[Mac Tips] You Can Use Scroll Gestures in Mac OS X Lion to Open Dock Folders and Stacks

**Anthony Bouchard** · 11-30-2011, 02:12 PM

The Dock in Mac OS X has the ability to hold folders and stacks.

One of the cool features of the Mac OS X Dock is the ability to create stacks and folders on it. You can group applications, documents, or other forms of data that are easy to reach on the Dock. As we all know, Mac OS X Lion was released with the intent of adding numerous forms of multi-touch gestures to Mac OS X. With three-finger dragging, two-finger scrolling, and four-finger paging between applications, Mac OS X Lion has made it possible to eliminate any kind of mouse altogether. You don't even need to click with the multi-touch pad because you can just tap to click.

Another feature that you may not have known about is that using a hidden terminal command, you can enable multi-touch gestures to open and close folders or stacks on the Mac OS X Dock. Alternatively, if you use a traditional point and click mouse, using the scroll wheel will open the folder as well. To do this, hover your pointer over the icon that is either a stack or a folder, and use either the mouse's scroll wheel to open it, or use the Mac's Magic Mouse or Multi-touch pad to scroll to open the stack or folder. It's that simple.

Enabling this feature is done through a terminal command which switched a Boolean variable value to true and then restarts the Mac OS X Dock. The command you need to enter is:

PHP Code:


defaults write com.apple.dock scroll-to-open -bool TRUE;killall Dock

Additionally, if you decide that you don't like the feature, you can disable it with this command:

PHP Code:


defaults delete com.apple.dock scroll-to-open;killall Dock

In case you were wondering, "killall Dock" is similar to respringing your iPhone except for your Mac. If you open MobileTerminal on your iPhone and enter, "killall SpringBoard" your iPhone will respring. The Dock is a critical part of Mac OS X and in some cases, restarting the dock can be a method to restart services on your computer instead of restarting the whole computer. Not always, but it works with core system file replacements.

Do you like this feature? Tell us why in the comments!

Sources: OSX Daily

**BenderRodriguez** · 11-30-2011, 03:49 PM

**Anthony Bouchard** · 11-30-2011, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by BenderRodriguez

Totally not a new thing this has been in the OS since Leopard wow u FAIL at news

That wasn't nice.

**Cellular** · 11-30-2011, 04:51 PM

Originally Posted by Anthony Bouchard

That wasn't nice.

But was he wrong?

**sTrAnGe mOdS** · 11-30-2011, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by Anthony Bouchard

That wasn't nice.

Yeah, really.. Why don't you try writing articles Bender?
And fyi, I wasn't aware of this. So thanks for the info Anthony!

**therandy** · 11-30-2011, 05:36 PM

I as well, was not aware of this...Thanks Anthony! Mods, you should warn Bender for being an *****!!!! I dont care if he's been on here since 08

**Cer0** · 11-30-2011, 05:38 PM

Been using BetterTouchTools to do gestures for things for a while. If you have trackpad it is well worth it to get to know this program.

Great Tools For Your Mac By Andreas Hegenberg » BetterTouchTool, BetterSnapTool & SecondBar

Examplee: Got it to run scripts with gestures to do things such as open safari to a certain website with just touching the trackpad with 4 fingers; even when a completey different app.

**BenderRodriguez** · 11-30-2011, 06:03 PM

**Anthony Bouchard** · 11-30-2011, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Cellular

But was he wrong?

There are a lot of things that I could say that are true that I would rather hold to myself to spare the feelings of others. That is called respect.

Originally Posted by BenderRodriguez

I could easily right an article but like u I don't have access

HA

Let's see what you got Mr. High-horse.
http://modmyi.com/forums/member-written-iphone-news/

**Cer0** · 11-30-2011, 06:09 PM

Only warning please move on and stay on subject of the article.

**BenderRodriguez** · 11-30-2011, 08:34 PM

**kaaroFC** · 11-30-2011, 11:38 PM

Great, I didn't know about this, I just tried it and I'm already loving it!

**MSFLFC** · 12-01-2011, 01:35 AM

Great Anthony - did not know this. HOWEVER, if you - like me - are just tapping to click then the difference between scrolling to open folder and doing a simple tap to open folder is equal to nothing. So, if you are tapping (not clicking) to execute actions then this does not have much relevance in terms of usefulness.But tips to enhance user experience are always more than welcome - some will use them, some won't.Merry Xmas!

**dirty_ketchup** · 01-16-2012, 04:50 PM

Hello all, I am loving this tweak. However, I am curious about two things:

1) When I enter the reverse code in Terminal, it says that the command is not found. I'd like to know how to reverse it. Also,

2) Can someone please clarify? Now that I have tried using 2-finger scroll over apps in the dock, I've noticed it shows me all active windows and/or recent files. 2-fingers up shows windows and 2-fingers down hides app. Was this native to Lion or is this tweak a part of it? I don't know because I never really tried 2-finger scroll over dock apps before. Thanks

**BenderRodriguez** · 01-16-2012, 05:11 PM

When I first read this article I thought it was only about scrolling through your folders when they are in the dock and opened, I can now see how it might be useful if u didn't already have tap to click on(instead of push to click) but who doesn't have that enabled?

Your favorite Apple, iPhone, iPad, iOS, Jailbreak, and Cydia site.

Thread: [Mac Tips] You Can Use Scroll Gestures in Mac OS X Lion to Open Dock Folders and Stacks

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The Dock in Mac OS X has the ability to hold folders and stacks. One of the cool features of the Mac OS X Dock is the ability to create

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