Dock behavior

Is there a way to change the behavior of the Dock so when I hold down on an application it doesn't zoom the window out in Expose and just shows the contextual menu? I just don't find secondary button command on my track pad comfortable and I'd prefer not have to hold control key. This how it worked in Tiger on my old iBook G4. Can I get the same behavior in 10.6?

When I hold down on open program in the Dock, any other window in front of the program window is hidden and that application's window is shrunk to the center of the screen with a dimmed desktop in the background and the contextual menu is stretched out instead of stacked like it would be if I used click control or a right click. How do I get it to stop doing this?

Similar Messages

  • Strange stacks icons and weird dock behavior

    I got leopard for Christmas and on the first day of the install my icons on the right side of the dock- i guess the stacks for applications and downloads icons look weird. It's not a combination of all the icons in the stack like someone else wrote, it is a weird green, white, red rectangular shaped image with weird black and grey squiggles going through the middle. Also-I'm not sure how to describe it but what used to be a clear line I guess to separate the stacks stuff with the other icons on my dock it's next to about this mac icon on my dock has turned into a weird pink rectangle with a really small picture of the weird red, green, and white rectangle on top. Any help would be greatly appreciated. My husband is a windows guy and after me bragging about how much better mac is, I don't want him to know that I'm already having problems with leopard

    No, this is not "normal behavior." The problem is that it is not consistent, either, so it is hard to tell what is going on. It may happen after using some full screen programs, but I am not sure. I am not able to reproduce the issue, myself. It just happens from time to time.
    The icons are not changing after they are used. The ones in the download folder will usually have their normal appearance, the dmg file or a pdf file with its "preview" icon or whatever. Then, for some reason, I will notice some of the icons have become blocky and pixilated, not resembling anything, usually almost a solid color.
    Again, the way to get them to change back is to remove the downloads folder from the doc and return it. Then all the icons return to their normal view.

  • Odd dock behavior

    Every so often out of the corner of my eye, I see some application launch and quit in the Dock — and it's fast too at probably under a second. It happened again this morning. Something is clearly launching and quitting. I've gone and looked at any logs I can find, and nothing appears to be out of the ordinary.
    Is it anything I should be concerned about?
    iMac G5 20" iSight; G3 Pismo Powerbook; LaCie 160G FW   Mac OS X (10.4)  

    See, the thing is it happens fast. So fast I only notice the Dock expand and shrink in a split second.
    It did it again this morning.
    For now, I've disabled all widget exept the world clock and calculator. The only thing I can think of is that the weather widget was phoning home for current time/temp. But since this is a new behavior, it's doubtful.
    Another odd thing that I noticed this morning: the Dock has acquired some icons that I have not put there.
    iMac G5 20" iSight; G3 Pismo Powerbook; LaCie 160G FW Mac OS X (10.4)

  • Dock behavior in Mavericks

    Opening some (not all) documents (specifically Excel documents) in the DocK opens a copy not the origninal document. After moving the document to the sidebar, it opens the original normally.  Is there a setting I can't find to return opening behavior for documents located in the Dock to normal?

    You need to tell Apple you don't like it, and ask them to bring back the dark translucent Dock background
    The feedback form is here:
    http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

  • Snow Leopard Client Dock Behavior & Binding to Snow Leopard Server

    Hi,
    I am at a loss on this issue. I am running a test server and client. I had bound my client to the server and was having difficulties with the dock settings on the client. I assumed it was a managed preferences issue on the server, so I checked all the ones I knew to check. It didn't appear that my client dock was being managed by my server. The problem was that the dock would switch from auto-hide to fixed and the preferences under dock could not be altered on the client.
    I've found that the only way to resolve this problem is to unbind the client from the server. Can anyone tell me what I need to be looking for within the server? Could there be an inherited preference from somewhere within the server?
    The other element to this is that this issue didn't arise until after I upgraded to 10.6.3. Prior the upgrade I was bound to the server, and the dock was fine. After the upgrade the dock preferences on the client were no longer able to be managed.
    I am new to server and need some help.
    Thanks

    Thanks!
    So, when I click Join..., type in the server, and then click on the Set Up Services button, I enter the username and password for the account I created on Snow Leopard Server. It switches the sheet to show that it's "Joining the server", and then fails with: "kGotAuthenticationFailure". The Password Service Server Log shows that is actually succeeded: "AUTH2: {0x4b5897f87cada0f20000001500000015, diana} DIGEST-MD5 authentication succeeded".
    If I actually enter an incorrect password, it right away gives me an "Authentication failed" message right below the password dialog in red.
    The console on the Snow Leopard client shows:
    10-01-21 11:10:16 AM System Preferences[248] -[ODCOSXServerJoinController(XSServiceDiscoveryProtocol) gotServicesInfo:fromServer:error:]: got error kGotAuthenticationFailure
    I don't see any other messages on the server that might explain this. Any ideas?
    This server was upgraded from Leopard Server, if that matters...

  • Inconsistent Dock Behavior

    I unchecked "Automatically Hide and show dock", but certain applications still SOMETIMES go ahead and hide the dock. Any idea what's up with that?
    Also, the dock sometimes adds a text identification which floats beside the icon (I have my dock on the left side of the screen), obscuring what's behind it. This effectively doubles or triples the unusable space on the left side of my screen. Is there any way to keep it from showing this text? Oddly, there's nothing consistent about when it does or doesn't show this text.
    system:
    G5, 10.4.11

    Hi, do you have a screen shot of that?

  • Dock preferences and behaviors changed since 10.6.3 update

    I just updated and have a strange behavior in my Dock. Previously I set dock to auto-hide, but since the 10.6.3 update the dock behavior has changed. The dock is now fixed at the bottom of the screen and I can't change any of the dock settings in preferences. The dock preference page will display but all the check boxes and drop downs are greyed out by the OS.
    Anyone have any idea where to start? My thought is to delete the plist for dock and allow it to rebuild to default. Does anyone have an alternative suggestion? Thanks.

    Pete,
    Welcome to Apple Discussions.
    ...My thought is to delete the plist for dock and allow it to rebuild to default.
    That would be the first thing to try.
    While you are at it, you may also want to repair disk permissions.
    If neither of those steps work and you used Software Update to install 10.6.3, try downloading and installing the Mac OS X v10.6.3 Update (Combo).
    ;~)

  • I have to "single-click" twice (not double click) to open an item in the Dock.

    Can someone confirm if this is Expected Behavior??   (OS = Mavericks)
    If you have Assigned an application in your Dock to a Desktop & Display in the application's Dock >> Options  (ex: Assigned To:  Desktop on Display 2):
    Click once on the application icon in the Dock, the application's Menu will populate on the top of your screen, but not the application itself (yet), click the application icon a second time, the application will now show too. 
    Docked Applications that do not have an Assigned To: Desktop & Display in the Dock options, you only need to single click.
    FYI:
    For odd Dock behaviors otherwise try this:
    You may have a corrupted Dock preferences file.
    Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder
    Type or copy paste the following:
    ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist    (plist = preference list file)
    Click Go then move the com.apple.dock.plist file to the Trash, or move it to your Desktop.
    Restart your Mac and see if the behavior is resolved.  You will have re-configure your Dock settings.

    From where are you launching Mail? The only place, unless I've missed or forgotten something, you can launch an application with a single click is from the Dock. Is this what you're doing, or are you attempting to launch Mail from the Applications folder?
    Regards.

  • Dock does not appear

    I am having problems with the dock on my iMac. The dock does not appear and the display freezes continually.  Any help?

    If you have Parallels installed and have updated to 10.6.8, there is a know conflict involving the dock behavior.  The solution is to update Parallels to the latest version.
    http://kb.parallels.com/en/111541
    Regards,
    Captfred

  • Cannot move applications around dock

    I used to be able to put iphoto and itunes together, etc etc
    Now I'm stuck with them in an order, and I can't move them around.
    any ideas ?

    Hi everyone.
    I think in Leopard we can still easily move and re-arrange the positions of the icons in the Dock, unless the Dock is actually locked as mentioned in the above replies by another program or through Terminal.
    But I notice one little Dock behavior in Leopard that might "explain" why we thought it is harder to move/arrange the icons: I think Leopard has made the icons a little more "stubborn", or rather, "harder" to move than in previous OS. If you click on one icon and try to move it, positioning it roughly parallel/same height between the left and right icons, you'd notice the icon do not move, i.e. you can place it in a new position as you wanted; But if you click on the intended icon and "force" it slightly towards the bottom of the Dock pane, like as if almost forcing it out of the screen downwards, then you'd discover you can start positioning it in a new place in the Dock.
    Hope I am making some sense here.
    Cheers

  • W540 + Ultra Dock on Linux

    I have a W540 and it is running Ubuntu Linux (still going ever since the BIOS update).  I want to get the docking station (the whole reason for buying a Lenovo) to have external keyboard mouse and monitor.
    I am interested in the Ultra Dock:
    http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/we​b/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?​...
    I have read other posts about the Ultra Dock but the link to the compatibility chart is a dead link.  
    I see some of our T540 friends are having troubles with the Ultra Dock.  It is not clear to me if those problems are also with the W540 models.  
    Has anyone with a W540 AND Linux been able to use the Ultra Dock with external monitors?  

    The keyboard and mouse seems to work fine with the dock. The dock behavior is quite inconsistent. My colleague has been able to project to two monitors and the screen by using Standard Mode (intel chip drives the dock outputs; in advanced mode nvidia drives the dock outputs) and then plugging one monitor into the vga output on the laptop, and the second monitor into the DVI output on the dock. He also has to do some weird unplugging and replugging ritual to get it all to work nice; it never works right on boot.
    I am unable to replicate his success, however. He is even running on 12.04. I tried a bunch of things over the weekend: 12.04, 13.10, and even a daily build of 14.04 (which wouldn't even boot from the live cd). Right now I am running Linux Mint 16 (which is based on 13.10, I think). I would think a newer version would have more success. Another thing I notice is that when I open up restricted drivers, options to install the nvidia driver never shows up. However, doing an lspci | grep -i nvidia shows the nvidia driver, which means the system can see it (it even shows the model number: Quadro K1100M). It never shows up for me docked or undocked.
    It's pretty disappointing because I would love to have two monitors. I think I can kind of make do with one monitor and the laptop screen for the time being, but it still sucks. What is frustrating also is that this laptop is supposed to be "Ubuntu certified", but in my experience it is anything but that.

  • Bizarre moving Mail Icon in Dock

    I have a problem where the Mail.app doc is moving by itself on the dock. If I place it where I want it, about 10 seconds later it moves to the just left of the dotted line position. And then, when I close the app, it disappears. I have tried the suggestion given in another thread of making an alias of the icon and the placing the alias in the dock, but did not get any solution to the problem - behavior is the same. I have tried placing icons from other apps on the dock and it seems to only affect the Mail.app icon.
    Does anyone have a solution to this?
    thanks

    I too had the same thing happen to me today. I tried trashing the pref file and killing the the dock in Terminal with no success. Trusty "Time Machine" saved the day! I went back in time a few days. Drilled down to the same pref file and clicked restore then clicked ok to replace item and all is well now.
    Someone in an earlier post had mentioned that they cleared the cron weekly, monthly logs and started to have this weird dock behavior. I left my computer on all night last night ( which I do not normally do ) and perhaps when my computer went through the same cron utility process it somehow corrupted the dock?
    Hope this helps.

  • Dock in 10.5 unpredictable compared to 10.4

    I've moved to 10.5 for the first time, with a new machine (MacPro). When I drag an external drive icon to the dock, I used to get that same icon in the dock with 10.4. Now I get an icon unfamiliar to me, different each time so far for each drive. Clicking the icon on the dock used to open the finder window for that drive; now I either a): have to go through another grid window before I have the option of going to a finder window, or b): get a list in a pop-up window, which does not give me the option of moving on to a finder window. I seem to have no control over which of these options I shall get, although each dock icon always behaves the same way. Similarly, folders dragged to the dock may have any one of three (so far) icons, and behaviour is unpredictable (to me). Where are the controls for the dock? Preferences only has limited controls.
    While you're reading this, I may as well mention that the new machine/OS (a G4 preceded it) has lost the ability for my LaCie external drives to auto-start and auto-stop when the machine is switched on and off. Not to mention the difficulties of connecting to my USB modem.
    Any hints, anyone? Should I go back to 10.4?
    Many thanks

    Hi John,
    The Dock behavior you're describing is normal for Leopard, but I know it's both difficult to get used to and frustrating at times. You can change the icons' appearance and behavior by right-clicking (or control-clicking) on the icon in question. Under "display as," if you select "folder," the icon will display as a folder and will no longer change depending on the contents. Under "view content as," you can select how the icon behaves when you click on it. Try out all three and decide which you like best.
    As for your LaCie/USB questions, I can't really speak to those. But I know that LaCie has an extensive list of FAQs on their site that you might want to peruse.
    Hope that helps!
    —Hazy

  • How to control ordering/sorting of re-minimized windows in dock

    Here's a dock behavior that has annoyed me for a long time: when you access a minimized window from the dock and then minimize it again, the window gets placed at the end of the dock rather than at the slot where it came from. As I collect minimized windows in the dock, I get used to where they are, only to have them shuffled around upon re-minimization. Maybe it's the librarian in me that wants to put the book back on the shelf exactly in call-number order.
    I did my best to search this forum for other postings related to this behavior, but I didn't come up with anything. Does anyone out there know if this dock behavior can be changed?
    Thanks!

    After minimizing the window again, you can click on it and drag it to a different slot in the right-hand side of the Dock. You can also drag a window to a different slot in the Dock as it's being minimized, but you may not be fast enough to do this unless you hold down the Shift key while minimizing it, which slows down the process.
    (10890)

  • No https on brand new iMac

    Brand new iMac and I can't access https sites.  I'm using the default administrator account so no parental controls are configured.  The only thing I've done so far is connected to the internet, changed some personal preferences (desktop picture, dock behavior), and downloaded some updates.
    Also, for being brand new with nothing installed/running, it seems to be running slow.  Safari responds slowly, launching items from the dock takes minutes not seconds.
    Any ideas for either of these issues is appreciated.

    Not sure if this is relevent to gaining access to https sites, but have you installed the latest Java update from Apple?
    Java for OS X Lion Update 1
    It's been a while since I set up my new Mac but I think it came without Java installed and I had to downloaded it. If your Mac is new and has never had Java installed you won't be offered the update. You should have an app in your Utilities folder called Java Preferences. If it's there, launch it and see if it tells you anything.

Maybe you are looking for