remove Finder icon from Dock

Lanny is wrong. A running app doesn't need to show up in the dock. Some are displayed in the menu bar, some aren't visible anywhere. I found a solution to your question at http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/30415/how-can-i-remove-the-finder-icon- from-my-dock which adds REMOVE_FROM_DOCK to your dock icon's context menu. It doesn't quit Finder, it just adds the option to, well, remove it from the dock.

Here's the quick way: Run this one-liner in Terminal and that's it.

f=/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/DockMenus; sudo cp $f.plist $f-old.plist; sudo defaults write $f finder-running -array-add '<dict><key>command</key><integer>1004</integer><key>name</key><string>REMOVE_FROM_DOCK</string></dict>'; sudo chmod 644 $f.plist; osascript -e 'quit app "Dock"'

If you want to remove the dock icon automatically at login, just save this little AppleScript as an application and add it to your login item in your System Preferences. It will only work if you've already run the previous line of code in Terminal.

tell application "System Events" to tell UI element "Finder" of list 1 of process "Dock" perform action "AXShowMenu" click menu item "REMOVE_FR​OM_DOCK" of menu 1 end tell

If the script doesn't work, you've probably not enabled GUI scripting. Go to System Preferences / Universal Access, and check the box that says Enable support for assistive devices.

Hey Monostratos, i am seeing this error message when running your apple script

error "System Events got an error: Can’t get menu item \"REMOVE_FR​OM_DOCK\" of menu 1 of UI element \"Finder\" of list 1 of process \"Dock\"." number -1728 from menu item "REMOVE_FR​OM_DOCK" of menu 1 of UI element "Finder" of list 1 of process "Dock"

I ran the terminal command, so I can right click manually and remove it from the dock, and I have enabled support for assistive devices.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your time

I have OS X 10.9 installed and I tried all the stuff metioned here, but the result is strange.

I run the terminal comand:

f=/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/DockMenus; sudo cp $f.plist $f-old.plist; sudo defaults write $f finder-running -array-add '<dict><key>command</key><integer>1004</integer><key>name</key><string>REMOVE_FROM_DOCK</string></dict>'; sudo chmod 644 $f.plist; osascript -e 'quit app "Dock"'

I created a AppleScrict Script and put it to autostart

tellapplication "System Events"

tell UI element "Finder" of list 1 of process "Dock"

perform action "AXShowMenu"

click the last menu item of menu 1

end tell

end tell

I changed the DockMenus.plist file and add this stuff as explained previously

1) finder-running

2) trash

in the plist file and add at the end of both (but between the tags <array> and </array>) in both the following:

<dict>

<key>command</key>

<integer>1004</integer>

<key>name</key>

<string>REMOVE_FROM_DOCK</string>

</dict>

Which is in the following path:

System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/DockMenus.plist

And I also used the Terminal command

killall Dock

At the end the Finder icon has the option to remove it from the dock, but there is still a glow that it's running, which is very ugly and moves if you open more apps as you can see in the screenshot. And the Scrict is always open after a restart of the laptop.

Do you know how to remove this ungly Finder remains?

I appreciate any help 🙂

Remember, that any running program is always shown in the Dock, if the Finder wasn't running, you wouldn't have a Desktop.

So, if you quit the Finder, you would theoretically be able to remove it from the Dock, but then you wouldn't have a Dock, duhh.

Hey Monostratos (:

Script worked perfeclty (: Finally no Dock...

It did also removed it from the CMD + Tab menu. I don't need it there but I did like it. Any way to get that back?

Also, would your solution also work for other apps? The specific one I'm thinking of is BOINC, which I always have running. But it also appears on the mac menu bar. For now it's also constantly on the dock and in the CMD + Tab menu...

Any way to remove it from those two places while still having it run and stay in the top menu bar?

Cheers (:

That is incorrect - Monostratos came with a pretty good solution that actually adds the "remove" button. However the problem is with making it happen by itself whenever you turn on your mac.

tell application "System Events" to tell UI element "Finder" of list 1 of process "Dock"

perform action "AXShowMenu"

click menu item "REMOVE_FR​OM_DOCK" of menu 1

end tell

Seems not to work.

Yes, sorry I missed the first half of the solution (editing the plist). To make the Applescript work, change it to this:

tell application "System Events"

tell UI element "Finder" of list 1 of process "Dock"

perform action "AXShowMenu"

click the last menu item of menu 1

end tell

end tell

rojvol wrote:

is it problem if i forget to backup original dock file? I cant see why is it wrong.

The Terminal script you ran backed it up for you. You can find the original here:

System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/DockMenus-old.plist

If you want to undo the entire procedure, just delete the file called 'DockMenus.plist' and then rename 'DockMenus-old.plist' to 'DockMenus.plist'.

After that, in Terminal type

killall Dock

and press 'return'.

Your Finder icon will reappear without the 'Remove from Dock' menu. If you put the Applescript in your login items, don't forget to remove that, too.

This works, but sometimes when I close all my apps the Dock does a kind of relaunch and the Finder icon reapears.

I can remove it anytime but it's anoying to do so everytime 😟

Anyone know how to prevent this?

I'd like to have the messages icon removed from dock, while running, and have it do so automatically. Beasically the same as Apollo wanted to do with the Finder Icon. Will this script work for Messages Icon as well? Thanks for your help

Just find: 1) finder-running and 2) trash in the plist file and add at the end of both (but between the tags <array> and </array>) in both the following:

<dict>

<key>command</key>

<integer>1004</integer>

<key>name</key>

<string>REMOVE_FROM_DOCK</string>

</dict>

I did it with Text Wrangler.

It will let you show up the Remove From Dock Option when you click on the finder and trash icons on MAVERICKS.

Regards,

Dear member,

How can I remove this hack (I am new on the mac world) ?

f=/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/DockMenus; sudo cp $f.plist $f-old.plist; sudo defaults write $f finder-running -array-add '<dict><key>command</key><integer>1004</integer><key>name</key><string>REMOVE_F ROM_DOCK</string></dict>'; sudo chmod 644 $f.plist; osascript -e 'quit app "Dock"'

And how can I generally remove hacks ?

Is where perhaps one folder with installed hacks ?

Very very thanks for your answer.

Message was edited by: ClaudeFinder