Background apps in dock

[im_ashley]

Hi there. Hope you are doing good. This one of little annoyances I'm facing being a new Mac user. My Dock is completely filled up because of background apps running which already has a entry in menubar. I came across many ways to hide them in Dock including through Terminal by editing the .plist file inside the application package. But none of them work in Seirra I believe. Some of the crash after editing and for all I need to get Admin rights to edit the .plist file. Is there a truly functional way to do this?

Thanks a bunch

 

[tarsins]

Sounds like you are closing an application's window by clicking the red dot rather that quitting the application with Cmd-Q or via the application's menu. If you want an application to run in the background, check its preferences to see if it has a "Hide Dock icon" option.

 

[iNarcoleptic]

Hi there. Hope you are doing good. This one of little annoyances I'm facing being a new Mac user. My Dock is completely filled up because of background apps running which already has a entry in menubar. I came across many ways to hide them in Dock including through Terminal by editing the .plist file inside the application package. But none of them work in Seirra I believe. Some of the crash after editing and for all I need to get Admin rights to edit the .plist file. Is there a truly functional way to do this?

Thanks a bunch

There's an option to have windows minimize to their dock icon instead of a separate icon too

 

[im_ashley]

Sounds like you are closing an application's window by clicking the red dot rather that quitting the application with Cmd-Q or via the application's menu. If you want an application to run in the background, check its preferences to see if it has a "Hide Dock icon" option.

There's an option to have windows minimize to their dock icon instead of a separate icon too

I don't want the apps to be quit. For example if you take the case of the system mail app in Seirra it won't be showing new mail notfications if it's quit. I just don't want them at the dock at all but should be running in the background. I prefer having them just near the system clock in the menubar in case if the app demands. Isn't there a way for it at all?

PS: Most apps doesn't come with an option to hide from dock.

 

[iNarcoleptic]

I don't want the apps to be quit. For example if you take the case of the system mail app in Seirra it won't be showing new mail notfications if it's quit. I just don't want them at the dock at all but should be running in the background. I prefer having them just near the system clock in the menubar in case if the app demands. Isn't there a way for it at all?

PS: Most apps doesn't come with an option to hide from dock.

Don't think there's a way to do what you want.

 

[MacGizmo]

The only thing you can do that is close to what you want is to have the Dock only show running applications.

But if you don't keep a whole bunch of icons in the Dock to begin with, and you tend to or need to run a bunch of applications at once, then this feature won't help you.

There is no other way to hide icons from apps that are running from displaying in the Dock under macOS Sierra.

It's not my place to tell you how to use your own computer, but I have to question the "need" to run so many apps at once that the Dock gets filled. What do you consider "filled?" How many icons are showing in your Dock? What apps are appearing in the menubar AND the Dock?

 

[im_ashley]

The only thing you can do that is close to what you want is to have the Dock only show running applications.

But if you don't keep a whole bunch of icons in the Dock to begin with, and you tend to or need to run a bunch of applications at once, then this feature won't help you.

There is no other way to hide icons from apps that are running from displaying in the Dock under macOS Sierra.

It's not my place to tell you how to use your own computer, but I have to question the "need" to run so many apps at once that the Dock gets filled. What do you consider "filled?" How many icons are showing in your Dock? What apps are appearing in the menubar AND the Dock?

This is the current state of the dock where each click targets (icons) are scaled down to accommodate the number of apps running in the background. Note that this is only if I let the bare essentials to run otherwise it would be even smaller. All other docked apps are my most frequently used ones which doesn't have to be in the background after the use so I keep them docked.

 

[Sanpete]

I'm sure you've considered this, but the other thing to do for more space is to put the dock at the bottom of the screen.

 

[MacGizmo]

View attachment 692862

...All other docked apps are my most frequently used ones which doesn't have to be in the background after the use so I keep them docked.

You could save two more icon spaces by removing LaunchPad and MissionControl icons from the Dock. You can access them simply by hitting F3 and F4 keys.

 

[im_ashley]

You could save two more icon spaces by removing LaunchPad and MissionControl icons from the Dock. You can access them simply by hitting F3 and F4 keys.

I mostly use a bluetooth keyboard made for Windows so it doesn't work in that. Is there a workaround?

 

[MacGizmo]

I mostly use a bluetooth keyboard made for Windows so it doesn't work in that. Is there a workaround?

Try manually configuring them in the System Preferences>Keyboard>Shortcuts panel. There's a Mission Control and Launchpad-specific section in the list.