Dockter · User Guide
Dockter puts your apps, folders, bookmarks and a few useful facts into one menu, opened from the Dock icon or the menu bar.
One menu holds everything, and it's built fresh every time it opens, so what you see is what's true right now.
How to
- Click Dockter's Dock icon, or its menu bar icon, to open the menu.
- Click any row to open that app, file, folder or link.
- Hover a row with a › to see what's inside it.
Tip: Press ⌘, with the menu open to jump straight to Dockter Settings.
Menu Objects
The information at the top of the menu: weather for a city you choose, world clocks, today's calendar events, reminders due, exchange rates, free disk space and battery. Turn on only the ones you want.
How to
- Open Dockter Settings › Menu Objects.
- Turn on an object with its switch, then select it to see its own options below the list.
- For Weather, choose a city — Dockter never uses your location. For Exchange Rates, add up to three currency pairs. For Calendar and Reminders, choose which lists to include.
- Drag objects by the ≡ handle to set the order they appear in the menu.
Tip: Clicking a row opens the app behind it — an event opens in Calendar, a reminder in Reminders, the weather in the Weather app.
My Apps
Your favourite apps, grouped into folders you name and colour yourself. A green dot marks the ones already running.
How to
- Open Dockter Settings › My Apps and click Add Folder…
- Give the folder a name, and click its icon to choose a symbol and colour.
- Click Add Apps…, or drag apps in from Finder.
- Drag rows by the ≡ handle to reorder them; the menu follows the same order.
Tip: An app that isn't installed any more is marked "Not installed" rather than quietly disappearing.
My Bookmarks
Web links, files and folders in one place. Folders you bookmark can be browsed right in the menu, one level at a time, and links show the site's own icon.
How to
- Open Dockter Settings › My Bookmarks and create a folder.
- Click Add Link… for a web address, or Add File or Folder… to pick something on your Mac. You can also drag items in from Finder or a browser.
- Give each one the name you want to see in the menu.
- Under Browsing Folders, choose whether folders are listed before files.
Tip: A red question mark means the file has moved, been renamed or gone to the Trash. Click Locate… to point Dockter at it again, and everything else about the bookmark stays as it was.
Running Apps & Launch Apps
Running Apps lists what's open right now, with each app's windows and tabs; clicking brings the app forward with all its windows. Launch Apps lists everything installed, arranged as in your Applications folder.
How to
- Open the menu and hover Running Apps or Launch Apps.
- Click an app to bring it forward, or to open it.
- To see window names, allow Screen Recording when Dockter asks, or later in System Settings › Privacy & Security.
Tip: Dockter only reads window names for this list. It never records or captures your screen.
Adding things to Dockter
Anything can be added without opening Settings first.
How to
- Drag an app, file or folder onto Dockter's Dock icon.
- Or drag it onto the menu bar icon.
- Give it a name and choose the folder it should go in — the folder you used last is offered first.
- Choose New Folder… in that same panel to make a folder on the spot.
Tip: Apps go to My Apps, everything else to My Bookmarks. Dockter sorts that out for you.
Adding links from your browser
Safari and Firefox can hand a page straight to Dockter. Chrome, Edge, Opera and Brave have no macOS Share menu, so they use a bookmarklet instead.
How to
- In Safari, click Share in the toolbar and choose Dockter. In Firefox, use File › Share, or right-click the tab › Share. The first time, turn Dockter on in System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions › Sharing.
- In Chrome and friends, show the bookmarks bar (⌘⇧B), right-click it and choose Add page…
- Name it "Add to Dockter" and paste this as the address:
javascript:location.href='dockter://add?url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title) - Click that bookmark on any page. The browser asks once whether to open Dockter — tick Always allow.
Tip: You can also drag a link from any browser's address bar into a folder in Dockter Settings › My Bookmarks.
Appearance & where Dockter lives
Dockter can sit in the Dock, in the menu bar, or both, and its menu can be dark, light, or follow your Mac.
How to
- Open Dockter Settings › General.
- Choose Menu appearance: Match System, Light or Dark.
- Turn Show in Dock and Show in menu bar on or off — one of them always stays on, so Dockter is always reachable.
- Turn on Launch at login to have Dockter ready after every restart.
Tip: Menus are made of glass and pick up the colours behind them. For solid menus, turn on Reduce Transparency in System Settings › Accessibility › Display.
Backup & data transfer
Everything Dockter holds can be written to a single file and read back.
How to
- Open Dockter Settings › Data.
- Click Export to save folders, bookmarks, Menu Objects and settings to one file.
- Click Import to replace everything with the contents of a file you saved earlier.
- Clear Data resets Dockter to its defaults. Your actual apps, files and websites are never touched.
Tip: On another Mac, bookmarked files and folders need pointing at once more with Locate…, because macOS grants that permission per Mac.
Trial & unlocking
Dockter works fully for 30 days from the first time you run it. After that, one payment unlocks it for good.
How to
- The top of the menu shows how many days are left. Click it to see the price.
- Click Unlock Dockter to buy it through the App Store.
- On another Mac, click Restore Purchase — it belongs to your Apple Account, not to one machine.
- Dockter Settings › General shows your status at any time.
Tip: Nothing is deleted when a trial ends. Your folders and bookmarks wait exactly as you left them, and unlocking brings them straight back.