OS X Catalina - Dock has disappeared

Ok...so after tying (unsuccessfully) all the solution approaches within this string and being very close to going to genius bar... I accessed System Preferences/Dock via the Apple in the top menu. I unchecked 'Automatically hide and show the Dock' and it STAYED unchecked which wasn't the case when I was 'temporarily' accessing System Preferences/Dock via the 4-finger up-swipe. Hope this helps others as it did me.

I discovered a more permanent fix: I have an external monitor. If I detach the monitor when cold starting my Macbook, the dock shows up normally. After the startup sequence is complete, then I attach the external monitor; the Dock remains and functions normally.

Fixed this bug by reverting back to Mojave (10.14. 6) Think I'll stay on that till Catalina is fixed. The only problem I found doing that is; After the CMD+R reboot blue tooth is turned off and Magic Mouse & Keyboardare turned off. Had to use a USB mouse and USB lead plugged into the keyboard. Cannot figure out why blue tooth is off after CMD + R?

Yup, I had exactly the same problem, slightly exacerbated by another bug that's crept into Catalina, as my login password I need to hold SHIFT I noticed that the SHIFT doesn't work for the characters being entered...

I found a way!!!

Put a file on your desktop.

Drag and drop that file to the dock (any folder or recicle bin will do)...Dock will appear.

Go to Dock setting, and select SHOW dock.

It should stay visible now.

Running First Aid in the Disk Utility helped me, as well. Killall Dock would bring the dock back but the dock was gone again after the next restart. First Aid seems to have fixed this as the dock was there after rebooting today.

This was the same that worked for me. I REALLY hate the move, Apple... I REALLY hate the move...

So not only do we have to swipe/click one more time for our system dock, but now we have to go into our account on the App Store with our phones in order see apps ready for an update. More clicks to get your users where they want to be is the *WRONG* direction, Apple. Sorely disappointed by this lack of forethought release for MacOS, iPadOS AND iOS... :(

I hope the next release improves user experience...

Same issue, rebooted after changing my wallpaper to static from dynamic. Dock is back.

Terminal -> defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock

works fine for me

Exactly same here seems there is a bug yet Apple say there is no problem Hmmmm. Have reverted my iMac back to Mojave will wait a month and hope they fix it.

Should also add that, now I have made it reappear by swiping up the problem seems to have been resolved. I now move the cursor to the bottom of the screen and the dock appears as normally.

What helped me was to 1) open terminal and 2) type the command: killall Dock

After that, dock settings in system preferences were changeable again.

This is exactly what is happening to me (the "auto hide" box checks again automatically). Looks like a bug.

Agree. Tampered with Mail also. Awful changes where not necessary

Simplest solution of all. Many thanks