How do I move icons on the Dock

I had the same issue. No matter what I tried from the DOCK, click, hold, move up, whatever the icon remained fixed in place.

Finally out of desperation I open Launchpad, selected the troublesome icon there and dragged it to the DOCK where I wanted it.

It placed the icon where I wanted it and it also removed the icon from the location I didn't want it to be in.

Click and hold down as you move it. You have to do before the pop up dialog occurs. Try again.

There is no trick or key or don't even bother about dialogue box,

Simply click on the icon that you want to move and move your finger on trackpad like you are pulling that icon out of the Dock, it'll come out and then drag it to its new location and put it back in the Dock like you are pushing it in the Dock.

When you'll pull it out, you'll see side icons letting it go and when you'll push it back in, you'll see the two icons making space for it to fit in.

🙂

I had this issue too. It was absolutely something wrong with my mac that caused this, and not just "I'm not able to do it". Check Erik Root's answer here, which helped me. Dock: Can't move icons (already moved com.apple.dock.db)

Essentially there might be some issue with the permissions on your hard drive, and running "disk utility" and running a "repair disk permissions", combined with a reboot seemed to fix the issue for me.

There are a lot of "that doesn't work". I have personally seen it work and not work those that claim "it does work" are correct to a degree, however, there are times when it does not work. Here is what I think is the definitive solution, and it contains some of the explanations above, my credit to them.

I have been able to "break" the ability to move icons by dropping an icon directly on top of another one. It gets put back to where it was. The more times I do this, the more "broken" it becomes - meaning the more icons stop moving out of its way. This is always fixed by completely removing the icon from the dock.

I will assume you know how to drag and drop icons. If you did not already know, you can click and hold an icon with one finger, then move it with another finger, probably using both hands.

When moving an icon works - you will see the other icons "make room" for the icon you are moving - they move aside to the left and right leaving a gap - that is where you can drop your icon.

If the icons do not "make room", that is, they stay as close together when you drag your icon over them, then, as Zeesah.A phrased, you need to remove your icon completely from the dock and then try to place it, the icons should then make room for your icon. Removing your icon complete means dragging it away from the dock so that it is no longer near the dock.

This works unless something is wrong. It's fixing the "something that's wrong" that's the issue. Here is my situation:

Click and hold icon: it won't move side to side. Let go and the application launches.

Click and drag upwards: it doesn't budge.

Right click: the options for keep in dock and remove from dock are missing from the context menu.

The Dock is unchangeable, immutable, frozen, now and forever, world without end. How do you fix that?

Yes, clicking and dragging works ... but only very occasionally and intermittently.

I would request that Apple make an option from the menu to move the icon. It is just too unreliable to do this. The menu pops up way before having a chance to move the icon most of the time. And, sometimes, it just can't be done. I've had this problem for years. I struggled with it even more before coming here to see if there was a better answer.

Please create a better way to do this, something much more explicit, such as a menu option "Move this icon" that will free it from the dock for moving.

Good luck with this. Again Apple is being too clever and can't just leave what works alone. golden rule: it is not not broke, don't fix it. Apple's Rule: change it and monetise it. It's getting ridiculous and the backlash is happening on social. It is not almost impossible to operate the finer elements of the trackpad. Moving icons on the dock is so frustrating... and I am hardly a newbie at this.

Thanks, I will try this also. There is absolutely something wrong with my dock too. I have been switching my icon placement on the docks for 9 years. NOW, I can't, so it's not me either
I'm hoping for the best.

NOOO it dosnt work the click and drag thing. i tried command + click and that moves it but you cant 'place' it!!!

I'VE GOT IT PEOPLE!!!! (With a bit of help of my son...).

The trick is to click on the icon and then drag it VERY QUICKLY.

VERY QUICKLY!!

It really works!

There's no key. Just click and drag.

(64939)

I'm using OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 it works fine for me, you need to click and pull it out, try it you'll feel it getting pulled out. like a baloon 🙂

best of luck.