Mac Dock disappeared? Here are some quick fixes

A Mac experience is incomplete without the Dock. For Mac users, the Dock is the go-to location for frequently used applications, providing quick access to files and the Finder. What happens if this essential part of your Mac experience suddenly disappears? This is no happenstance and the Dock does disappear at times, leading to a frustrating experience.

If you are a Mac user who has seen the Dock disappear occasionally then here’s how you can diagnose the problem and restore the Dock to its original place in a few easy steps. 

Diagnose Mac: Cause for the Dock to disappear

Before we get to how to stop the Dock from disappearing from your Mac, let’s first look at some of the common causes of this issue.

Auto-hide

One of the common causes for the Dock to disappear on your Mac is that you have enabled auto-hide. When enabled, the Dock is still there but it is hidden and the Dock will reveal itself when you move your cursor to the bottom of your screen.

Apps in full-screen

When the apps run in full-screen mode on your Mac, the Dock will hide itself by default.

System glitch

A system bug or background processes might be the cause for the Dock to disappear from your Mac as well.

External display issues

If you are using an external display, you might find the Dock not appearing on your Mac and this could be because of it being stuck on another screen.

How to restore the Dock on your Mac

From the auto-hide setting enabled on your Mac to misconfigured system preference, there are several causes for your Mac’s Dock to disappear. Here’s how to restore the Dock on your Mac.

Disable auto-hide

If the Dock disappears on your Mac, the first thing to do is move your cursor to the bottom or side of your screen and see if the Dock reappears. If it does, it means you have enabled auto-hide for Dock. You can disable this by going to System Settings and clicking on Desktop & Dock. Now, find Automatically hide and show the Dock and set the toggle to OFF.

Exit full-screen mode

Apple has designed macOS for a distraction-free experience and when you are using apps in full-screen, this UI hides the Dock automatically. You can fix this by exiting full-screen mode. To do this, move your cursor to the top of the screen to reveal the menu bar. Click the green button in the top-left corner of the app to exit full-screen mode and the Dock should now appear.

Restart your Mac

If the above actions don’t bring the Dock back, you should restart your Mac. This will fix any temporary issue affecting the Dock. To restart your Mac, click the Apple menu and then select Restart.

External display settings

If you are using multiple monitors then the Dock might have disappeared because of the external display settings. To reveal the Dock, move your cursor to different displays. If the Dock has moved to another screen, you can fix this from System Settings >> Displays. Now, ensure that you have set the correct monitor as the primary display.

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In addition to these fixes, you can also use the Terminal to fix this issue. You can use the Terminal to restart the Dock or reset Dock settings to default. The above troubleshooting steps should fix the issue on your Mac where the Dock disappears sporadically.