User level: Level 1 (101 points)How do I disable the shadow on the dock for Sequoia?
I am trying to take screenshots of some source code for documentation. However, the window, being close to the dock, is covered by a faint shadow from the dock. The shadow, which ends up in the screenshot, ruins the perfect white background of the code editor and leaves an annoying gradient when I put the screenshot on the white documentation page.
How do I disable the dock shadow so this doesn't happen?
Posted on Oct 11, 2026 8:26 AM
User level: Level 10 (99,154 points)Oct 11, 2026 8:49 AM in response to DrYeet
You can not disable the dock shadow.
One option is to move the window away from the dock.
A second option is to temporally hide and show the dock.
A third option is to move the dock to the right side or the bottom.
User level: Level 7 (22,314 points)Oct 13, 2026 12:03 AM in response to DrYeet
You can turn off folder shadows from screenshots if you Command + Shift + 4, then press Option-Spacebar. Or maybe (I have not tried this):
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true ; killall SystemUIServer
Does that work for Dock shadow? I guess there might also be 3rd party add-ons for this.
User level: Level 1 (101 points)Oct 13, 2026 8:37 AM in response to den.thed
Thanks for your response. This makes me reminisce of the old days of computer OS's. I miss when software companies used straight boxes and pure colors rather than wasting time on needless gradients and effects. It may look a little nice, but practicality suffers a mile.
User level: Level 7 (22,314 points)Oct 13, 2026 12:04 AM in response to DrYeet
[deleted double post]
User level: Level 1 (101 points)Oct 13, 2026 8:38 AM in response to Matti Haveri
As a matter of fact, I had run that exact command before specifically to remove those shadows. Unfortunately they are not correlated with the dock/window shadows outside of screenshots.
User level: Level 10 (99,154 points)Oct 13, 2026 12:15 PM in response to DrYeet
You're welcome. I agree and also dislike a lot of the new features in macOS.
To make Apple aware of your dislikes, send feedback to > Feedback - macOS - Apple
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256374238