The macOS dock is a versatile tool that you can customize to your liking. It can also save you a trip to the Finder. Here’s how to pin a folder or file and access it right from your Mac’s dock.
Open the Finder app and navigate to the location of the folder or file you want to add to your Mac’s dock.
RELATED: How to Customize and Customize Your Mac̵
To pin a folder that is in your “Favorites” list on the left, just right-click on it and select “Add to Dock”.
For files and folders not found in Favorites, click once on the file or folder and select the “File” menu option in the top left corner of your screen.
Hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard to display the “Add to Dock” option. Click on that option and a shortcut for your file or folder will be created in the dock.
You can also highlight the file or folder and then press the keyboard combination Ctrl + Cmd + Shift + T. You can also drag the file or folder to the right side of the dock.
If you’ve added a folder to the dock, there are a few more tweaks you can make.
By default, a folder is displayed as a stack of thumbnails of the files. To hide the contents and switch to the default folder icon, right-click on the folder in the dock and choose ‘Folder’ under ‘Show as’.
Likewise, when you click on a folder in the dock, the list of files opens in a fan-like layout. To change that to a regular list or grid, right-click on the folder and select “Grid” or “List” from the “Display Content As” menu.
You also have the option to choose how the files from the folder in the dock should be sorted. To do that, right-click on the folder and adjust the “Sort by” preference.
To remove a file or folder from the dock, right-click on it and go to Options> Remove from dock.
RELATED: How to open Finder with a keyboard shortcut on Mac
