How To Remove Something From The Dock?

[billwill]

Somehow, I have an icon on my dock that doesn't do a thing when I click or double-click on it, and I can't get rid of it. I can't make it "poof" away and I can't put it in the trash can. It's the little page of paper with a pencil ruler, and brush on it. I have NO idea what it is but would love to get it off my dock! Help! TIA.

 

[Oneironaut]

It sounds like an application. What name appears over it when you hover over it in the dock? If a name appears over it, you might want to try deleting that app or using an uninstaller if it came with one. You could try quitting then relaunching the Finder.

 

[Eric559]

Somehow, I have an icon on my dock that doesn't do a thing when I click or double-click on it, and I can't get rid of it. I can't make it "poof" away and I can't put it in the trash can. It's the little page of paper with a pencil ruler, and brush on it. I have NO idea what it is but would love to get it off my dock! Help! TIA.

You click and drag it off of the dock. It will "poof" away.

 

[6string]

If the "poof" isn't working, what about right clicking (control+click) on it?

 

[chas_m]

Dragging it off the dock won't work if the app is still open. I find people making that mistake all the time.

 

[6string]

This is what I was thinking.... I figured that if the OP right clicked that he would see quit as an option!

 

[the8thark]

Have you made sure you have not locked the dock. Yes you can lock the dock so you can't edit it. But you can unlock it too. As the above posters have said just tryto remove an application on the dock that is not in use. And if that works then you're ok .

 

[toMACsh]

Have you made sure you have not locked the dock. Yes you can lock the dock so you can't edit it. But you can unlock it too.

Well, not without some add-on software...

from Lock The Dock In Mac OS X

Sadly, Mac OS X doesn’t let you lock the dock straightforwardly. There is no openly laid out option to lock the dock once you’ve set it up the way you want it to. But it is there deep in your system preferences. It’s just a matter of turning this capability on or off. And this can be achieved in different ways.

If you’re familiar with using Terminal and typing up a bunch of codes to tweak some behavior of Mac OS X, then this is the method for you.
Open up terminal and type the following code:
defaults write com.apple.dock contents-immutable -bool true
killall Dock

When you hit enter, you may be required to enter your system password. Setting the boolean to true will lock the dock. Of course from time to time you may want to add or remove items from the dock. Doing the same approach above and setting the boolean value to false will unlock it.
But if you would prefer interacting with check boxes instead of entering codes, you may opt to using apps like Deeper to satisfy your need to lock the dock. There are many other apps out there that can assist you in doing this, but Deeper should do you fine.

 

[sau124]

did you install something lately, bcos the description of the app is something that I notice every time I install something on my mac. It is normally only there till the first time I click on it and then it gives me the message to confirm using the application from the internet and then the icon changes to the software that I was trying to install. You won't be able to remove it without reinstalling the app and uninstalling it using appcleaner or something like that.

 

[Eric559]

Dragging it off the dock won't work if the app is still open. I find people making that mistake all the time.

I tried that with my Safari icon. Didn't work like you suggested. However when I booted up my Macbook the Safari icon was removed from the dock!