MacOS – show dock permanently on the primary display only or simultaneously on both displays

dockmacos

I have an external monitor connected to a Macbook. The current behaviour of the dock is that it jumps from one display to another whenever the cursor is at the bottom, which I find quite annoying.

Is is possible to change this to either of the following?

  • Show the dock permanently on the primary display only
  • Show the dock permanently on both displays

Best Answer

You can achieve the first, lock it to a single display - though it will entail a change in working practice.

System Prefs > Mission Control
Uncheck "Displays have separate Spaces"

Your Spaces/Desktops will then always move as a pair, locked together.

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Then use System prefs > Displays > Arrangement
You can drag the menu bar representation to define your primary display. The Dock will remain always on this display.

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As the Dock is always shown either on the active Space/Desktop in single-screen, or only on the primary display of a multi-screen setup, there's no way to make it appear on two displays simultaneously.