How to add a Recently Used Applications Stack to your Dock

by Ross McKillop on April 28, 2008

Mac

To add a Stack to your OS X Dock that contains the most recently used Applications, open a Terminal and enter the following line of text:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'

And then type:

killall Dock

os x terminal with the line to add a recently used apps stack to your dock

Your dock will now have a new Stack. Give it a click.

recently used applications dock stack
click to enlarge
  • Bill K

    Thanks Guys. Now my dock will not start up again. I entered the command EXACTLY as written in this article, and no matter how many times I reboot my mac, the dock will not start. Thanks again!

  • http://www.simplehelp.net Ross McKillop

    Bill -

    Do you have any special “customize your Dock” software installed? Try clicking the Apple Button and selecting Dock > Turn Hiding On and then Apple Button again, Dock > Turn Hiding Off.

    This command when copied/pasted or entered correctly only adds a stack – it doesn’t do anything else to your dock. But if you have other dock software installed that might explain it..

    Note to other users: I’ve tried this on 3 Macs. It worked exactly as it was supposed to. I’ll update again when I hear back from Bill (I emailed him directly)

  • http://www.sipedia.co.uk Simon

    Works for me!

    Cheers Ross

  • Pingback: How to customize your OS X (Leopard) Dock - Simplehelp

  • http://www.humanicast.com/ Naomi

    why don’t you just try opening terminal again, and copying and pasting whats written…the same thing happened to me and when i did that it fixed!

  • J G

    did u get your dock back because mine disappeared too.

  • http://www.simplehelp.net Ross McKillop

    JG,

    I sent this in an email but it can’t hurt to post here. Copy and paste the text in a terminal window, and your dock will re-appear (with the recently used apps stack). Unless you have a “customize your dock” app installed, which could be clashing with the command, your dock will not disappear unless the command is entered incorrectly. I’ve tested it on every version of Leopard to date, it works fine.

  • Wayde

    Fantastic idea, and it works perfectly. Thanks a bunch for sharing it.