Here’s a fun trick with stacks, OS X’s answer to the original rainbow Apple menu functionality, which used to feature recent documents and the ability to place folders in it for quick and easy access to them. This was replaced in Mac OS X with stacks, a visual way to do a similar thing, but from the Dock. Today, we’ll use Terminal to make a Stack that shows the recent items from your Mac. Fun!
OS X comes with two stacks in the Dock by default, one for downloads and one for documents. This tip, from the fine folks over at Macworld, will create a special stack to show recent stuff. To do this, launch Terminal and then type or paste the following command in:
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'
Then restart the Dock with
killall Dock
When I issued those commands, I ended up with a Recent Applications stack. A simple control-click on that stack, however, gives me the option to make it show recent Applications, Documents, and Servers, or favorite Volumes and favorite Items. This should give you access to all sorts of things in a handy and visual way, right from the Dock. Enjoy!
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
10 responses to “Use a Mac OS X Stack to Show Recent Items [OS X Tips]”
thats very, very excellent. thanks
Is it possible to have more than one? That way I can have built in Docs, Apps, Etc… all right there.
Never mind – The original article says yes. Just run it again.
Is there any way to have a standard icon?
My real name is Mark but I also go by Nervous Nelly so please let us know how to turn this off.Â
I usually like and use your Terminal fixes but I also like it when you post how to disable it.Â
Hey Mark, you asked the 1st question I had when i read this.Â
if you go to the macworld forum string linked above… someone mentions you remove it
you just do the normal “Remove From Dock”.Â
I haven’t run this yet, but is there a way to control the number of apps/documents/servers are displayed?
“Recent Documents” doesn’t seem to work correctly? It doesn’t show an icon and nothing happens when the space is clicked….
Nice I like it, thanks for the info
Fixed it myself. Seems my Recent Documents in System Pref was set to “none”? No idea why.
Didin’t work here. Anyone knows why? :(
Love this tweak. Any way to change the number of recent items? I’d like to see a few more in my list.