Where Are macOS Dock Preferences Stored?
macOS Dock preferences plist and the killall Dock reset for stuck or misbehaving Docks.
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The Dock reads its layout, magnification and autohide settings from a com.apple.dock plist in Preferences. Most users never touch it directly.
Deletion plus killall Dock is the standard unstick procedure. Everything rebuilds from defaults on relaunch.
Where macOS stores this, by platform
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
Holds layout and behavior prefs. Delete with the Dock idle, then killall Dock to regenerate. System Settings edits write here automatically.
Frequently asked questions
How do I reset the Dock to defaults?
Delete com.apple.dock.plist with no Dock-dependent apps in focus, then run killall Dock. The Dock restarts with defaults; pinned apps need re-adding.
Dock settings are not applying. Why?
Run killall Dock after preference changes made outside System Settings. The Dock caches aggressively, so edits look ignored until it restarts.
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