How to Modify or Remove the Bottom Bar in Mac OS X – Desktop Customization

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How can we remove the "bottom bar" (that has all the icons) in Mac OS X? :

Also, is it possible to move it to the left or right side of the screen like how Windows taskbar does it? :

Best Answer

What do you mean by "bottom bar"? The dock?

Hiding the dock

Version 1 - Hiding

By pressing alt+cmd+D you hide it (works also by clicking "Turn Hiding On", see below). It will then disappear but reappear when you move your mouse over the Dock area at the bottom.

When hidden, application windows take up the full space, so maybe this is just what you're looking for.

Version 2 - Making it really small

If this isn't enough, you can also go to Terminal.app and enter:

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 1
killall Dock

Then the dock will be so super small that you won't even notice it. If you hide it then, it won't get in your way. There will be just a very tiny area that you have to hover over to see it.

Version 3 - Removing it entirely

There's a programm called DockDisabler, which is supposed to remove it entirely.

Warning: This may break some things so I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing.

Moving the Dock to the side of the screen

Just right-click the dock these stripes you see on the right, and change the position.

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Note that all of these commands can also be accessed from the Apple menu (under Dock), or in System Preferences → Dock.

Related Solutions

How to Remove the Dock in Mac OS X Leopard

Your best bet is to leave it there so you won't mess with other services but shrink it to super small size using the following terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 1

see below for example .. that's wicked small.

alt text

then pin it to one side with the following terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.dock pinning -string start

then hide it. It should be totally out of the way at that point unless you mouse all the way over in the extreme bottom left hand corner.

Macos – set a fixed order for non-apple icons on the menu bar of the MacBook

I can answer the part about launching applications in order when you log in: first, open AppleScript Editor and create a script along these lines:

tell application "Address Book" to activate
delay 10
tell application "Chess" to activate

(for whatever programs you actually want to launch). Save this script as an Application (the default is to save as a script, in which case it'll open in the editor rather than running). Then open System Preferences, Accounts pane, select your account, select the Login Items tab, and drag the script into the item list. That should do it.