How To Save Space On Your Mac’s Dock By Minimising Windows Into Their Icons

Written by John Thompson on April 2, 2011 · Filed under How To, Software 

Many people complain about the dock in Mac OS X for one reason or another, but I’ve always liked it myself. Maybe it’s because I never used Mac OS 9 before OS X came out, or simply because the Start menu began to bore me.

Despite this, it isn’t perfect. A pet hate of mine in Leopard is the behaviour of the dock when you minimised a window: it places itself next to the trash can on the right hand side of all your folders. Not only does this make the dock ridiculously large when you are working on a lot at once and have a few windows minimised, but it also looks unsightly.

Fortunately, this all changed when Snow Leopard was released. Although the default behaviour remains the same, you can choose to minimise your windows in to the application icons on your dock, as opposed to placing them next to the trash. Neat huh?

To enable this option, simply go in to System Preferences, and select the ‘Dock’ section. At the bottom of the window, there are three check boxes. The check box at the top says “Minimize windows into application icon”. Check this, and the next time you minimise a window, it won’t be on the side of your dock for all the world to see, but neatly tucked away ready to be re-opened.

Have you got any Windows or Mac tips to share with us? Let us know in the comments, or you email me at johnthompson@zath.co.uk.