i HATE stacks with a passion. i used to use the dock for shortcuts to folders so much, and frankly stacks just ruins it. is there any way to turn it off with terminal or applescript or anything?
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Is there any way to turn off stacks?
- Thread starter sartajc
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yup
agreed. stacks is cool for downloads, but that's it. i want to be able to browse subfolders without having to open the finder, like i could in tiger when i had a folder in the dock. one of my stacks (used to be a regular folder) is a folder called "Fall Semester", and inside are 5 subfolders, one for each of my classes. in tiger, this setup was awesome. in stacks, it's kind of a hassle. another thing i hate is that i can't have custom icons for the folders. it's hard to tell the difference between all the folders in my stack, because they all look exactly the same. in the finder, i have custom icons for them, but they don't show in stacks.
agreed. stacks is cool for downloads, but that's it. i want to be able to browse subfolders without having to open the finder, like i could in tiger when i had a folder in the dock. one of my stacks (used to be a regular folder) is a folder called "Fall Semester", and inside are 5 subfolders, one for each of my classes. in tiger, this setup was awesome. in stacks, it's kind of a hassle. another thing i hate is that i can't have custom icons for the folders. it's hard to tell the difference between all the folders in my stack, because they all look exactly the same. in the finder, i have custom icons for them, but they don't show in stacks.
I agree. I'm pretty sure this was just another feature they could market that had a cool effect (fan view). I see no actual purpose to Stacks. If anything, it has reduced functionality.
I always put my home directory and my applications folder in my dock for quick access and now that is pointless with Stacks.
I always put my home directory and my applications folder in my dock for quick access and now that is pointless with Stacks.
EricNau
Moderator emeritus
Is there a problem with just clicking "show in finder" (it's the closest icon to the bottom, and therefore pretty quick to select).
I for one love my stacks. 🙂
PS - I'm sure most of you already know, but just in case someone didn't, you can chose to always view a stack in grid view. Just click and hold a stack and select View as > Grid.
I for one love my stacks. 🙂
PS - I'm sure most of you already know, but just in case someone didn't, you can chose to always view a stack in grid view. Just click and hold a stack and select View as > Grid.
Easy. Right-click on each stack, and click "Remove from Dock". Now they're gone. Unless you want to be able to put folders on the dock without loading Stacks. In that case, I think you're SOL for now.
CalBoy
macrumors 604
Or simply right-click and then choose "Open (name of folder)" It's one extra click (the horror!😱😛) but it subverts the entire Stack process.
I didn't like Stacks too much at first, but I'm starting to appreciate it now. I like having my home folder in the dock and setting it to "fan" mode. One click and I can see my Documents folder, Pictures folder, Movies folder, etc. I think its a worthwhile addition to the OS. It would be nice to have a feature to turn it off for those who dislike it though.
CalBoy
macrumors 604
Ok, to be fair, Stacks has potential. However, the potential has not been realized for a few reasons.
First of all, why doesn't Quicklook work from a Stack?😕 This has got to be the largest oversight EVER. I think Quicklook is the best feature in Leopard, and here it is being unusable in another new feature of Leopard🙄
Secondly, I want to keep the stack open when I go into sub folders. For example, my documents folder has several sub folders that I use to keep mysself organized. I want to be able to go into sub folder after sub folder until I get to my file while within the Stack. The current method of a Finder window being launched doesn't do it for me.
On the other hand, I'm glad Spring Folders works.
If you have sub-folders, this is an inconvenience. You may not use this, but I know a ton of people that do. I don't really enjoy "upgrading" to a product that takes away a feature I used all the time.
I don't know a Mac user that doesn't put their Applications folder in the dock. Even with grid view, it doesn't work well. I want to be able to navigate through sub-folders from the Dock -- if I wanted to go to Finder I would have just clicked on the Finder icon in the first place!
Mac OS X Ocelot
macrumors 6502a
Anyone who says to just right or hold click and then click "Show in Finder" just doesn't get it. The problem isn't opening folders in the Finder. Quite the opposite. It's not being able to navigate through folder after folder in the Dock without having to keep double clicking icons in the Finder.
The Downloads Stack isn't revolutionary. What's the difference between that and making your own downloads folder in Tiger, having everything downloading to it, and putting that folder in the Dock? Answer: Stacks are prettier and bounce when added to, while the old way added more function--the ability to navigate folders.
The Documents Stack is pointless if you're like most of us who organize it with subfolders.
And what happened to the ability to drag individual files across multiple folders to make a single Stack of them without moving them in the Finder?
The Downloads Stack isn't revolutionary. What's the difference between that and making your own downloads folder in Tiger, having everything downloading to it, and putting that folder in the Dock? Answer: Stacks are prettier and bounce when added to, while the old way added more function--the ability to navigate folders.
The Documents Stack is pointless if you're like most of us who organize it with subfolders.
And what happened to the ability to drag individual files across multiple folders to make a single Stack of them without moving them in the Finder?
CalBoy
macrumors 604
Yeah I saw this too, and I got really upset that I couldn't do it on the Gold Master🙄 Oh well. I'm really looking forward to 10.5.1😱
I said quite unequivocly that I do use sub folders:
I don't get your point here. The old method of launcing the "Documents" folder involved opening a Finder window. By choosing "Open Documents" in the right-click menu, you're accomplishing the same thing you used to by opening "Documents" from the Dock. Perhaps you could elaborate on what you meant. 🙂
kkat69
macrumors 68020
To stay on subject and to answer the OP here's a tip from MacOSXHints (surprised no one linked this yet)
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071026140420551#comments
CalBoy
macrumors 604
That just changes the physical appearance of the folder that is being 'stacked'. I believe the OP was looking for a way to disable Stacks altogether.
savar
macrumors 68000
I don't know how to disable stacks yet...but if you make an alias to the folder and drop that alias in the dock, it will not show up as a stack. This might be useful??
CalBoy
macrumors 604
Meh. I don't think it'll do much. It's like asking someone what time it is, and they proceed to hand you a broken watch 😛
I'm sure someone will figure out how to disable Stacks very soon, or at the very least, figure out how to 'hack it up' to our specs.
How Do I Bring Back On The Stacks???
I accidentally removed my stack icon from the dock, without ever using it... HOW DO I BRING IT BACK TO THE STACK??? I did not even have the chance of using them... 🙁
I accidentally removed my stack icon from the dock, without ever using it... HOW DO I BRING IT BACK TO THE STACK??? I did not even have the chance of using them... 🙁
Mac OS X Ocelot
macrumors 6502a
Stacks are created by dragging folders to the Dock. The ones you start with are your Downloads folder and your Documents folder. Both can be found in your home folder (whatever your shortname is).
CalBoy
macrumors 604
I'm not sure what you're talking about...all folders you Dock will be automatically "stacked."
I'm guessing you either removed your Documents folder or your Downloads folder from the Dock right?
For Documents, go into Finder, drag "Documents" onto the Dock (be sure it's not on the Applications side; it must be to the right of that line) and drop it. Boom, you've got your stack.
For Downloads, repeat the same steps, except you'll have to drag "Downloads" instead of "Documents."
Ram
I think the STACKS feature, is taking up a bunch of RAM. My DOCK is listed as using 25MB of RAM, I think it is because I have a large documents folder and a fairly large DOWNLOADS folder. I cannot imaging why the dock would use so much RAM.
I think the STACKS feature, is taking up a bunch of RAM. My DOCK is listed as using 25MB of RAM, I think it is because I have a large documents folder and a fairly large DOWNLOADS folder. I cannot imaging why the dock would use so much RAM.
stacks
Thank you guys... I screwed it up by saying "bringing the stacks back into the STACK" i meant back into the dock.
Anyhow, I dragged the 'my documents' folders and it worked.
thanxs
By the way... do you happen to know how to make your time machine make a backup of your existing files. I only does it for my new archives.
Thank you guys... I screwed it up by saying "bringing the stacks back into the STACK" i meant back into the dock.
Anyhow, I dragged the 'my documents' folders and it worked.
thanxs
By the way... do you happen to know how to make your time machine make a backup of your existing files. I only does it for my new archives.
do you mean make a second copy of your files? Because TM backs up all files unless you tell it not to. To make a second copy, just attach another external drive or mount an external drive for TM and then tell it to "back up now" and you will get another copy of everything.
kkat69
macrumors 68020
you've mistaken the linked tip to another tip. This tip is:
"To place a folder in the dock without turning it into a Stack, you just have to create an alias of the folder, place this somewhere and drag it to the right side of the dock. The alias will behave like a folder, not a stack."
plinden
macrumors 601
<Waves hand>. Here's one. I just use Spotlight to launch apps.
Still, I can't think of anything good to say about stacks. The changing icon is just nuts.
