Clicking a stack in the Dock occasionally results in the stack freezing
My stacks are set to list. It has happened in MacOS 27, and now it has happened in 27.0.1
There is no way to unfreeze it. Relaunching the Finder or any of the apps does nothing.
The only fix is to restart the computer.
Regards
MacBook Pro 14″
There have been issues reported with Dock behavior on macOS 27 Golden Gate, some with automatic show/hide and others with the dock not 'releasing' the cursor after a click. For example:
MacBook Air M5 Dock freezes and magnifica… - Apple Community
Some have been resolved by identifying and removing incompatible 3rd party extensions, others are bona fide bugs.
See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode. That process performs some system cleanup and clears caches, and also disables 3rd party extensions that may cause problems.
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
If that does not correct the issue, test in a new user account. A newly-created user account will have all settings at default, and if the issue does not occur in that new account then it provides guidance on what may need to be changed to correct the issue.
Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support
Once the testing is complete, the new account can easily be deleted.
Delete a user or group on Mac – Apple Support
Those steps will help to isolate the problem.
It might help to download and run EtreCheck, written by a long-time forum member. The free version is fine. Post the full report using the Additional Text button. No personal information is revealed.
If the issue persists in safe mode and a new user account, that suggests that it's a bug that Apple needs to address. Bugs can be reported to Apple here:
Reporting issues like this to Apple is the only way to get them fixed. They do prioritize bugs based on frequency of reports, so the more people who report it, the faster it will be addressed.
There have been issues reported with Dock behavior on macOS 27 Golden Gate, some with automatic show/hide and others with the dock not 'releasing' the cursor after a click. For example:
MacBook Air M5 Dock freezes and magnifica… - Apple Community
Some have been resolved by identifying and removing incompatible 3rd party extensions, others are bona fide bugs.
See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode. That process performs some system cleanup and clears caches, and also disables 3rd party extensions that may cause problems.
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
If that does not correct the issue, test in a new user account. A newly-created user account will have all settings at default, and if the issue does not occur in that new account then it provides guidance on what may need to be changed to correct the issue.
Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support
Once the testing is complete, the new account can easily be deleted.
Delete a user or group on Mac – Apple Support
Those steps will help to isolate the problem.
It might help to download and run EtreCheck, written by a long-time forum member. The free version is fine. Post the full report using the Additional Text button. No personal information is revealed.
If the issue persists in safe mode and a new user account, that suggests that it's a bug that Apple needs to address. Bugs can be reported to Apple here:
Reporting issues like this to Apple is the only way to get them fixed. They do prioritize bugs based on frequency of reports, so the more people who report it, the faster it will be addressed.
I have the same issue. I'll click on a folder in the dock, it will display as a list and then get stuck, disabling the entire dock and some other finder functions (typing in certain places).
Only good news is, you don't need to restart your Mac. Open Activity Monitor, highlight all the processes that start with "Dock" (Dock, Dock Extra, and DockHelper) and hit the "Stop" button to quit them. The dock processes will quit and then restart without the glitch.
I hope Apple fixes this annoying bug!
No, but that's a good troubleshooting question.
I was able to reproduce the freeze on my computer. I have the right hand corner of my screen set to show "Mission Control." If I trigger Mission Control, then while still in Mission Control go to the dock and open a folder in the dock, and hover my mouse over any subfolder within that dock folder, the dock freezes. Activity Monitor shows that the DockHelper process is "Not Responding." Quitting DockHelper, as well as Dock and Dock Extra, restarts the dock and clears the freeze. Youtube included, with my absolute best iMovie editing skills. https://youtu.be/EeLSEA9I1KU
Help me, Apple!
Is there anything in those folders that might be trying to access a network or cloud folder or an external drive?
About the only thing I use the doc for is to access my downloads folder, and I don’t see any delays in using it.
ieatcats35 wrote:
No, but that's a good troubleshooting question.
I was able to reproduce the freeze on my computer. I have the right hand corner of my screen set to show "Mission Control." If I trigger Mission Control, then while still in Mission Control go to the dock and open a folder in the dock, and hover my mouse over any subfolder within that dock folder, the dock freezes. Activity Monitor shows that the DockHelper process is "Not Responding." Quitting DockHelper, as well as Dock and Dock Extra, restarts the dock and clears the freeze. Youtube included, with my absolute best iMovie editing skills. https://youtu.be/EeLSEA9I1KU
Help me, Apple!
You should send that information to Apple. Feedback - macOS - Apple
I almost never use the Dock can’t imagine why I would in Mission Control, so would have discovered that. I have no ability at the moment to see if it happens on my Macs.
macOS Dock stack freezes, requiring a restart
