Dock keeps moving between monitors

This is a feature of the way Mavericks handles multiple displays. As you move your mouse and focus to different displays, the system menu bar and Dock will appear on that display. To prevent this, go to the Mission Control system preferences and uncheck the "Displays have separate spaces" option.

Well, I've just figured out why it does it. If you move the mouse to another window and pull it down to very bottom of the screen and hold it there, the dock moves over. To move it back, move the mouse pointer to the screen you want it on and hold the pointer at the very bottom of the screen.

Ok - I found my own solution that I like well enough because it feels more native to the features as they exist.

First, my setup: I'm using a large monitor and a laptop on dual monitor arms. I pull my laptop off when I want to carry it with me or use it elsewhere. I use them together about 65% of the time.

So for me, to solve the dock snapping annoyance I did the following:

1. I went to System Preferences > Mission Control and deselected the option "Displays have separate Spaces" (as suggested above by tr3vorBrown)
2. I went to System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement and moved the main desktop to the second monitor.

Now, when I'm using both monitors, the dock stays put in the bottom of my larger monitor. When I pull the laptop off, the dock (of course) reverts to the bottom of it.

Having the displays use a single space would probably not have been my first choice, as I like some of the advantages of having the monitors as separate spaces. But it works well for my setup since I almost always want the dock to be on my larger monitor when I'm using both. If I need to swap the dock, I can easily go back to the display settings, and move the apple desktop stuff over to it.

I don't know if that will help anyone, but it works best for me.

Hey guys,

So apparently, this is an actual feature and not a bug. Its been ******* me off as well as I use 3 monitors, but I read on a different forum how to actually make it appear on a different monitor and all you have to do is actually move your mouse to the center of the screen, and move it all the way down as if you're trying to drive into the bottom of the screen. you'll see it appears on any monitor you do this to (clearly being a feature). I think its stupid and would love to have the option to disable this without losing my separate spaces for each monitor, but I guess this is the Apple way. What can ya do?

Hope this helps.

I have the same setup and the same problem. I agree that it is not related to focus and is almost certainly a bug - it happens randomly, and I can get the dock back to its original location by right-clicking the dock, and setting the position to another value and back again to the original value. (I.e. I don't really change anything, yet the dock jumps back to its original location).

I have found by dargging the the cursor at the bottom of the screen you can make the dock appear on which ever screen the cursor is on ..... I am sure this is meant to what it does ...but it for a while it really confused me ...!!

Here is the steps I followed to fix this problem (it's a feature actually)

[1] Minimize all the open windows

[2] Click on the center part of the menu (top) of the screen in which you want Dock to be appreared (no matter it's first, second or third)

[3] Simply move your cursor to the bottom of that screen

...Dock should appreared in that particular screen.

I hope this helps!

This is an awful awful awful awful feature, if it is one. If it is a feature, where is it documented because I'd love to read up on the exact triggers. It seems so random in the way it moves the dock. My work around is hiding the dock, selecting the monitor I want it on, then unhiding the dock again to move it. I hope this feature/bug goes away or becomes an option to turn off. The wording in the Mission Control Settings panel could be "Turn Off annoying auto dock switching feature bug"

this is exactly it. the dock movement was always happening randomly, but being able to recreate it like this makes me thing its just a feature so people can quickly lunch dock apps from any monitor (the higher the res of the monitor and the more monitors you have the more work it would basically be to get to the dock).

I'm also experiencing this issue. Can't seem to pinpoint when / why it actually changes between monitors. The only way I've found to change it back is to go into Dock Preferences change the position toggle to left and then back to bottom. If it's a feature, it's a poor one.

Hm, I feared as much. What a hopelessly stupid idea.

My third monitor is a Cintiq (I.e. a touch screen), and I frequently have the pen along the lower edge during a paint stroke, with the interresting result of dragging dock icons all over the place.

I don't care whether they call it a bug or a feature as long as it goes away 🙂.

It's a 100% bug! My dock suddenly appears on monitor #2 and to fix it I change the dock locatin to the left and then to the bottom. It's a BUG Apple.! Plus, I used to use VMWare to remote into my windows work machine and used 2 monitors for the real estate. Now that's gone. "A feature?" Some lame brain fool at Apple came up with that brainstorm. So now I login using windows 8.1 only to RDP into work and have use of my 2 monitors for some real work. BAD, BAD feature! Wise up Apple.

This is a terrible bug, not a "feature"! I use my 2nd monitor for photo editing, and every time I use a control near the bottom of the window, the stupid Dock flies over to the 2nd screen, and covers-up the controls I'm trying to use. Then I have to mouse over to the main Mac monitor, and do a little chicken dance at the bottom of that screen until the Dock decides to go back where it belongs. I wonder if the people at Apple ever tried using a full screen app on the 2nd monitor? You really do need the menu bar for that app on the 2nd screen, but not the Dock. The only setting provided freezes both the Dock and the Menu back on the main display. This is a clear case of design without real user feedback. PLEASE fix this Apple.

So, Apple, if you read this thread: a great enhancement would be to provide the ability to lock the dock on to a specific monitor (in a multi monitor setup). Then those of us who want a mobile dock could have one, and those who don't have a way of turning it off.