OS X Catalina - Dock has disappeared

Changing the dock settings in System settings did not work for me, but following sure did:

To prevent the Dock from hiding, open Terminal and execute the following command:

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool false; killall Dock

autohide -bool false turns off the autohide. killall Dock kills the current Dock process. It will then automatically restart with the autohide setting off.

I had the very same problem with my Dock preferences resetting on the spot. My changes wouldn't stick. My Dock had disappeared, and the only way I could see it was by holding down the Control key while pressing the down arrow. Finally had success after resetting the P-RAM (Parameter RAM). Been a very long time since I did that, and, frankly, I'm surprised I remembered it to give it a try. Zapping P-RAM will reset your system prefs.

To zap your P-PRAM, restart your machine, and when the screen first disappears, press Command, Control, P, and R. Hold down those four keys until you hear the Mac startup chime, then you can release. If you hear the Mac startup chime again, you'll know you've successfully performed the procedure.

After your Mac has started back up, go to your Dock prefs. Now the changes you make there should stick. At least, they did for me. Good luck, and I hope this works for you.

I had the same issue with my Thunderbolt display, however I didn't want to have to keep disconnecting it to boot so when searching for an alternative fix. After a bit of research, it seems that the dock preferences file is the issue and by deleting it and rebooting Catalina will rebuild the file from scratch as if it was a brand new install.

Yes, you then need to setup your dock to your preferences and favourites in the dock, but better than having to remember to unplug the monitor when you boot up. Here's the step by step guide I used:

• Go to Finder
• Press and hold the Option key down and click “Go” menu in the Finder menu bar
• Click Library
• Open the Preferences folder
• Find the file named com.apple.dock.plist and delete the file / move to Trash (note, I had an additional com.apple.dock.plist.NSADJK file, I deleted this as well)
• And restart your computer
• Rebuild your dock favourites and preferences

Hope that helps, seems to have permanently solved my issue.

I solved it by turning off "Displays have separate Spaces" in System Preferences > Mission Control. Now the dock opens and hides without issue on a 2019 MBAr running Catalina. Curious if that works for others.

I was having the same issue this morning after it was working fine last night. I went into the preferences folder in library, found the apple dock file (/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist) and deleted it and then restarted the computer. All has been good again. Of course you need to rearrange your dock as it was before since it won't save the order it was in. Hope that helps someone.

When using Airplay, that solution of unplugging the external monitor does not apply. I fixed via: System Preferences > Dock. Slide the top slider left and right (it's labeled "Size"). Then I toggled the checkbox for "Automatically hide and show the dock" (even though that was unchecked when I had issues originally). Rebooting twice and unchecking "Automatically hide and show the dock" fixed the issue. Undocumented feature?

I tried all the mentioned solutions above but nothing helped.

What worked for me:

I navigated to System Preferences -> General and switched on the "Automatically hide and show the menu bar". That's all (I think). Even when I switch it back off again, the dock is still working fine.

I had the same problem and followed the advices (e.g. deleted the com.apple.dock.plist -file). However, the problem returned after reboot. Killall Dock -command helped, but was required after each reboot.

For some reason, like wookie_uk, I had an additional com.apple.dock.plist -file in my Library/Preferences (com.apple.dock.CCF42A11-A6CB-5C82-BF44-DD39BD90D8EE.plist). Found this when searching for dock -files in Preferences-folder.

I deleted this single file, which seems to have solved my problem. Since then my dock has been acting normally also after reboots.

I've seen this as well. The Dock process is running but it does not present the UI for some reason. If I kill the Dock process either using Terminal or using Activity Monitor, the Dock process will restart and does present the dock UI.

This happened to me too. I tried recommended fixes I found on DDG but none of them worked. After some trial and error I found this solution worked permanently.

1. Got to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Launchpad & Dock
2. Turn off 'Turn Dock Hiding On/Off'
3. Go to System Preferences > Dock
4. Untick 'Automatically hide and the show Dock'

If this does not solve the issue, leave the amended settings as they are and restart your computer.

If this does not work, then go back to Systems Preferences and reset the settings above as they were making any changes. Then restart and make the same changes listed above but in this order:

1. Go to System Preferences > Dock
2. Untick 'Automatically hide and the show Dock'
3. Got to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Launchpad & Dock
4. Turn off 'Turn Dock Hiding On/Off'

EASIEST & FASTEST FIX!!!

Okay, straight to the point.

Go to the search icon at the top right of the screen, search for "system preferences".

Go to "Dock"

Once on the Dock settings, simple click on the top slider for the Dock Size. You don't need to adjust the size, just simply click on the slider and your dock will re-appear.

No need to reboot your machine every time.

I actually found this totally by accident whilst messing around trying to figure out how to get my dock back. Hopefully this helps some of you until Apple decide to fix this obvious bug.

This worked for me. Type this command into the terminal and it will reset the Dock back to defaults (as new)

defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock

Had the same problem. Found a quicker way to fix it: Spotlight Search (cmd + spacebar) to find Activity Monitor and quit application "Dock". Then restarted Dock from Spotlight Search.

I have a possible solution too:

1. Open Dock in Preferences
2. Uncheck box Open/close automatically
3. Restart iMac (don't close Preferences !)
4. Dock is back on desktop - It's a miracle !

Hope this works for you too. BR, Gert