Change Desktop & Dock settings on Mac

Size

Drag the slider to change the Dock size.

Magnification

Magnify icons when you move the pointer over them. Drag the slider to choose the magnification size.

Position on screen

Locate the Dock along the left, bottom or right edge of the screen.

Minimise windows using

Choose the visual effect used when you minimise a window.

Double-click a window’s title bar to

Choose what happens when you double-click the title bar of an app window:

Minimise: Minimise an app window to the Dock.

Zoom: Expand a window to fill the space between the Dock and the menu bar. If the Dock is along the side of the screen, the window fills the space below the menu bar and to the side of the Dock.

Do Nothing: Don’t do anything when the title bar is clicked.

Minimise windows into application icon

Minimise an app window to the app icon in the Dock. If the option isn’t turned on, the window is minimised to an area in the Dock.

Automatically hide and show the Dock

Hide the Dock when you’re not using it. To show the hidden Dock, move the pointer to the edge of the screen where the Dock is located.

Animate opening applications

Make icons bounce when you open apps.

Show indicators for open applications

Show a small dot below an app’s icon in the Dock when the app is open.

Show recent applications in Dock

Show recently opened apps (if they aren’t already included in the Dock) towards one end of the Dock.

Automatically hide and show the menu bar

Choose when to hide and show the menu bar:

• Always: Always hide and show the menu bar.

• On Desktop Only: Hide and show the menu bar when not using an app in full screen.

• In Full Screen Only: Hide and show the menu bar when using an app in full screen.

• Never: Never hide the menu bar.

Move the pointer to the top of the screen to show the menu bar when it’s hidden.

Recent documents, applications and servers

Choose how many items to show in the Recent Items menu command. Items you’ve used recently are listed in the Apple menu, so that you can easily open the items from there.

This setting also determines how many recent items appear in app menus, such as the Open Recent option in the File menu in TextEdit.

Prefer tabs when opening documents

Choose when you want documents to open in a tab (instead of in a new window): Never, Always or In Full Screen.

Ask to keep changes when closing documents

By default, unsaved changes are automatically saved when you close documents. If you prefer to be asked whether to save changes, turn on this option.

Close windows when quitting an application

Close app windows when you quit an app. The windows don’t reopen automatically the next time you open the app.

Stage Manager

Turn on Stage Manager.

Click Customise to set additional options for Stage Manager.

Default web browser

Safari is the web browser in macOS and is used by default when you click a link in an email or text message. To learn about the Safari app, see the Safari User Guide.

You can choose another web browser you have installed on your Mac as the default.

Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use

Get quicker access to the desktops you used most recently (if you created additional desktops using Spaces). See Work in multiple spaces.

When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application

If you use Spaces, have your desktop scroll to a space with open windows for an app when you switch to that app.

Group windows by application

If you have several windows from multiple apps open simultaneously, have the windows organised by app in Mission Control.

Displays have separate Spaces

Set up separate spaces for each display (if you use Spaces and have multiple displays).

This option must be selected if you want to use apps in Split View on your other displays.

Shortcuts

Choose shortcuts for showing and hiding Mission Control, open windows for the current app and the desktop. Depending on your mouse or trackpad, two columns of pop-up menus may be shown in this section.

To display additional available keyboard shortcuts, press and hold the Control, Option, Shift or Command key, or a combination of these keys, while viewing the pop-up menus.

Hot Corners

Choose actions to perform when you move the pointer to screen corners. See Use hot corners.

To set up a hot corner, click the pop-up menu for a corner, then choose an action.

To use a modifier key with the hot corner, press and hold the Command, Shift, Option or Control key or a combination of these keys, while viewing the pop-up menus.