Free up Dock space by minimizing into the app icon

On a laptop screen the Dock has only so much room, and every minimized window claims a slot on it. Open a dozen and your app icons shrink to fit, or the Dock starts scrolling. Turn on Minimize windows into application icon and minimized windows stop taking Dock space entirely — they fold into the app they came from.

The space math on a small Dock

The Dock has to fit across your screen, so it has a fixed width to work with. Every item on it — app icons, the Trash, stacks, and each minimized-window thumbnail — shares that width. When minimized windows pile up on the right, macOS shrinks everything to make it all fit. On a 13-inch MacBook that's the difference between comfortable, tappable icons and a cramped row you have to squint at. Magnification kicks in to compensate, adding motion every time you sweep the pointer across. It's a lot of downside for windows you've deliberately set aside.

Route those windows into their app icon and the math changes: minimized windows cost zero Dock slots, so your icons keep their size no matter how many windows you tuck away.

Reclaim the space

Turn it on in System Settings → Desktop & Dock by switching on Minimize windows into application icon. Or from Terminal:

# Stop minimized windows taking Dock slots
defaults write com.apple.dock minimize-to-application -bool true
killall Dock

To undo:

# Give minimized windows their own thumbnails again
defaults write com.apple.dock minimize-to-application -bool false
killall Dock

It behaves the same on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia. To reopen a tucked-away window, right-click the app's Dock icon and pick it from the list near the top of the menu.

More room on a tight Dock

If screen space is the real goal, a couple of other settings stack neatly with this one:

• Make the Dock smaller. A more compact Dock leaves more room for windows — how to make the Dock smaller on Mac.
• Auto-hide it. Reclaim the whole strip until you need it, with no reveal delay — make the Dock hide instantly on Mac.
• Move it to the side. A vertical Dock uses the taller edge of a widescreen display — how to move the Dock to the side on Mac.

Set the Dock up for space overall

If you're optimizing for room, it's worth deciding all the Dock's settings together. The best Dock settings on Mac covers the size, position, and hiding choices that free up the most screen while keeping the Dock usable.