Dashboard icon is missing in the dock

Open HardDrive>Applications and drag the Dashboard application icon back down into the dock. Should stay there as a 'shortcut' or Alias.

Cheers

Navigate to the /Applications/ folder and locate the Dashboard application. Drag the icon to your Dock.

Hit your F12 key up the top of your keyboard and see what happens. If nothing, then you must have deleted the whole Dashboard application. Post back after you try this.

You can reinstall missing parts of OS X as follows:

How to Use Pacifist to Replace Deleted or Missing OS X Components

Insert the OS X Installer DVD into the optical drive. Use a simple utility like TinkerTool to toggle invisibility so you can see invisible items. Alternatively, open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and at the prompt enter the following:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles Yes

Press RETURN.

To turn off the display of invisible files repeat the above command substituting No for Yes.

The install packages are located in the /System/Installation/ folder on the DVD.

Download the shareware utility Pacifist from VersionTracker or MacUpdate. Use it to extract a fresh copy of the missing item(s) from the file archives on your OS X installation DVD. The file archives are in the /System/Installations/ folder (use Go to Folder option in the Go menu of the Finder.)

Here are Four Basic ways to use Pacifist (courtesy of George Orville.)

A. Drag a .pkg icon onto the Pacifist window .....proceed to step 7.

B. Click on “Open Package ....” and navigate to package desired and click “Open” in the open/save window.....proceed to step 7.

C. Insert Mac OS X installer CD and when it mounts, navigate to .... Menu->Go->Go to Folder.
In the path field enter or paste ....

/Volumes/disc name/System/Installation/Packages (where disc name is the name of the CD/DVD that you inserted.

• Click on the "Go" button .....
• Drag a .pkg to Pacifist..... proceed to step 7.

The package you'll need will have to be discovered by trial and error, but for most applications you should start with the Essentials.pkg and/or Additional Essentials.pkg.

D. Insert your Mac OS X install disk 1 .... and open Pacifist.

1. In Pacifist, select "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" ... dialog may appear asking for disk 2, then disk 3 and finally disk 1 again.... {if DVD is not used)...If “Stop Loading” is selected...the procedure will stop!!!

2a. When loading is complete, a new window appears, click the triangle to display contents of each package...Select item and proceed to step 7.

2b. or click the “Find” icon in the Pacifist window and type the name of the software you need.

3. In the list that comes back, click the top most entry for the item that you want. ..... that is the one for the English language.

4. On the top of the Pacifist window, click “verify” .... you will probably be prompted for your password.

5. Enter checks for.... “verify permissions” and “verify file contents.” and click “verify” ....enter password when prompted.... you will get back output which may look like this:

20 files were scanned.
20 of 20 files were present on the hard disk.
0 of 20 files had file permissions that did not match those specified in the package.
0 of 20 files had checksums that did not match those specified in the package.

6. Click “close”. Go to step 7.

Extract or Install........

7. In the Toolbar (upper left), you now have the option to extract or install. Click a file in the lower list and those two icons will be enabled.

8. If “Extract to...” is selected.... navigate to the location where the file will be placed, select “choose”, select “extract” in new dialog that appears,authenicate , if prompted, click “OK”.

9. In the next dialog, click “Extract”.

10. If “Install” is selected... dialog will appear with the location/path of the installed software. Click “Install”

11. Type in your password, click “OK”

• Pacifist will begin to extract files.

12. In steps 8/10ß.... you also have the choice to “cancel”

Notes.....

• Pacifist may find that a file it is installing already exists on the hard disk. Pacifist will present you with an alert panel....

Stop
Leave original alone
Update ..... Default selection
Replace .... Replace option should only be used on full install packages

If you can still invoke Dashboard then all that means is the software is running. But if you quit Dashboard or reboot the computer and Dashboard does not run then you've deleted it. Otherwise, you may have simply moved it to another location. Try using Spotlight to search for it. If you locate it then just move it back to the Applications folder where it belongs and drag its icon back into your Dock.

Try CMD+F, type in dashboard, and ensure that you've selected System files and included them.