Tag Archives: software

How to Reset the Dock to Factory Settings in Mac OS X

Standard

You have just bought a used Mac or have been working with your Mac for quite a while, and your Dock has gone out of control. You possibly no longer remember how it originally looked like when started after a fresh install!

So now is the time for you to possibly reset your Dock to original settings without having to do everything manually.

Caution: this procedure will cause your Dock to reset and this means your custom added application shortcuts will disappear from the Dock. Also it means that any settings that you set using the Dock Preference pane in Settings (for example, magnification, position of dock, etc.). Of course you can then start adding and re-arranging your applications on the Dock the way you want it later.

Here is how you can do it..

two methods : The simple quick and one-time method , and a more fun re-usable method

  1. using Terminal ->Simple quick and one-time method for busy people
  2. using Automator -> a reusable Dock utility

Using Terminal

  1. Launch a Terminal application. You can find it at Applications->Utilities->Terminal
  2. Type the following code
    rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
    killall Dock

The first command deletes the Dock preferences file dock.plist. Deleting this file means that the system will replace it with the default factory Dock settings.
The second command resets the Dock so your changes are immediately available.

that’s it.

Using Automator

For even more fun , you can create a small utility that will do the trick for you every time you want it. You might find this is useful if you just like to experiment, learn something new, or simply require a reusable utility that will reset your Dock. You can then later add more to this utility and possibly automate a heap of other things making a “Reset Factory Settings” functionality.

Let us see how this method works…

  1. Launch Automator from Applications->Automator
  2. Choose Service as the type
  3. Choose “no input” under Service receives menu, and In menu choose “Other” and select “System Preferences”. This means that our newly created service will be accessible through the Settings application. I find it is more closely related to the functionality of the service, however, you can add the service to “Finder” too or any other application if you find that more useful.
  4. Optionally first add “Ask for Confirmation” action. Search for the action “Ask for Confirmation” and drag it to the actions pane on the right
  5. Type a message title as “Dock reset confirmation”, for example and Text as “Are you sure you want to reset the Dock to factory settings?”
  6. Add “Run Shell Script” action.
  7. Add the following code:
    rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
    killall Dock
  8. Run the service and test that it worked successfully
  9. Save the service and name it “Reset Dock”

Now you can access the services from the Services menu in the Settings application..

  1. Launch Settings application.
  2. go to the menu named Services and select Reset Dock
  3. it should do the thing.

You can also create a keyboard shortcut if you like to launch the service (I will leave it to you to find out how!”)

Tip 1: adding an icon to the service
If you like to change the “Icon” of the Service,follow the steps below:

  1. Copy the icon you like from any application, shortcut ,etc. You can do that by going choosing Get Info on any application, and highlight the icon, and press Command+C to copy the icon.
  2. navigate to ~/Library/Services
  3. go to the service Reset Dock and alternate click and choose Get Info
  4. click on the icon and paste the copied icon using Command+V.

that’s it.

Please leave a comment if you find the information useful or have questions…