Dock and desktop on a Mac, fixed in plain English.
24 fixes for macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 Golden Gate.
The Mac taskbar is called the DockOn a Mac, open apps and your favourite apps sit in the Dock at the bottom of the screen.Your Mac's Dock has disappeared or keeps hidingAutomatic hiding of the Dock is turned on, so it only appears when the pointer touches the screen edge.Remove the delay before your hidden Dock appearsThe Dock has a built-in delay and animation time when auto-hide is on, and there is no slider for it in Settings.Launchpad is gone: how to see all your apps nowmacOS Tahoe replaced Launchpad with the Apps view in Spotlight.Change your Mac's desktop wallpaperWallpaper is set in the Wallpaper pane.Change or turn off your Mac's screen saverThe screen saver is controlled in the Screen Saver pane, and its start time is in Lock Screen settings.Hide desktop widgets on your Mac, or keep them in colourDesktop widgets are controlled by "Show Widgets" and widget style options.Set up or turn off Hot Corners on your MacHot Corners run an action when the pointer moves into a screen corner.Make your Mac's app icons look normal againAppearance has an "Icon & widget style" option (Default, Dark, Clear, Tinted) that changes app icons.Put a folder or file in your Mac's DockFolders and files live on the right side of the Dock, past the divider line (below it if the Dock is on the side).Tidy up and sort the icons on your Mac desktopDesktop icons were placed by hand, or Stacks are turned off.Make the Dock hide itself so you get more screen spaceThe Dock is set to stay visible all the time.Move your Dock to the left, right or bottom of the screenThe Dock position is set to Left or Right.Remove an app icon from your Mac's DockThe app is set to Keep in Dock.Keep an app in your Mac's DockThe app is not set to stay in the Dock after you quit it.Make your Mac's Dock smaller or biggerThe Dock size slider is set high or magnification is making icons large.Use the same wallpaper on every desktop Space, or a different one on eachWallpaper can be set per Space, and a setting controls whether it applies to all Spaces.Your Mac desktop icons disappeared: bring them back"Show Items: On Desktop" is off, or the files are in iCloud Desktop & Documents or in another Space.Put the Downloads folder in your Mac's DockThe Downloads folder only sits in the Dock if you add it.What the dots under your Dock icons mean, and how to hide them"Show indicators for open applications" controls the small dot under running apps.Turn Dock magnification off, or set how much it zoomsDock Magnification is turned on.Remove the recent and suggested apps from your Dock"Show suggested and recent apps in Dock" is turned on.Stop your Mac wallpaper getting darker or lighter during the dayA dynamic or automatic wallpaper follows the time of day or the Light/Dark appearance.Fix a Dock icon that shows a question markThe Dock shortcut points to an app that was moved or deleted.