Warning
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sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.DiskArbitration.diskarbitrationd.plist DADisableEjectNotification -bool YES && sudo pkill diskarbitrationd
Note: You must restart your Mac for this change to take effect.
Re-Enable the Warning
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sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.DiskArbitration.diskarbitrationd.plist DADisableEjectNotification && sudo pkill diskarbitrationd