Learn how to work with documents and folders in the Dock on the Mac.
In this lesson for macOS, I look at how to work with documents and folders in the Dock. With documents, we can place documents we need easy access to in the Dock, and with folders, we can easily access the contents of a folder when it is in the Dock. See how to work with documents and folders and the Dock in this lesson for the Mac.
Video Transcript (video also has closed captions):
Introduction: Now, let’s take a look at how we work with documents and folders in the Dock. Let’s go to My Mac. Now, if you recall, our Dock is divided into different areas, and if we go over to the right, you’ll see we have this vertical line. Anything on the left is going to be for applications, including recent applications. Anything on the right is for documents and folders. This is what we’re going to focus on. Also, what you’re going to see is we have the trash over to the right. The trash is always located on the very far right of our Dock. I click on the trash, and it’ll open it up.
Favoriting Documents and Folders in the Dock:Now, what we can do is we can store our favorite documents and folders. Let’s say you’re working on a document and you want to have easy access to it. Well, all you have to do is just drag it into the Dock. What I’m going to do is I’m going to open up this folder that I created earlier and let’s say I’m working on this travel brochure, so I want to have easy access to it. I have to drag it down to the Dock on the right side of the Dock.
If I try dragging this down into the left side of the Dock, let’s go ahead and drag it down, you’re going to see it doesn’t do anything. If I go over to the right, now what I can do is I can add it to the Dock. I just click on it to open it up. If I click and hold on it, I can also open it up, and then I have a few options. Just like with applications, I can remove it from the Dock from here, open it up at login, as well as show the file in the Finder. What I’m going to do is I’m just going to go and remove this from the Dock. I can also just drag it off of the Dock, just like we did with applications. That’s how we work with documents.
Folders and the Dock: Now let’s take a look at folders. What I’m going to do is I’m just going to close this folder here. I have this one folder, downloads. This is installed by default. When I click on this, I can see all the items in my downloads folder. Now, being that this is a new install, I do not have any items in this folder, so watch what happens when I click on it. I just get a little arrow that says, “Open in finder.” When I click on this, what it’s going to do is it’s going to open up this folder in the Finder. Let’s go ahead and click on it, and now we’re looking at our downloads.
Now let’s go and add another folder. What I like to do is I like to add my applications folder to the Dock, and you’ll see why once we add it. Now what I’m going to do is I’m going to click on applications here, and then what I need to do is I need to take this applications folder here and drag it down to the Dock. I’m just going to click and drag on this folder here, and then we add it to our Dock, and now we have my applications in the Dock. Now let’s close this window. Watch what happens when I click on applications. I’m going to click on it, and now I can easily see all of my different applications. I click on any one of these to open it up.
Now, let’s say I wanted to open up that applications folder. Well, when we go back over here and click on it to see all of our applications, if I scroll all the way down, you’re going to see Open in Finder. I click on this, and I can open up my applications folder in the Finder. I can also just command-click on the applications folder in the Dock. When you command-click on it, it opens up the folder.
Changing the View of Folders in the Dock: Now, we do have different views for folders. Let’s go and take a look at my applications folder again. When I click on this, it shows my icons in a grid view. Well, I can change how they are shown. I can change how they are sorted. I can also change what is shown in the Dock. To do that, what I need to do is I need to hold down the Control key when I click on it, or since I’m using a trackpad, what I can do is I can do a two-finger tap on it, and then I have all of my different options for how my folder is going to be shown in the Dock.
Sorting Options: Our first option here is Sort. How do we want the contents of this folder to be sorted? In my case, my applications. Well, I like them to be sorted by name, so then they’re sorted alphabetically. If you want to have them sorted by another sort order, you just select how you want them sorted.
View Options: Now, why does this matter? Well, let’s take a look at the options for our download folder. With downloads, I don’t want to have them sorted by name. I’d rather have them sorted by when they were added, so now I do a two-finger tap on it, and if we look, you’re going to see it’s sorted by when they were added. Now what’s going to happen is the latest file that was downloaded is going to be at the top of the list. That’s how we can use the Sort by. Let’s go back over to my applications. I’m going to do a two-finger tap. You can also Control-click on it. I can also set how I want the icon to be displayed in the Dock. It is now configured as a stack, which means when I look at the Dock folder, it looks like a stack of applications.
Two-finger tap. If I change this to folder, now it’s going to show me just the applications folder. When I click on it, I still get the same behavior; it just looks like an applications folder. I like to have them as a stack. I’m going to do a two-finger tap and then change it back to stack.
Our next option is, how do we want to view the content. Right now, I have it set for automatic. With automatic, what it’ll do is change the view depending on how many items are in the folder. If you just want to override this and set it for a certain view, all you have to do is select the view. When I go over to Fan, what it’s going to do now, when I click on this in the Dock, it’s going to show all of the applications in a fan.
Now, this view is useful when you do not have a lot of items in the Dock. Now I have a lot of applications, so I can’t see all of the applications. If we look here, you’re going to see I have 200 More in the Finder. Now what I need to do is I need to click on the arrow to open up the folder. Well, that’s not what I want. This view is useful for folders that do not have a lot of items.
Let’s go and change the view. Two-finger click, let’s go with Grid. Grid is what we are used to with the applications folder. I click on it, and I get to see the mini Grid. I can also view them as a list. Two-finger tap, select List. Now when I click on it, I can see them as a list. Now when I scroll up here, I can see all of my different applications.
Again, I like to have them as a grid. Now, I’m going to go back down to my applications, do a two-finger tap, and then set it to Grid. I could also set it to automatic, so we can see how the items are sorted in the folder, how it is displayed in the Dock, as well as how the content is displayed.
We also have, just like with applications, we have different options. I can remove it from the Dock, and I can also show it in the Finder. You’re going to see that one thing is missing. I can’t open it up at login. Well, it’s just a folder, there’s no point in opening it up at login. With folders, we cannot open it up at login. Then I can also just go and open up the applications folder. Select this, and now my applications folder is open.
That’s how we work with documents and folders in the Dock on the Mac.