Feature
Live window previews for the macOS Dock
Hover an app in the Dock and see thumbnails of its open windows, then click one to jump straight to it. docktor adds Windows-style Dock hover previews to macOS 26 — free and notarized.
The Dock hover preview macOS never shipped
On Windows, hovering a taskbar icon shows you every window that app has open. macOS never did that for the Dock — hover an icon and you get the app’s name and not much else. docktor fills the gap: point at an app in the Dock and a panel floats up with a thumbnail of each open window, so you can see what’s where before you commit to switching.
Point, see, click
Each thumbnail is captured fresh when you hover, and every one is clickable. Click one and docktor pulls that specific window forward — across Spaces, from behind other apps, without a detour through Cmd+Tab. It’s the fastest way to land on the right window when an app has five of them open. (Previews stay out of the way while Dock magnification is turned on.)
Rendered in native Liquid Glass
docktor is a native macOS 26 app, so the preview panel is drawn in Liquid Glass — the same blur, depth, and motion as the rest of the system. It looks like a feature Apple built into the Dock, not a utility bolted on top. And it’s free and notarized, with no account to create.
More than previews
Dock previews are one piece of docktor. The same app also gives you a thumbnail window switcher and fills the space beside your Dock with music, calendar, weather, and stats widgets. If Dock previews are the specific thing you’re after, it’s worth seeing how docktor stacks up against DockDoor.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I get window previews when I hover the Dock on a Mac?
- macOS doesn't do it on its own — hovering a Dock icon just shows the app name. docktor adds it: hover an app in the Dock and a Liquid Glass panel floats up with a thumbnail of every open window for that app. It's the Windows 11 taskbar behavior, brought to the Mac Dock.
- Can I click a preview to switch to that window?
- Yes. Each thumbnail is clickable — click one and docktor brings that exact window forward, even if it's on another Space or buried behind other apps. You don't have to Cmd+Tab to the app first and then hunt for the right window.
- How up to date are the preview thumbnails?
- Each thumbnail is a fresh ScreenCaptureKit capture of the window, taken as you hover (docktor reuses a capture for a few seconds), so it shows the window as it looked a moment ago rather than playing along with it. Windows on another desktop show a placeholder outline with the window's title and app icon. The panel is rendered in native macOS 26 Liquid Glass, so it matches the rest of the system rather than looking like an overlay.
- Does this slow down my Mac?
- It shouldn't. docktor captures window images when you hover a Dock icon (plus a few ahead of time after you switch desktops, so the next preview opens quickly), and it's a lightweight native app — no Electron, no background web view. When you're not hovering the Dock, nothing is shown.