DockMate For Mac

Unlike other major operating systems, macOS does not have built-in support for Dock window previews. These can be very helpful when you have a lot of minimized applications, either to find the right one or to get a quick look at its contents without having to bring it to the foreground.

DockMate adds this useful feature to macOS in a seamless manner, very similar to how things work on Windows. It provides you with playback controls for Music and a way to quickly see your upcoming calendar events and join meetings.

For those switching over from Windows, the way DockMate does things will feel very familiar. Once it’s running, just place the mouse cursor over a Dock icon to get a small preview of its contents. If you hover over the mini view, you will get a full-size preview, without bringing up the window. Lastly, you can click the preview to bring the app to the foreground.

There are some additional features available when scrolling or swiping, such as opening or closing a window, moving it from one desktop to another, or minimizing and hiding an app. These have to be enabled from the app’s preferences.

When hovering over the Music icon, you won’t get the standard window preview. Instead, DockMate shows you the current song’s album art, title, and artist, along with playback controls that include a usable seek bar.

For Calendar, you will be shown a list of upcoming events for the current day, and you will be able to join any scheduled meetings with a single click in the preview.

You get a feeling that if Dock previews were to be added by Apple to macOS, this is exactly how they would work. The feature is integrated perfectly, and you can even customize the size of the mini view, its location, and hover delay.

DockMate is an excellent addition to macOS that can make it a lot easier to manage minimized windows, and it feels like a core macOS feature as soon as it’s installed. It’s definitely worth a try.