Get an Applications Dock Icon to Go Away!

Posted in: Apple, Mac Tip | June 23rd, 2008

Ok, there are some applications that you just wish didn’t have a dock icon. One of those apps for me has always been Awaken by Embraceware. The things dock icon really doesn’t do anything to benefit me. So why have it there? I found a way to get just about any applications dock icon to run along like a good little icon. Just bear with me:

So this is the thing that I had sitting there, the Awaken Dock icon.

Picture 2.png

It was not adding any functionality to the program, so why was it there?

Picture 3.png

I decided to put a stop to it.

So, what you’re going to need to do is this:

1. Open the app that you want to modify in the finder. You can do so easily by right clicking it in the dock and choosing the “Show in Finder” option.

2. Right click the application and choose “Show Package Contents”.

3. Double-click Contents and then right click “info.plist”. Choose “Open With” and then select “Other”.
Then, what you’re going to do is search for textedit and open up the “info.plist” file.

4. Now’s the time when things get a little trickier. Which is why I recommend copying and pasting the application in it’s folder to create a backup.

5. Now press Command+F and search for “NSPrincipalClass”

6. You should find an exact match in between “[key]“. Straight after that, on the next line, paste the following:

[key]NSUIElement[/key]
[string]1[/string]

7. Now, align all the text, make sure that nothing else is out of hand, and it should end up looking like this:

Picture 4.png

8. Press Command+S to save the plist and then open up the application. Voila! No dock icon.

This should work with any application, but there are some applications like system preferences. You can fix those up with a terminal command, if you want to know how, you can email me: helpmetechshow@gmail.com but I think this should settle most people for now.

*Note* I substituted the regular triangular brackets:Picture 5.png
with the square ones for the purpose of the post, because obviously websites think they’re for html.

Watch the video for a step by step tutorial!

-Zane

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5 Responses to “Get an Applications Dock Icon to Go Away!”

  1. basketballchampz Says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    [..YouTube..] Thanks dude another great video it helped thanks

  2. CompHelperKid Says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    [..YouTube..] cool tut dude

  3. helpmetechshow Says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    [..YouTube..] Sorry? what’s a tut?

  4. CompHelperKid Says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    [..YouTube..] A tutorial.

  5. TibiaFour Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 7:52 am

    [..YouTube..] LOL, whats a tut? haha

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