Why Did My App Disappear From The Dock?
It’s very easy to accidentally delete Apps from the Dock. If this happens, don’t worry . . . The App is still on your Mac. You just need to put it back on the Dock.
What Is The Dock?
The Dock is that bar at the bottom of your screen filled with icons for different Apps.
If you double click an App on the Dock, the App opens.
The icons on the Dock are not the actual Apps. Each one is an alias. An alias is simply a signpost with directions to the actual Apps location on the Mac.
It’s exactly like a signpost on a road. If it’s removed . . . the places it was pointing to don’t disappear.
This is why you can delete App icons on the Dock and have no impact on the App itself.
How Do I Add and Remove Apps From The Dock
To add an App to the Dock, go to the Finder. This the smiley face icon on the bottom left-hand corner of the Dock.
Double click the Finder icon. If you don’t see a Finder window, go to the Menu Bar at the top of the screen, click File then choose New Finder Window.
On the left-hand side of the Finder window, in the grey sidebar, you will see Applications. Click this to view all the Apps on your Mac.
To put an App on the Dock, click on it then drag it to the Dock.
To remove and App from the Dock, click on the App icon, and drag it off the Dock. When you let go it will disappear.
What Else Can I Do With The Dock?
You can find more information about the Dock and suggestions on how to use it here – Is Your Dock Filled With Strange Icons? Let’s Clean It Up…
Get more help on our main Mac Support page.
I’m running a new M1 with Monterey 12.3. I typically have about a dozen apps in the Dock. But since getting this computer a reboot or restart causes all the apps that weren’t active to disappear. I can drag them back to the Dock and click ‘Stay in Dock’ but if I close that app and reboot, it’s gone. I’ve added the apps I want to the Login Items but they too disappear if not active when I reboot. How do I keep inactive apps in my Dock after a reboot?
Apologies for the previous comment from me. I had forgotten I had run
‘defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool true; killall Dock’ from Terminal to keep only active apps. DUH. One of those PEBCAC issues. To reverse it I ran
‘defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool false; killall Dock’