How to hide background apps from dock?

Question

Level 1

21 points

How to hide background apps from dock?

I have an application (Hardware Growler) that appears in the dock, but it's a background app, so I'd like it to not appear in the dock.

In the user account preferences, there's a "hide" checkbox for programs that are launched on startup. No help (but maybe I have to reboot, which Mac users aren't supposed to have to do).

I've tried dragging it off the dock. It always moves back to the dock.

I've tried setting NSUIElement to "1". No help.

I've tried right-clicking on the item in the dock and selecting "Hide". No help.

Thanks.

Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Mar 10, 2007 9:40 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 10, 2007 10:44 AM in response to theosib

The "Hide" checkbox for selected programs to automatically launch at Startup is intended to launch but hide or minimize the program but this does not mean the program that is automatically launched but hidden or minimized is also hidden from the Dock - AFAIK.

No different from manually launching an application and then minimizing the application. All launched/running applications are available in the Dock regardless if minimized.

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Answer 2

theosib Author

Level 1

21 points

Mar 10, 2007 11:08 AM in response to Allan Sampson

The thing is, there are plenty of things that are running that are hidden from the dock. I would be amazed if there weren't a way to have an app running entirely in the background. All this does is generate growl messages for hardware events. I don't want to occupy a slot in the dock for that.

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Answer 3

biovizier

Level 5

7,931 points

Mar 10, 2007 3:10 PM in response to theosib

..." I've tried setting NSUIElement to "1"."...

Edits to a programme's "Info.plist" don't always get recognized immediately (for stubborn ones, Tiger seems to be worse than Panther in this regard). If it is practical to do so with the app of interest, try duplicating the app and using the copy.

By the way, these days, apps seem to be using ' LSUIElement', though the older form should work as well. Also, make sure that the "1" is a "string" value.

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Answer 4

Koinseb

Level 4

1,067 points

Jun 8, 2007 12:01 PM in response to theosib

...just as a little additional info, for those who are not comfortable with the terminal:

There is a nifty little Freeware App called "Dockless" that does just that - switching on or off if an Application has an icon in the dock:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18195

Mini & MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Mini & MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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