Dock Not Appearing in Full Screen Mode?

[Brenzo]

I'm trying to figure out whether this is a "feature" or flaw... When prepping for Lion and checking out some previews/reviews, I remember reading about being able to easily have the dock or menu bar appear while in full screen mode by simply moving the mouse to either the bottom or top of the screen.

However, I have found that my dock is acting pretty stubborn and it seems to be pure luck when I am able to have it appear or not. It'll show no problem when I'm on one of the desktops, but when running Safari or Mail in full-screen mode, it may take multiple downward mouse gestures to get the dock to appear. I'm not sure if it's app-specific, as these are the only two apps I have really put into full-screen mode and noticed this behavior.

Just wanted to know if anyone else was experiencing similar issues.

Thanks.

 

[Dark Dragoon]

In all the apps I've tried, it works the same.
Where you move the pointer to the bottom of the screen, then move down again to make the dock appear.

 

[Brenzo]

In all the apps I've tried, it works the same.
Where you move the pointer to the bottom of the screen, then move down again to make the dock appear.

Yeah... it works like that for me only 5-10% of the time. Otherwise I am activating Mission Control to see the dock and all my open apps and desktops. It's not a huge deal I supposed, especially as I begin to use Mission Control more and due to the fact that I still primarily use Spotlight for opening new apps and gestures / Cmd + tab for app switching.

On a somewhat similar note... does anyone else hate that they can't rearrange desktops/full-screen apps in the Mission Control view?

 

[fastfoodat2am]

Definitely have been having this problem. I noticed if you put the pointer on the bottom and slowly glide it along the bottom border, it'll recognize it more often and the dock shows up (on Safari for me).

I've been using both Chrome and Safari and have noticed that with Chrome, the dock does not appear at all and you cannot press Esc to exit out of full screen. However, with Safari both functions work (although the dock sometimes takes awhile to appear). Guess it just depends on the app, at least for me.

 

[Brenzo]

I noticed if you put the pointer on the bottom and slowly glide it along the bottom border, it'll recognize it more often and the dock shows up (on Safari for me).

Yeah, I've had some luck doing this. It still isn't consistent enough for me. I'm hoping 10.7.2 has a lot of bug fixes.

 

[bushido]

its not a bug tho, its supposed to be that way so u dont open the dock by accident when u just want to click on something of the app in full screen thats in the same area

 

[Brenzo]

its not a bug tho, its supposed to be that way so u dont open the dock by accident when u just want to click on something of the app in full screen thats in the same area

If that were the case, it wouldn't appear at all, in which case the fact that it does randomly appear would suggest that there is still a bug. Regardless, I don't think that's the case. I believe the dock is supposed to be available on every screen/desktop.

The key is that simply having the mouse hovering near the bottom of a screen won't activate the dock, which would be fine with me because like you said, you don't want to accidentally click on a dock icon when you're trying to work in a full-screen app. It's pointing the mouse all the way down so that it almost disappears off the screen that should be prompting the dock to appear.

 

[JasonHB]

It's not random, it works exactly the same way every time with no issues at all.

You have to drag the mouse to the bottom of the screen, then take your fingers off the trackpad and then drag down again. It appears 100% of the time when you do this.

I have tried the hide dock option before in SL and had to go back to seeing the dock because when you try to access something at then bottom of the screen, the dock would appear.

This way of doing things in Lion is much superior and you cannot accidentally reveal the dock when you don't want it.

Jason

 

[Brenzo]

It's not random, it works exactly the same way every time with no issues at all.

You have to drag the mouse to the bottom of the screen, then take your fingers off the trackpad and then drag down again. It appears 100% of the time when you do this.

Jason

Nailed it! Thank you Jason. Now that I know the "trick" it works fine in full-screen app mode and I actually do like it since it prevents you from accidentally having the dock appear.

This was throwing me off because when working on a desktop, the dock will appear as soon as you approach the bottom (without the need to temporarily take fingers off the trackpad.) There seems to be a bit of inconsistency in the UI across Lion, no?

 

[johnmacward]

Yeah... it works like that for me only 5-10% of the time. Otherwise I am activating Mission Control to see the dock and all my open apps and desktops. It's not a huge deal I supposed, especially as I begin to use Mission Control more and due to the fact that I still primarily use Spotlight for opening new apps and gestures / Cmd + tab for app switching.

On a somewhat similar note... does anyone else hate that they can't rearrange desktops/full-screen apps in the Mission Control view?

Absofrigginlutely! I feel this Lion isn't really ready for prime time.

 

[JasonHB]

Nailed it! Thank you Jason. Now that I know the "trick" it works fine in full-screen app mode and I actually do like it since it prevents you from accidentally having the dock appear.

This was throwing me off because when working on a desktop, the dock will appear as soon as you approach the bottom (without the need to temporarily take fingers off the trackpad.) There seems to be a bit of inconsistency in the UI across Lion, no?

There are a few little oddities, I agree. It took me ages to work out how the dock worked in full screen apps, it was driving me nuts, just like it was with you

All good fun though

Jason

 

[johnmacward]

its not a bug tho, its supposed to be that way so u dont open the dock by accident when u just want to click on something of the app in full screen thats in the same area

I don't think so, they would disable it entirely if they had this fear. The fact is sometimes it works, sometimes is doesn't - that's a bug rather than a feature.

 

[natd1993]

I'm trying to figure out whether this is a "feature" or flaw... When prepping for Lion and checking out some previews/reviews, I remember reading about being able to easily have the dock or menu bar appear while in full screen mode by simply moving the mouse to either the bottom or top of the screen.

However, I have found that my dock is acting pretty stubborn and it seems to be pure luck when I am able to have it appear or not. It'll show no problem when I'm on one of the desktops, but when running Safari or Mail in full-screen mode, it may take multiple downward mouse gestures to get the dock to appear. I'm not sure if it's app-specific, as these are the only two apps I have really put into full-screen mode and noticed this behavior.

Just wanted to know if anyone else was experiencing similar issues.

Thanks.

Not to sound patronising, but I had the same issue with the dock when I first installed Lion. I then further realised (after being badly taught in another thread), that the only way to get the dock to appear is to:

1. Put the mouse pointer at the very bottom of the screen (or wherever the dock is positioned)
2. Take your hand/finger off the mouse/trackpad you are using.
3. Put your hand/finder back onto the mouse/trackpad, and then move your hand/finger down (without moving the pointer from it's position in step 1).
4. The dock should then appear.

In other words, you are basically doing the same motion twice, with a gap in between, and not keeping the pointer where the dock is.

Hope this helps!

 

[65535]

Not to sound patronising, but I had the same issue with the dock when I first installed Lion. I then further realised (after being badly taught in another thread), that the only way to get the dock to appear is to:

1. Put the mouse pointer at the very bottom of the screen (or wherever the dock is positioned)
2. Take your hand/finger of the mouse/trackpad you are using.
3. Put your hand/finder back onto the mouse/trackpad, and then move your hand/finger down (without moving the pointer from it's position in step 1).
4. The dock should then appear.

In other words, you are basically doing the same motion twice, with a gap in between, and not keeping the pointer where the dock is.

Hope this helps!

That is eerily effective.

Thanks a ton.

 

[bushido]

I don't think so, they would disable it entirely if they had this fear. The fact is sometimes it works, sometimes is doesn't - that's a bug rather than a feature.

why would they disable the dock completely makes no sense ... its meant to be that way so u dont mistakingly open the dock when u only want to click something close to the border and if u indeed want to open the dock u just push on the border of the screen again. it works ... always, ur just doing it wrong i guess

 

[MauMC]

Fantastic hint

go down with the mouse, and down again and you get the Dock: Great Hintm Dark!!

 

[rupam.db]

ML DP4 is not even the final build... please stop making complaints

 

[Nero Wolfe]

If you really want to have the dock appear in full screen apps quickly, try this:

1) Download the beta version of Onyx for ML (free).

2) Set your dock to auto-hide.

3) Run Onyx, change dock hiding delay to 0. (It's a slider, so move it all the way to the left.) Onyx should re-launch the Dock for you. If not, there's a button to do so in the app.

4) Change the Dock back to always-visible. (Or leave it hidden if that's your thing.)

Now in full screen mode it should appear instantly whenever your mouse cursor hits the screen edge where the dock is. This works in Lion and on ML DP3. I haven't gotten around to installing DP4, but I don't see why the behavior would have changed any.