Version: 2.2.5
Operating System: macOS
Developer: DockView
Interface language: English
DockView
Point at a Dock icon and a panel of live window thumbnails opens above it, so the document you want is one click away instead of a guess.
Reading windows before you switch
The utility sits in the menu bar and leaves the Dock in place. On first launch it asks for Accessibility, to see icons and move windows, and Screen Recording, to draw the thumbnails. macOS will not show another app's contents without both. Hover a running app's icon and a panel lists that app's windows with titles and pictures that keep updating while the pointer stays on the icon or the panel. Click a thumbnail and that window comes forward, including on a full-screen Space or a second display. Windows on another desktop are badged Desktop 2, Desktop 3, or Full Screen and listed after the current desktop.
Hover a thumbnail and close, minimize, and zoom appear. Those buttons can be hidden, drawn as traffic lights, or left as plain circles. A two-finger swipe down minimizes; a swipe up restores or zooms. The header can open a new window from the app's own File menu, or send the app to App Exposé with Show All Windows. Right-click dismisses the panel and opens the ordinary Dock menu. Hover delay, thumbnail height, and the gap above the Dock are sliders, so the panel can clear magnified icons. A single-window app such as Calendar can skip the preview. When that app is already frontmost, a Dock click can do nothing, hide it, or step to the next window.
Exposé on the same hover, shortcuts only if you want them
For a full-screen spread of one app, set the hover action to App Exposé, or keep the thumbnail panel and switch only while Command, Option, Shift, or Control is held. The key can be pressed after the hover has started, and the layout follows the pointer along the Dock. Minimized windows beside the Trash, and Stage Manager groups in the side strip, still use the thumbnail panel. Both previews are beta and off by default. The documentation notes that a full-size picture of a window sitting in a Stage Manager group can come back tilted and blurred.
Three keyboard tools stay disabled until you enable them, because each one takes a global shortcut. Option-Tab opens every window as a carousel, a grid, or a text list with no thumbnails. Control-Option paints numbers on the first ten Dock icons, 1 through 9 and then 0, and a digit switches to that app. Option-Command-F opens Quick Windows and runs the front app's Window menu: halves, quarters, fill, center, and side-by-side tiles. Apps without that menu only play the system alert. One optional Dock icon can hold a folder of apps you choose; a second folder is not available.
Sonoma, the 14-day trial, and Option-Tab
macOS 14 Sonoma or later is required, on Intel or Apple Silicon. The download is the full app for 14 days, with no account and no card. MacPlus Software then charges $14.99 once for one Mac, with updates through the 2.x line and no subscription. In 2.2.5, turning the window switcher off means Option-Tab is no longer captured and reaches whichever app expected it.
Show full description Pros & Cons Show details
PROS[*]Live thumbnails keep refreshing while the panel is open, including windows that sit on another desktop.
[*]One app's windows stay in a compact panel instead of Mission Control mixing every app on screen.
[*]App Exposé can replace that panel or appear only while a modifier key is held.
[*]Close, minimize, zoom, a new window, and a two-finger swipe are available without leaving the hover.
[*]Keyboard extras stay off until you enable them, so Option-Tab and Control-Option are not taken over by surprise.
[*]A 14-day trial includes the full app, then a one-time $14.99 license with 2.x updates and no subscription.
[*]MacPlus Software states that captures happen only on hover, are not written to disk, and include no telemetry.
CONS[*]Screen Recording and Accessibility are mandatory, and macOS treats thumbnail capture as a screen-recording session.
[*]Option-Tab, Control-Option, and Option-Command-F do nothing until you enable them, and the switcher occupies Option-Tab unless you rebind it.
[*]Stage Manager group previews and minimized-window previews in the Dock are still beta, and a full-size Stage Manager picture can look tilted and blurred.
[*]Quick Windows only runs commands from the front app's Window menu, and Dock numbers stop after the tenth icon.
[*]macOS 13 Ventura and earlier cannot run it, and the published $14.99 price covers a single Mac.
[*]Hiding the menu bar icon removes Settings and Quit until you launch DockView again, and the optional Dock icon is only an app folder.
What's New in 2.2.5 Show details [*][Option-Tab] - With the window switcher turned off in Settings, Option-Tab is no longer intercepted and is passed through to other apps.
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DockView 2.2.5 for Mac (8 MB)
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