Keyboard Shortcut to Hide and Show the Dock on Mac

Cmd+Option+D is one of the oldest shortcuts in macOS: press it and the Dock slides off screen, giving every window the extra strip of space; press it again and the Dock returns. It works from any app, no setup needed, on Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia. Here's what the shortcut actually toggles, how to reach a hidden Dock, and the Terminal tweak that makes hidden-by-default genuinely pleasant.

What the shortcut really does

Cmd+Option+D doesn't just hide the Dock once — it toggles the system setting Automatically hide and show the Dock, the same checkbox in System Settings → Desktop & Dock. So the state persists: hide the Dock with the shortcut, restart the Mac, and it's still hidden. Auto-hide mode means:

• The Dock stays off screen while you work, and windows can use its space.
• Push the pointer against the Dock's screen edge (bottom, left, or right — wherever yours lives) and it slides into view, then retreats when you leave.
• Everything in the Dock keeps working; the only change is when it's visible.

Because it's a toggle, the shortcut is the fast way to work both modes: Dock visible for mousing around, one keystroke to clear the decks for focused work or a presentation.

If the shortcut doesn't respond

The binding lives in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Launchpad & Dock → Turn Dock Hiding On/Off. Check the box is ticked — and if another app has claimed Cmd+Option+D, this is also where you can assign a different key combination: double-click the current shortcut and press your replacement.

Kill the reveal delay

The stock auto-hide has a deliberate hesitation: park the pointer at the edge and the Dock waits a beat before appearing, then animates in at a leisurely pace. Two hidden preferences remove the lag:

# show the Dock the instant the pointer hits the edge
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0

# speed up the slide-in animation (0.4s; default is 0.5)
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.4
killall Dock

With the delay at zero, a hidden Dock stops feeling like a compromise — flick the pointer down, click, done. Some people go further with autohide-time-modifier -float 0.15 for a near-teleporting Dock; try values until it feels right.

Undo both the same way as any Dock tweak:

# restore Apple's default delay and animation
defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay
defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier
killall Dock

A workflow worth stealing

The combination that many small-screen users settle on:

1. Set the reveal delay to zero (above).
2. Leave auto-hide on as the resting state — full-height windows, no Dock strip.
3. Use Cmd+Option+D when you're doing Dock-heavy work — reorganizing icons, dragging files onto apps — and again when you're done.

On a 13-inch MacBook the reclaimed strip is roughly 5% of the screen; with the menu bar set to auto-hide as well, a laptop becomes an edge-to-edge canvas that still hands you every control the moment your pointer asks.

A hidden Dock still does everything

Hiding costs no functionality — worth spelling out, because it's why the shortcut is safe to lean on:

• Drag-and-drop works. Drag a file toward the Dock's edge, pause, and the Dock slides out under your drag so you can drop onto an app icon, a stack, or the Trash.
• Badges and bounces still notify. An app demanding attention bounces up into view even while the Dock is hidden.
• Presentations and screen recordings are the classic use: one Cmd+Option+D before you share your screen removes the personal clutter of your app lineup, and one more restores it after — much faster than tidying the Dock itself.

Take the idea further

If you like a self-clearing desktop, hide the menu bar the same way and reclaim both edges — see how to hide the Dock and menu bar on Mac.