Dock New
The Dock is a bar at the bottom of the screen with the apps you pin and the apps that are open. Its icons grow as the mouse passes over them, and one click opens an app or takes you to its window. It can also stand in for the Windows taskbar. The Dock is off at first.
Settings → Dock
Turning on the Dock
- Open Settings → Dock and turn on Show the Dock.
- The Dock appears at the bottom centre of the screen. It starts with the apps pinned to the Windows taskbar, in the same order. If the taskbar has no pins, it starts with File Explorer, your browser (Edge or Chrome), Calculator, Notepad and Settings.
- Set how big the icons are with Icon size (24 to 80 px), the room between them with Space between icons, and how much they grow under the mouse with Magnification.
Maximized windows stop above the Dock, the way they stop above the taskbar, so the Dock never covers the bottom of a window. Want the whole screen for your windows? Turn on Hide the Dock until the mouse reaches the bottom.
Style: Dark or Glass
Pick it in Style. Dark is a solid dark bar. Glass is see-through and frosted like the Dock on a Mac or an iPhone: the wallpaper and windows behind the bar show through, blurred by Windows' own glass effect. Like the taskbar, Glass follows Windows' mode (Settings → Personalization → Colors → Choose your mode): dark glass with white text in dark mode, light glass with dark text in light mode, so the time and icons stay readable.
What's in the Dock
- On the left are the apps you pinned, in your order.
- After a divider come the apps that are open but not pinned, when Show open apps that aren’t pinned is on.
- At the far right is the Recycle Bin. Click it to open it.
- A small dot under an icon means the app is open. A brighter dot marks the app in front.
- Point at an icon: it and its neighbours grow, and the app's name shows above it.
Like the taskbar, each browser profile and each installed web app (YouTube Music from Chrome, for example) gets its own icon, instead of all of them sharing one browser icon.
Opening and switching apps
- Click an app that isn't open to open it. Its icon bounces while it starts.
- Click an app that's open to bring its window to the front.
- Click the app that's in front to minimize it. If it has several windows, the click goes to the next one.
The right-click menu
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| New window | Opens a new window of an app that's already open. |
| Open | Opens an app that isn't open. |
| Keep in Dock | Pins an open app, so it stays in the Dock after you close it. |
| Remove from Dock | Takes the app out of the Dock. The app itself isn't removed. |
| Change icon… | Uses your own picture as the icon: PNG, JPG, ICO, WebP, GIF, BMP or SVG. It's copied into Poni's data folder, so you can move or delete the original. |
| Use the original icon | Goes back to the app's own icon. Shows once you've changed the icon. |
| Show in File Explorer | Opens the folder of that app, shortcut or file. |
| Close | Closes all the app's windows, like pressing the close button on each one. The app can still ask first if something isn't saved. |
| Dock settings | Opens Settings → Dock. |
Adding, arranging and removing
- Add: drag an app, shortcut, file or folder from File Explorer onto the Dock and drop it where you want it. Or right-click an open app and choose Keep in Dock.
- Arrange: hold an icon and slide it left or right.
- Remove: drag an icon up out of the Dock and let go, or right-click it and choose Remove from Dock.
- Match the taskbar: click Copy from the taskbar in Settings → Dock. The Dock's pinned apps become the taskbar's, in the same order.
Want a different icon for an app? Right-click it, choose Change icon… and pick your PNG. No need to make an ICO file.
Replacing the Windows taskbar
Turn on Hide the Windows taskbar and the taskbar leaves the screen while the Dock is on. The Dock then gets a Start button of its own on the left:
- Click the Start button to open Start, like pressing the Windows key.
- Right-click it for the Power and system menu, the same menu as Win+X.
- The Windows key, Win+A (Quick Settings) and Win+N (notifications and calendar) still work.
The taskbar comes back when you turn this or the Dock off, while Poni is snoozed or hidden from the tray (so there's always one of the two), and when you quit Poni. If Poni closes unexpectedly, the taskbar comes back as soon as Poni starts again.
Taskbar still gone and Poni won't start? Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc, find Windows Explorer and choose Restart. If the taskbar then auto-hides, turn that off in Windows Settings → Personalization → Taskbar → Taskbar behaviors → Automatically hide the taskbar.
Time and status on the Dock
While the taskbar is hidden, the right end of the Dock has a status area like the taskbar's. Turn it off with Time and status on the Dock if you don't need it.
- Input language, like ENG. Only shows when you have more than one language or keyboard. Click it to switch (Win+Space).
- Network, volume and battery (battery on laptops only). Click them for Quick Settings.
- Time and date. Click them for notifications and the calendar.
Other apps' tray icons (OneDrive, the hidden-icons arrow and so on) can't be shown in the Dock: Windows doesn't let other apps read them. Open those apps' windows from the Dock or from Start instead.
Options
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Show the Dock | Shows the Dock at the bottom of the screen. Default: off. |
| Pinned apps → Copy from the taskbar | Replaces the Dock's pinned apps with the taskbar's, in the same order. |
| Style | Dark (a solid dark bar) or Glass (see-through and frosted, light or dark like Windows’ mode). Default: Dark. |
| Icon size | How big the icons are, 24 to 80 px. Default: 50 px. |
| Space between icons | The room between icons, 0 to 20 px. Default: 4 px. |
| Magnification | How much icons grow under the mouse. 0% means not at all, 100% means twice the size. Default: 60%. |
| Show open apps that aren’t pinned | Open apps that aren't pinned show after a divider. Default: on. |
| Hide the Dock until the mouse reaches the bottom | The Dock stays hidden until the mouse touches the bottom of the screen, and maximized windows get the whole screen. Default: off. |
| Hide when an app is fullscreen New | The Dock hides while a fullscreen game, video or presentation is in front. Separate from Poni’s own option in General, so Poni can stay over a game (for its FPS) while the Dock hides. Turn it off to keep the Dock over fullscreen apps too. Default: on. |
| Hide the Windows taskbar | The Windows taskbar leaves the screen while the Dock is on, and the Dock gets a Start button. Default: off. |
| Time and status on the Dock | The input language, network, volume, battery, time and date at the right end of the Dock, while the taskbar is hidden. Default: on. |
The Dock shows on the display picked in Show Poni on (Settings → General). With All displays or Display with the mouse cursor, it's on the main display. It hides while a fullscreen app is in front (unless Hide when an app is fullscreen is off in Settings → Dock), and while Poni is snoozed or hidden from the tray.