How to Get the Mac Dock on Both Monitors (All the Ways That Actually Work)

macOS does not show the dock on all monitors simultaneously - it only ever appears on one screen at a time, switching to whichever display your pointer is nearest to the bottom (or side) edge of. If you want a persistent dock on every monitor at once, the built-in behaviour can't do it, and you need a third-party app.

Why macOS only shows the dock on one monitor at a time

This is a deliberate Apple design choice, not a bug. macOS treats the dock as a shared resource: it floats to whichever screen you're actively working on, triggered by moving your cursor to that screen's dock edge. The idea is that one dock follows you. In practice, on a two- or three-monitor setup, this means a lot of awkward cursor trips to coax the dock into view on the right screen - and it frequently appears on the wrong monitor entirely.

The closest thing macOS offers is System Settings → Desktop & Dock → "Displays have separate Spaces" - but this affects Mission Control Spaces, not whether the dock shows on multiple screens. Turning it on or off doesn't give you a dock on every monitor.

What the built-in dock settings actually do for multi-monitor setups

Here's what you can change in System Settings → Desktop & Dock and what it means for multiple displays:

Dock position: Bottom, left, or right. This applies to every screen that gets the dock - you can't set a different position per monitor natively.

Auto-hide: When enabled, the dock hides until you push your cursor to the edge. This makes the "dock switching" less annoying on multi-monitor setups because it's out of the way, but it doesn't fix the one-dock-at-a-time limitation.

Displays have separate Spaces: Found under Mission Control in the same pane. It gives each monitor its own Spaces and menu bar, and it decides whether the dock can move: with it on, the dock goes to whichever screen's bottom edge you push the pointer against; with it off, the dock stays on the main display. Either way there is still only one dock.

In short: the native settings don't solve the problem. The dock will still only be on one screen at a time.

The free workaround: use auto-hide and train yourself

If you don't want to install anything, the closest you can get to a usable multi-monitor dock experience for free is:

1. Enable auto-hide (System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Automatically hide and show the Dock)
2. Keep the dock on the bottom
3. Turn on Displays have separate Spaces (System Settings → Desktop & Dock, under Mission Control; it takes effect after you log out and back in)
4. Accept that shoving your cursor to the bottom of any screen will summon the dock there after a brief delay

This works better than most people expect once you're used to it, but the delay is noticeable (around 0.5 seconds by default, and System Settings has no way to reduce it; a Terminal setting can, see how to make the Mac dock show and hide faster). It also still only shows on one screen - the one your cursor triggered it on.

If you always work on the same screen: make it the main display

If you have two monitors and want the dock to stay on one of them, make that one the main display: open System Settings → Displays, click Arrange…, and drag the white menu bar onto the screen you want. With Displays have separate Spaces off, the dock then stays on that screen for good. This suits a desk that never changes; it stops helping once you add a third display, or move between a laptop on its own and a docked setup.

Reach your apps without the dock

From any screen, Spotlight (Command-Space) opens an app by name, and a hot corner (System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Hot Corners) can bring up Mission Control or an app's windows. Neither is a dock, but both save the trip to the screen that has one.

The Terminal workaround people mention (and why it doesn't work)

You'll see suggestions to run:

defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces-auto-swoosh -bool NO

That changes whether switching to an app also switches you to a Space with its windows. It doesn't create a second dock on another monitor. There is no checkbox, Terminal command or hidden preference that makes the macOS dock show on every screen at once.

How third-party dock apps solve this properly

Apps like Dockish work by drawing their own dock window on each display independently, bypassing the macOS dock entirely. Each monitor gets a real, always-visible (or auto-hiding) dock with its own pinned apps.

Dockish specifically gives you three modes:

• All Monitors - an identical dock appears on every connected display
• Main Only - dock on your primary display only (matches macOS default behaviour)
• Independent - each monitor gets its own dock with its own layout of pinned apps

The Independent mode is the one that genuinely changes how a multi-monitor Mac works. You can put your creative apps on the dock attached to your left monitor, your communication apps on the right monitor's dock, and never cross-contaminate them. Each mode remembers its own layout separately, so switching between All Monitors and Independent doesn't scramble your pinned apps.

In Independent mode each display's card on the Displays tab also has its own Icon Size, so a large external monitor can have bigger icons than the built-in screen, and window previews can be sized for each display too. The dock's edge (bottom, left or right) and auto-hide apply to every dock.

It also handles hot-plugging: connect an external monitor and the dock appears on it; disconnect it and the dock disappears cleanly. Plug it back in and its dock returns with its own layout. If you move between setups (one desk at home, another at work), save each as a profile and turn on Auto-Switch by Display Setup: Dockish applies the right one when that set of displays connects. This matters most if you're frequently docking and undocking a MacBook. If your windows also end up in the wrong places when you dock and undock, that's a separate problem: Layoutish saves window layouts and puts them back when your displays change.

For the most common two-screen setup, a MacBook with one external display (clamshell mode included), there's a shorter guide: how to get your Mac dock on a second screen.

What about window previews on hover?

One legitimate reason people explore dock alternatives is to see what's running in a window before clicking. The macOS dock doesn't show window previews on hover - you have to click or use Exposé.

Dockish shows window previews when you hover over an app icon: a picture of each window, so if an app has three windows open, you see all three. You can also close a window directly from the preview without switching to it first. If you only want previews and nothing else, DockDoor is a free app that adds hover previews to the standard macOS dock without replacing it - worth knowing about if that's your only need.

Setting up Dockish on a dual-monitor Mac: step by step

1. Download Dockish from appish.app/dockish and install it (macOS 14 Sonoma or later required)
2. Click Dockish's menu bar icon, open the Settings tab and click Hide macOS Dock to tuck the built-in one away. Restore macOS Dock in the same place brings it back at any time
3. Open the Displays tab and choose All Monitors for a mirrored dock on every screen, or Independent to configure each screen separately
4. In Independent mode, to start one display's dock as a copy of another's, pick the two layouts beside "Copy from…" and "to…" under Monitors and click Copy Layout
5. Drag apps from Finder or your Applications folder into each dock to pin them
6. On v1.1 and later, new installs automatically import your existing macOS dock's pinned apps on first launch - you don't start from scratch

Dockish costs $6.99 as a one-time purchase, with a 7-day free trial. No subscription.

Is Dockish worth it if you only have two monitors?

A dock on each screen is the main reason people try it, but on two monitors the other changes often matter as much:

• Clicking an app whose windows are all minimised brings one of them back.
• Window previews on hover show each of an app's windows before you switch.
• App folders: drag one app onto another to group them, like on an iPhone. See how to make folders in the Mac dock.
• Scroll on an icon to move through that app's open windows.

Which method is right for you?

• Two monitors, and the dock moving between them is fine: turn on Displays have separate Spaces (free).
• Two monitors, and you always work on the same one: make that screen the main display (free).
• Three or more monitors, and you want a dock on each: Dockish ($6.99).
• A MacBook you dock and undock: Dockish, where each display's dock comes back with its own layout.
• You want to try it first: Dockish's 7-day free trial.

Does macOS Sequoia help with this at all?

Sequoia (macOS 15) added native window tiling, which is a different thing entirely - it helps snap windows side-by-side but does nothing for dock behaviour across monitors. The dock still works exactly as it did in Ventura and Sonoma: one screen at a time, triggered by cursor position.

If you've been hoping a macOS update would fix multi-monitor dock behaviour natively, it hasn't happened yet and there's no indication it's coming.

Common questions

Can I put the Mac dock on an external monitor permanently?

Yes, if one dock is enough: make that monitor the main display (System Settings → Displays → Arrange…, then drag the white menu bar onto it) and turn off Displays have separate Spaces, and the dock stays there. What macOS can't do is show a dock on more than one screen at once. For that you need an app that draws its own docks, like Dockish.

How do I stop the Mac dock from jumping to the wrong monitor?

Turn off Displays have separate Spaces (System Settings → Desktop & Dock) and the dock stays on the main display. If you want it to keep moving, but less often: the dock switches screens when your cursor gets close to the bottom (or side) edge of another display. To reduce accidental switching: enable auto-hide, which requires a deliberate push to the edge rather than just proximity. Alternatively, changing the dock to the left or right edge in System Settings → Desktop & Dock can help if your monitors are stacked vertically, since the edge is less likely to be accidentally triggered. If it's stuck on the wrong screen, see how to move the Mac dock to your external monitor.

How do I move the dock to a different monitor on Mac?

With Displays have separate Spaces on, move the pointer to the bottom edge of the monitor you want and the dock slides over. To keep it on one monitor, make that monitor the main display.

Can I have different apps pinned to the dock on each monitor?

Yes, with Dockish in Independent mode: each display gets its own pinned apps and order. In All Monitors mode every display shows the same dock.

What is the best dock app for multiple displays on Mac?

Dockish is built around this: a dock on every display, the same on each or different. If all you want is window previews on the macOS dock, DockDoor is free. For a wider look, see the best dock apps for Mac.

Will I lose my existing dock apps when I switch to Dockish?

No. Dockish imports your macOS dock's pinned apps on first launch, and Import macOS Dock Apps in its settings adds any it doesn't have yet. The macOS dock is hidden, not deleted: Restore macOS Dock brings it back.

What happens to the macOS dock if I quit Dockish?

It comes back as you had it, and Dockish gives it back when a trial ends too. If Dockish ever stops without quitting (a crash or Force Quit) and the macOS dock stays hidden, press Option-Command-D or open Dockish again.

Does turning on Displays have separate Spaces slow down Mission Control?

No. It changes how Mission Control looks (each display gets its own row of Spaces), and you have to log out and back in for it to take effect, but it doesn't noticeably affect performance.

Does having a dock on every monitor slow down my Mac?

Dockish is a native Mac app, drawn with Core Animation, that runs from the menu bar. The bigger consideration is the permission: during setup you allow Device Control and Data Access (Accessibility before macOS 27), which is standard for any app that works with other apps' windows on macOS.