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Show more recent apps in your Mac’s Dock

Mr.W — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 09:43:42 +0000

The ‘recently used apps’ feature in the Mac Dock displays up to three apps you have recently opened but haven’t permanently added to the Dock, making it easy to relaunch them quickly.

This section appears to the right of your pinned apps, separated by a divider, and updates automatically as you use different applications. You can use a terminal command to place your more recently used apps in the Dock.

Enable recent used apps in Mac Dock

Open  ▸ System Settings
Go to ‘Desktop & Dock’
Enable the option ‘Show suggested and recent applications in Dock’

Adjust the number of recent used apps in Mac Dock

Copy and paste the following command into Terminal and press ENTER to execute the command.

defaults write com.apple.dock show-recents -bool true; defaults write com.apple.dock show-recent-count -int 5; killall Dock

After executing the command, the number of three recent apps will be changed to five. Is this still not enough? Then you can change the 5 in the above command to any desired number. Use 3 to change the number to the default settings.

source

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Re-enable slow motion effects on macOS

Mr.W — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 11:17:31 +0000

Are you a first-time Mac user? Then you undoubtedly know that you could always activate a slow motion effect under macOS, even in OS X in the early days.

For example, this allows you to start an application slowly or open the launchpad super slow. Since macOS Sequoia, Apple has disabled this effect, but with a terminal command you can turn it back on.

Re-enable slow motion effects for macOS

Copy and paste the following command into Terminal and press ENTER to execute the command.

defaults write com.apple.dock slow-motion-allowed -bool YES;killall Dock

How to use

Once you have used the command and the effect is activated, you can open apps and other components on the screen in slow motion. To do this, hold down the SHIFT key and click on an app or something similar.

Revert to the default setting

Revert to the default setting and turn off the slow motion effect with the following command:

defaults write com.apple.dock slow-motion-allowed -bool NO;killall Dock

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Disable screenshot shadows on a Mac

Mr.W — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 18:43:57 +0000

Do you want to take screenshots on a Mac, but without shadow around the window? Then you can disable this by using a terminal command. Since macOS Mojave you have to use a different command than under macOS High Sierra (more info).

Disable screenshot shadows on a Mac

defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true

To make the command take effect, you need to restart the System UI server:

killall SystemUIServer

Revert to the default setting (screenshots including shadows), To make the command take effect, you also need to restart the System UI server!

defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool false

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Enable Sidecar on incompatible Macs in Catalina

Mr.W — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 07:46:27 +0000

Sidecar lets you extend your workspace by using your iPad as a second Mac display. All the ins and outs about SideCar are explained in this Apple document. Unfortunately not all Macs are compatible for this feature, but there is a workaround that might enable Sidecar. With the use of a terminal command you can use all Macs that can install macOS Catalina for side car. But be aware, it doesn’t always work, but it is worth trying.

Enable Sidecar on incompatible Macs

Use the following steps to activate Sidecar on incompatible Macs:

Connect iPad to your Mac with the cable
Open macOS Terminal and type the command below followed by enter

defaults write com.apple.sidecar.display AllowAllDevices -bool true; defaults write com.apple.sidecar.display hasShownPref -bool true; open /System/Library/PreferencePanes/Sidecar.prefPane

Enter your password if you are prompted and automaticly System Preferences opens. If the workaroud worked, you see a new option called ‘Sidecar’ and you can use this new feature too. If you do not see the option, it is unfortunately not possible to activate Sidecar. Restart your mac and try again. Of course it is important that you have a supporting iPad with iPadOS. Check this Apple document how to use sidecar.

Sidecar-supported iPad models

• 12.9-inch iPad Pro
• 11-inch iPad Pro
• 10.5-inch iPad Pro
• 9.7-inch iPad Pro
• iPad (6th generation or later)
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• All new iPads

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macOS: Display additional information on the loginscreen

Mr.R — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 12:00:27 +0000

You can display additional information on the loginscreen of macOS. After applying the command you can click on the clock in the upper right corner, toggle between clock, IP address, macOS version and computer name. The information will be displayed for only 60 seconds.

Use the following command to active the additional information:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow AdminHostInfo HostName

Reboot your mac, to make changes affect.

Disable the additional information (defaults) with:

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow AdminHostInfo

Example:

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Change the layout (rows and columns) of Launchpad

Mr.W — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 09:07:03 +0000

Did you know that you can fully customize the layout of Launchpad? Not only change the placement of icons, but you can also change the number of rows and columns. This way you can easily make Launchpad personal and change it to your own wishes. Good to know: by using the commands below the layout of Launchpad will be restored. This means that the created folders are deleted and you have to structure them again.

Change the layout of Launchpad

Use the following command in Terminal to change the layout of Launchpad. Change ‘X’ into the number of icons to be showed in a single row (e.g 9).

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-columns -int X

Change ‘X’ to the number of rows (e.g 3).

defaults write com.apple.dock springboard-rows -int X

Force a restart of Launchpad with the following command to apply the changes:

defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool TRUE;killall Dock

Revert to the default setting with the following commands

defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-rows defaults delete com.apple.dock springboard-columns defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool TRUE;killall Dock

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Reverse dark mode to menubar and dock only

Mr.R — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 12:34:22 +0000

Mojave Dark Mode includes a new full Dark Mode. If this modes is to black for you, there is a possibility to reverse to the macOS High Sierra dark mode. The following procedure disables the full Mojave dark mode and only enables a dark menubar and dock just like macOS High Sierra.

Follow these steps:

1. System Preferences ▸ General ▸ Appearance: Light
2. In Terminal, paste this command:

defaults write -g NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool true

3. Go to  ▸ Log Out
4. Log back in
5. System Preferences ▸ General ▸ Appearance: Dark

Dark mode is now active only on the menu bar and dock.

If you want to reverse this, change the Terminal command:

defaults write -g NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool false

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Stop Photos from opening automatically on your Mac

Mr.W — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 13:38:37 +0000

Nothing is more annoying that Photos will opens automatically when you connect an iPhone, iPad or other devices to your Mac. Use the following command in Terminal to change this and prevent Photos from opening automatically.

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool true

Revert to the default setting with the following command

defaults -currentHost delete com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug

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Adding ‘Quit’ option to Finder on a Mac

Mr.W — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 19:45:06 +0000

Did you know you can add the Quit option to the Finder’s application menu? This allows you to easily quit the application. After quitting you can restart Finder by clicking on the Finder icon in the Dock.

You can enable a the quit option by entering the following command in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool true; killall Finder

To revert to the original settings:
defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool false; killall Finder

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Show one application at a time

Mr.W — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 18:18:26 +0000

In macOS and OS X it’s possible to show one application at a time. You can enable a ‘single application’ mode by entering the following command in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock single-app -bool true;killall Dock

When you click on an application in the Dock you’ll only see the windows of that application. All other windows are hidden in the background. You’ll be able to focus more on that one application without being distracted by any other applications in the background.

To revert to the original settings:

defaults write com.apple.dock single-app -bool no;killall Dock

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