Mac OS X 10.6: The Dock
The Dock appears at the bottom of your screen, although you can move it to the right or left side if you prefer. The Dock provides quick access to applications, documents, and folders.
Folders in the Dock are called “stacks.” A stack can be a handful of documents, a group of applications, or a set of folders—anything you need to access frequently. When you click a stack, it springs open in an arc or a grid, depending on the number of items. The Dock comes with a Downloads stack, which saves files you download from the Internet, a Documents stack, for quick access to anything you keep in the Documents folder, and an Applications stack, to help you find applications easily.
Adding items to the Dock
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To add a document or folder, drag its icon to the Dock, and drop it to the right of the Dock’s separator line.
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To add an application, drag its icon to the Dock, and drop it to the left of the Dock’s separator line. Or, if the application is open, Contol-click its icon in the Dock and choose Options > “Keep in Dock” from the pop-up menu.
Using the items in the Dock
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To perform various actions on an application in the Dock (such as opening or quitting the application or removing it from the Dock), Control-click the application’s icon in the Dock, and choose an option from the menu that appears.
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To open an item, click its icon. You can also open a file that isn’t in the Dock by dragging its icon to the Dock icon of the application you want to use to open the file.
Customizing the Dock
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To change the size or position of the Dock, or set other options, choose Apple menu > Dock > Dock Preferences.
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To rearrange icons, drag them into the order you prefer.
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To remove an item, drag it out of the Dock.
You can also change some Dock settings by Control-clicking the Dock’s separator line and choosing an option from the menu that appears.
If you can’t add icons to your Dock, your administrator may have prevented you from doing so. Talk to the person who administers your computer.