Make (some) apps run without a dock icon

Apr 20, '01 12:53:53AM

Contributed by: robg

If you'd like to have an application running, but without a dock icon, there's a way achieve this by modifying the application's plist file. Read the rest of this article if you'd like the (fairly simple) instructions.

NOTE: This one goes in the clearly 'experimental' category. I have not tried this myself yet, but the source (the X4U mailing list) is generally good, and it seems to make logical sense. Use at your own risk!!

Open a terminal session, and first navigate to the "Contents" folder of the application you'd like to modify (note - you may want to make a backup of the app first, especially if it's one of the Apple-installed applications). This example uses Key Caps:

cd 'Applications/Utilities/Key Caps.app/Contents/'
Now, edit the Info.plist file:
vi Info.plist
You can use vi, pico, or emacs to do the editing.

Just before the closing Just before the closing </dict> tag, add
<key>NSBGOnly</key>
<string>1</string>
Save the edited Info.plist, then launch Key Caps from the GUI (it's in /Applications). If your edit was successful, you should see the Key Caps window come up, but no icon in the dock.

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