MacOS – How to remove dock shelf from Mavericks

dockmacos

I installed OS X Mavericks, and the dock shelf has returned despite the hidden option to remove it from previous OS X upgrades. I've tried all the third party dock utility applications like Docker, Dock Designer, CandyBar. All of these apps promise to remove the shelf but fail to do so.

There must be a way to return the dock to 2D view rather than the 3D view or to customize the dock. I'm on 5' of display and the shelf is incredibly glaring, takes up far too much screen space and really isn't needed or wanted.

Does anyone know of a way to remove the dock shelf leaving just the app icons floating at the bottom of the screen and their little "on" lights below those apps running? Please, no other suggestions like hiding the dock or placing the dock on the side. I want the shelf removed entirely.

Best Answer

They removed this feature from 10.9. No one really knows why, but it is removed from the dock settings UI as well as the command line. From the linked article;

As of Mountian Lion, the Dock is rendered by the OS, instead of the OS using a set of image files like in Lion and before, so it can't be edited.

The 2D dock terminal trick only worked via a string item in the Dock executable. As of Mavericks, that string item has been removed.

The only way to edit the dock would be to patch the encrypted Dock executable, and inject software to re-render the Dock differently in memory. Not a simple task.

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