Sometimes the Dock will keep an icon app in the Dock, even though I haven't set it as such, even though I've previously de-kept it in Dock after the first time it kept it 'for me'.
Is there a way to turn this off it's a bit annoying?
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Are the affected apps random or consistent? Meaning are they the same apps or does it happen to nearly all the apps. – John Jul 16 '11 at 20:22
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I think the issue is apps that you previously dismissed from the dock seem to automatically stay if you keep them open longer than, say, a day. I would like to know how to disable this feature as well – buster Jul 26 '17 at 15:50
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go to "system preferences", then choose "Dock" and uncheck the "show recent applications in dock" radio button.
leaftree
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Why and when did Apple change this to default? It was not default before Mojave right? – Sajjon Mar 07 '19 at 17:33
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11should be marked as correct answer. this is probably the main reason at most cases – Ben Yitzhaki Apr 21 '19 at 12:20
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@BenYitzhaki it's not what he asked for, this is completely unrelated. – Oliver Dixon Apr 27 '20 at 10:21
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4I disagree – I was getting frustrated at why QuickTime kept reappearing in my dock. I googled, came to this question, felt the question captured my exact problem... and this answer, not the accepted one, was what fixed it for me. – asinoladro Mar 02 '21 at 18:16
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Usually apps don't place themselves in the dock without your consent or knowledge. There are a couple ways to put them there though. Perhaps you may not realize it, but it may be one of these reasons:
- The App Store will place an app in the Dock upon installation. Note: Lion will not do this though; it simply places it in Launchpad.
- The App Store will place an app in the Dock upon updating an app. Note: Updating an non-docked app individually via the updates tab is when it gets re-placed in the dock. However using the 'Update All' button at the top of the page will not do any such thing. Again, this is changed in Lion.
- If you run an app that is not kept in the dock and drag it to another position anywhere on the dock, it will stay in the dock
- Drag an app into the dock from Finder
- Right click an app in the dock an under options select 'Keep in Dock'
John
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1Also, if the dock icon goes away after quitting the app but comes back after a fresh login, then the “Open at Login” option (also ‘in’ the dock icon with “Keep in Dock”) could be the problem. One more: a locked (or read only?)
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plistcan cause Dock settings to revert at each login (see AD 17223). – Chris Johnsen Jul 20 '11 at 04:07 -
@Chris those are great suggestions. I think they deserve to be presented as an alternate answer. – John Jul 20 '11 at 05:39
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It very well might be the moving of icon around the dock, never connected those to actions together. Thx! – Vukašin Jul 20 '11 at 13:27
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Quite often I mis-time my click, do it while the cursor is still moving, and end up dragging the icon for a fraction of a second. Result: icon kept in dock, even though I've not asked for that and haven't even rearranged the icons. (I only figured this out today, but I must have been doing it for years without realising this was the cause of the odd icon mysteriously sticking to the dock. Perhaps this hint will help somebody else.) – Tom Seddon May 09 '13 at 16:02
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5#3 was a huge surprise to me and finally answered this annoying mystery! Thanks Randy.
I would next like to know if one can disable this behavior: I would really like to be able to rearrange my icons for the task-at-hand without having all of those apps preserved forever in the dock.
– Michael Liquori Mar 13 '16 at 00:15 -
same as Michael, #3 was a major annoyance for very very long. thanks a lot! – Thomas Sep 18 '18 at 15:25