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CHAPTER 3 Exploring the Dock

Along one edge of your screen (the bottom, left, or right) is a colorful row of icons known as the Dock. The Dock, shown in its default state in Figure 3.1, acts as a taskbar to show open applications and minimized or reduced versions of a document window. It also offers quick access to favorite applications, shows feedback from open applications, and provides a resting place for the Trash.

FIGURE 3.1 The Dock is useful for organizing your desktop.

Here’s a fast overview of the Dock’s arrangement:

. Left (or Top) portion—At left (or top) are icons for applications. The ones you’ve opened have a triangle under or next to them.

. Right (or Bottom) portion—At right (or bottom) are document icons representing the documents you’ve reduced or minimized. 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 46

46 CHAPTER 3: Exploring the Dock

By the Remember: To minimize a document, you can click the yellow (center) button at Way the top left of each window. You can also minimize by double-clicking the window’s title bar if you’ve checked that option under the Appearance settings of the System Preferences.

. Trash—At the extreme right (or bottom) is the Trash, the place to drag files that you want to throw away.

By the You can also drag URLs into the right (or bottom) side of the Dock. A single click Way launches your default Web browser and opens it to the saved address.

. Separator bar—The separator bar splits the Dock into the application and file/folder areas.

To make the icons in the Dock larger or smaller, click the separator bar and then By the Way move the mouse up to increase the size or down to reduce it if positioned horizon- tally, or move it left and right if your Dock is positioned vertically.

Applications and the Dock

The left (or top) portion of the Dock contains all docked and currently running applications.

To launch an application whose icon is in the Dock, just click its icon once, and your computer takes it from there. When you launch an application that isn’t in the Dock, its icon then appears in the Dock.

As the application launches, you’ll see the icon bounce. When opened, a small tri- angle appears with its icon to show that it is running—as you can see with the first icon on the left in Figure 3.1. When you quit or close the application, the triangle disappears. (For applications that haven’t been set to remain in the Dock, the icon also disappears from the Dock.)

To switch between active applications, just click the icon in the Dock that you want to become the active application. You can also switch between open applications by holding down Command-Tab. This moves you through active applications in the Dock in the order in which they appear. When you reach the item you want to bring to the front, release the keys to select it. 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 47

Applications and the Dock 47

Dropping is a shortcut for opening document files in a specific application. To drop By the a file, you can drag and drop a document icon on top of the icon of the application Way in which you want it to open. In Mac OS X, you can use the application’s Dock icon instead of having to locate the original application file on your hard drive. Also, to force a docked application to accept a dropped document that it doesn’t recognize, hold down Command-Option when holding the document over the appli- cation icon. The application icon is immediately highlighted, enabling you to per- form your drag-and-drop action. (Keep in mind, however, that many applications can work with files in only certain formats—forcing an application to open some- thing it doesn’t have the capacity to read won’t get you very far!)

Adding and Removing Docked Applications You can add applications to the left side (or top) of the Dock to create a quick launching point, no matter where the software is located on your hard drive. Dragging an application icon to the Dock adds it to that location in the Dock.

When the Dock expands to the full width of the screen, it automatically decreases By the the scale of its icons to fit along the edge of your screen. As you open more appli- Way cations or add more icons to it, each icon appears smaller.

To make an open application a permanent member of the Dock, simply do the fol- lowing:

1. Locate the application’s icon if it appears in the Dock. (If it’s not in the Dock, the application isn’t open!)

2. Click and hold on the icon to pop up a menu, as shown in Figure 3.2.

3. Choose the option Keep in Dock. (If the application already has a place in the Dock, you won’t be given this option.)

After you’ve placed an application on the Dock, you can launch it by single-clicking the icon.

Moving an icon to the Dock doesn’t change the location of the original file or fold- By the er. The Dock icon is merely an alias to the real file. Unfortunately, if the original Way files for a docked application have been moved since it was added to the Dock, the Dock can no longer launch that application.

To remove an application’s icon from the Dock, make sure that the application isn’t running and drag it out of the Dock. It disappears in a puff of smoke (try it and see). 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 48

48 CHAPTER 3: Exploring the Dock

FIGURE 3.2 Click and hold on an applica- tion’s icon in the dock.

Getting Information from the Dock In addition to providing easy access to commonly used applications, the Dock also gives you feedback about the functioning of applications through their icons.

The icon of an application that’s opening bounces in the Dock (unless configured not to) and continues bouncing until the software is ready. Also, if an open application needs to get your attention, its icon bounces intermittently until you interact with it.

The Dock also signals which applications are running by displaying a small trian- gle, or arrow, with their application icons. This is a good way to see which applica- tions are open, even if you’ve hidden them or closed all their windows.

In addition to telling you which applications are open, Dock icons can also give you a convenient way to close applications. Simply click and hold the icon of an open application and choose Quit from the menu that appears.

Dock icons also offer quick access to documents open in an application. For exam- ple, when you have multiple Finder windows open, you can view a list of those win- dows by clicking and holding on the Finder icon in the Dock. From the list, as shown in Figure 3.3, you can easily choose the one you want.

Did you Some applications, such as System Preferences and Sherlock, take “Dock menu- Know? ing” even further. If they are open, you can choose from among all their sections, whether those sections are open or not, by click-holding on their icons in the Dock. 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 49

Applications and the Dock 49

FIGURE 3.3 Click and hold on the Dock icon of an open application for a list of open win- dows.

Some applications even have customized Dock’s icons to display information about events occurring in the application itself. For example, the Mail program displays the number of unread email messages in a red seal that appears in the icon in the Dock, as shown in Figure 3.4. (Mail is covered in detail in Chapter 17, “Using Mail.”)

FIGURE 3.4 View the Number of Unread Messages on Your Mail Icon in the Dock. 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 50

50 CHAPTER 3: Exploring the Dock

Docked Windows, Files, and Folders

Now, let’s talk about the right, or bottom, portion of the Dock. You can drag com- monly used documents to this area of the Dock, and a link to them is stored for easy access, as shown in Figure 3.5.

You can also drag commonly used folders to this portion of the Dock. Click-holding (or right-clicking) a docked folder displays a list of its contents and the contents of the subfolders in that folder, as shown in Figure 3.6.

Minimized application windows are also placed in this portion of the Dock. They are labeled with the icon for their associated application for easy identification, as shown in Figure 3.7.

FIGURE 3.5 Add an impor- tant document to the Dock.

FIGURE 3.6 View the con- tents of docked folders with ease!

FIGURE 3.7 Temporarily store your work- in-progress in the Dock.

In addition to reducing desktop clutter, these window miniatures can serve another useful purpose. Depending on the application, minimized windows might continue to update as their associated applications attempt to display new information. QuickTime Player and DVD Player, for example, continue to play movies.

Trash Can

Another important resident of the Dock is the Trash (see Figure 3.8). The Trash is where you drag files, folders, or applications when you want to delete them from your computer. Figure 3.8 shows the Trash when empty. Figure 3.9 shows the Trash filled with one or more files. 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 51

Trash Can 51

FIGURE 3.8 This Trash can is empty.

FIGURE 3.9 The Trash con- tains items, and the files are ready to be permanently deleted.

The Trash is also used for ejecting disks, CDs, or DVDs. (It is also used to unmount exter- nal hard drives that you may attach to your computer for extra storage.) To allay user fears that this might hurt the contents of the item being ejected, Mac OS X changes the Trash icon into the Eject symbol when you drag a disk icon to it, as shown in Figure 3.10.

FIGURE 3.10 Ejecting a disk.

You don’t have to use the Trash when ejecting disks. An Eject icon appears in the By the sidebar of the Finder window next to any discs or drives to which it can be Way applied. Ctrl-clicking a mounted volume opens a contextual menu with an Eject option. Alternatively, you can highlight the disk to remove and choose File, Eject (Command-E) from the Finder’s menu. (Some models of the Macintosh’s keyboard also include an Eject key bearing the same eject symbol shown in Figure 3.10.)

Deleting Files To get rid of unwanted files, simply follow these steps:

1. Click and drag a program’s icon onto the trash can icon, which is highlighted as soon as the icon is brought atop it. See Figure 3.11 for the effect.

2. Choose Empty Trash from the Finder’s application menu, which opens the request for confirmation, as shown in Figure 3.12.

When you click and hold the Trash icon, you see an Empty Trash command, which Did you is a fast way to delete its contents. But be forewarned: There is no second Know? chance, no warning. When you choose this command, there’s no opportunity to change your mind.

When you click OK, the file is deleted. 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 52

52 CHAPTER 3: Exploring the Dock

FIGURE 3.11 When you release the mouse, the file is placed inside the Trash can.

FIGURE 3.12 Do you really want to delete the files in the Trash?

Did you The Trash works like a folder. If you’re not sure what’s inside, just double-click it to Know? open a window displaying its contents. If you decide to keep something after all, click and drag that icon out of the Trash window onto the desktop.

Secure Empty Trash The files you delete using the normal Empty Trash command are no longer avail- able for use. However, special software exists for the purpose of recovering deleted files. If you want to ensure that your deleted files can’t be recovered, choose File, Secure Empty Trash from the menu.

Secure Empty Trash works by deleting a file and then filling the space it occupied on a drive with meaningless data to obscure any traces of the file that may still be readable. 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 53

Dock Preference Options 53

Customizing the Dock

After you’ve used the Dock for a while, you’ll probably want to customize it to better suit your needs.

If you have a small monitor, you might want to resize the Dock icons to cover less area. The easiest and fastest way to resize them is to click and hold on the separator bar that divides the Dock areas. As you click and hold on the separator bar, drag up and down or left and right (if your Dock is placed vertically). The Dock dynamically resizes as you move your mouse. Let go of the mouse button when the Dock reaches the size you want.

After playing with different Dock sizes, you might notice that some sizes look bet- By the ter than others. That’s because Mac OS X icons come in several native icon sizes, Way and points between those sizes are scaled images. To choose only native icon sizes, hold down the Option key while using the separator bar to resize.

Dock Preference Options

For more fine-tuning of the Dock, open the Dock pane of the System Preferences. This pane, shown in Figure 3.13, includes settings for adjusting the Dock’s size and icon magnification and for making it disappear when not in use.

FIGURE 3.13 Configure your Dock to the size you want, or make it disap- pear when not in use.

Even if you choose the option to hide the Dock, it’s not really gone; it reappears By the for your use when you bring your mouse cursor to the Dock’s edge of your screen. Way

You can also shut off the animation effects that occur when document windows are minimized and stored in the Dock. 05 7058 ch03 5/9/05 3:51 PM Page 54

54 CHAPTER 3: Exploring the Dock

When you’ve made your selections, choose Quit (Command-Q) from the System Preferences application menu, or click the Close button at the top of the window.

Summary

The Dock is an important part of the OS X interface. In this chapter you learned how to use it to launch applications as well as receive feedback about them as they run. You also learned how to store files, folders, and document windows in the Dock—and to use the Trash to delete files, folders, and applications you no longer need.