Minimize Mac windows to the app icon

By default, minimizing a window drops a small live thumbnail onto the right side of the Dock, separate from the app it belongs to. If you'd rather minimized windows tuck into their own app icon, macOS has a setting for exactly that — Minimize windows into application icon — and you can flip it in System Settings or with one Terminal command.

Turn it on in System Settings

1. Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock.
2. Find Minimize windows into application icon in the Dock section.
3. Switch it on.

That's it — no restart needed. From now on, when you minimize a window (yellow button, Cmd+M, or double-clicking the title bar), it collapses into the app's icon rather than parking a thumbnail on the Dock. The path is the same on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia.

Or set it from Terminal

If you prefer the command line, or want to script your setup, use:

# Minimize windows into their app icon
defaults write com.apple.dock minimize-to-application -bool true
killall Dock

The killall Dock line reloads the Dock so the change applies at once. To go back to separate Dock thumbnails:

# Back to separate Dock thumbnails
defaults write com.apple.dock minimize-to-application -bool false
killall Dock

This is the same setting the System Settings switch flips — use whichever you like.

Getting a minimized window back

The one thing that changes is how you reopen a minimized window, because there's no thumbnail to click anymore. Two reliable ways:

• Right-click (or Control-click) the app's Dock icon. Minimized windows are listed by name near the top of the menu, each with a small diamond mark — click one to bring it back.
• Use App Exposé. Swipe down with three or four fingers on the app, and its windows spread out; minimized ones sit along the bottom, ready to click.

If an app has only minimized windows and nothing else open, clicking its Dock icon simply restores it. Once the retrieval habit clicks, most people never look back.

Change how the minimize looks, too

While you're here, you can also change the animation minimizing uses. The default genie effect can be swapped for the plainer Scale — see how to change the Dock minimize effect on Mac to pick the one you prefer.