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klay123
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Overlapping words and Dock icon issues on MacBook Air m5 running macOS 27

I just installed macOS 27 on my MacBook Air m5, I realized there is a few bug and I not sure how to fix it, the words is overlap, especially when you go to folders. and my dock Liquid Glass(light) have icon issue, the other icon are normal except for the clear(light).

Posted on Oct 20, 2026 6:43 PM

2 replies

neuroanatomist
User level: Level 9 (72,871 points)

Oct 20, 2026 7:33 PM in response to klay123

Because macOS 27 is still receiving polish updates, occasional UI rendering bugs are not unexpected. Here is how you can resolve the folder text overlap and the dock icon glitch.


Fix the Overlapping Text in Folders

The overlapping word glitch in the Finder is tied to the way the new OS calculates transparency and font layering. The most effective way to force Finder to redraw the layout and fix the overlap is to reset the Liquid Glass slider and appearance settings: 

  • Open System Settings and click on Appearance in the sidebar.
  • Look for the Liquid Glass settings section.
  • Move the slider all the way to the right (making it more opaque/solid), then slide it back to your preferred position. This forces macOS to recalculate the text contrast boundaries. 
  • More info from Apple: Change Appearance settings on Mac - Apple Support
  • If the text is still overlapping, go to System Settings > Accessibility > Display and toggle Reduce Transparency to ON. Leave it on for a few seconds, then turn it off again to completely flush the UI glitch.


Fix the Liquid Glass "Clear (Light)" Dock Icon Issue

When you switch the Liquid Glass style to "clear (light)" inside macOS 27, the system uses a high level of transparency that can cause the icon caching layer to misrender or turn invisible. To clear out the bad icon cache, you need to restart the Dock process: 

  • Open the Terminal app (find in Spotlight or Applications > Utilities).
  • Copy and paste the following command exactly, then press return:
killall Dock; killall Finder
  • Your screen and dock will flicker for a split second. This forces the Dock to freshly reload the asset files for the "clear (light)" theme. 


If the specific application icon is still acting broken on the light glass theme, you can fix it manually: 

  • Drag the glitched application icon out of the Dock until it says "Remove" to get rid of the buggy shortcut.
  • Open your Finder, go to the Applications folder, and drag the app back onto the Dock to generate a fresh icon shortcut
  • More info from Apple: Use the Dock on Mac - Apple Support


If the above steps do not work, then see if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode. That process performs some system cleanup and clears caches, and also disables 3rd party extensions that may cause problems.

 

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support


If that does not correct the issue, test in a new user account. A newly-created user account will have all settings at default, and if the issue does not occur in that new account then it provides guidance on what may need to be changed to correct the issue.

 

Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support

 

Once the testing is complete, the new account can easily be deleted.

 

Delete a user or group on Mac – Apple Support


Those steps will help to isolate the problem.


Bugs can be reported to Apple here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

klay123 Author
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Oct 20, 2026 7:03 PM in response to klay123

I wanna ask if anyone knows how to fix this?

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256379952