How to Automatically Remove from Dock in macOS

Evan Gower September 3, 2019

There are many third-party apps which can emulate a dock on your screen. On Mac, you don’t have to download such software because it has its own Dock. It is very useful and you can do many useful and cool things with it.

How to Automatically Remove from Dock in macOS

If you use a lot of programs or apps, over time you will notice your Dock getting more and more cluttered. Not only will it be harder to hit the right icon, but they will also appear drastically smaller.

This article will show you how to remove icons from the Dock in macOS, both manually and automatically.

How Removing Icons from Dock in macOS Works

First of all, there are some macOS Dock Icons that can’t be removed. These include the Trash Can, furthest to the right, and the Finder icon, furthest to the left. Other than that, you can remove every other Dock icon.

Before you begin removing icons, customize your Dock to your taste. Use the Dock preference pane to change icon size, hide the Dock, magnify icons, etc.

The icons located on the macOS Dock are in fact shortcuts, like the ones you have on a Windows desktop. They are not folders because the actual location of the programs is somewhere else. These icons serve as aliases, and once you remove them, you won’t delete the actual program, but only its shortcut.

How to Make Icons Automatically Disappear from Dock in macOS

Many macOS apps will stay in the Dock long after you used them. You don’t need icons that you don’t use regularly in your Dock, so how do you make them go away? It is fairly simple, just follow these steps:

Go to System Preferences on your Mac.
Select the Dock and find the option Show recent applications in Dock. Make sure it is unchecked.
Now all of the recent apps will be automatically removed from the Dock.

Removing Icons from Dock on OS X Lion and Older Versions

Before you remove an app or document from the Dock, it is best to close it first.
Click on the icon you want to remove and drag it across your desktop. As soon as it is not anywhere near the Dock, you can drop it.

The process is the same on OS X Mountain Lion, except there is a small delay to avoid removing Dock icons by mistake.

Removing Icons from Dock on macOS Mojave

Close the app or document you want to remove from the Dock.
Click on the desired icon and drag it away from the Dock, anywhere on the desktop.
You will be prompted whether you want to remove the icon.
Release the mouse and the icon will vanish from the Dock.

Alternative Method for Removing Icons from Dock in macOS

You can actually remove icons from the Dock in macOS without clicking and dragging them. Here is how you can use the Dock menu to do it:

Move your mouse cursor to the icon on the Dock you want to delete, and right-click on it.
You will see a dropdown menu, and you should choose Options.
Select Remove from Dock and the icon will be gone.

You can use either of these options to remove icons from the Dock and make it nice and tidy once more. Remember to regularly remove unused icons from the Dock.

Decluttering Complete

Once you get rid of all the unwanted icons from your Dock, it will feel much more useful. You will only have the shortcuts to apps and docs you use often. This will save you a lot of time you would otherwise spend looking for the right icon.

Also, you will stop clicking on the wrong icon which can be irritating, to say the least. Now you can even magnify your icons and it won’t matter, because you have more than enough space.

What is your favorite method of removing macOS icons from the Dock? Is your Dock as clean as you’d want it to be? Please, do let us know.