Useful macOS defaults: Dashboard

2013-01-14 17:00

com.apple.dashboard controlled Dashboard, the widget overlay that was part of macOS from Tiger (10.4) through Mojave (10.14). Apple removed Dashboard in macOS Catalina (10.15).

If you run macOS Mojave or earlier, these settings still work. On Catalina and later, they have no effect.

Turn off Dashboard

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -bool true

Then restart the Dock (which manages Dashboard):

killall Dock

To turn it back on:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -bool false
killall Dock

Show Dashboard as an overlay instead of a separate Space

By default, Dashboard appeared as its own Space (a separate desktop you could swipe to). You could make it appear as an overlay on top of your current desktop instead:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard dashboard-enabled-state -int 3

The values:

1 = off
2 = shown as a separate Space (the default)
3 = shown as an overlay on the current desktop

What replaced Dashboard?

macOS Sonoma and later have desktop widgets, which fill a similar role. Notification Centre widgets have been available since macOS Yosemite. Neither uses the com.apple.dashboard domain.

Notes

These settings only matter on macOS Mojave (10.14) and earlier. If you are on a newer system, you can safely ignore this domain.

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