How customizable is CoolDock's second Dock on Mac?

Updated

CoolDock is a second Dock that sits beside your original Mac Dock and holds live widgets, apps, folders, and quick actions. It is customizable in the sense that you choose what appears in it — which widgets, apps, folders, bookmarks, and controls — and arrange them into a dock that matches how you work. It requires macOS Sonoma 14.0 or later and is sold as a one-time purchase.

What you can put in the second Dock

CoolDock groups its content into widget categories, and you pick from these rather than being locked into a fixed set:

Category What it covers
Apps, Files & Quick Access Apps & Folders, Bookmarks, File Shelf, Files & Downloads, Search, App Switcher, Dropbox
Productivity & Daily Focus Pomodoro, Drink Water, Calendar & Meetings, Reminders & Todos, Progress, Time Widgets, Notes, Mail
Mac Controls & System Tools System Stats, Quick Toggles, Audio Controls, Clipboard, Screenshots, Voice Memo, Emoji, Weather, Photos, Now Playing
Creator & Utility Widgets Color Picker, currency and unit conversion, calculator, saved links, idea capture

The practical effect is that a widget you use constantly — say Calendar & Meetings or Now Playing — can live permanently in the second Dock instead of behind a menu bar click or a separate app window.

How the customization works in practice

The customization model is selection plus placement, not deep scripting:

  • Choose widgets from the categories above so only the ones relevant to your day appear.
  • Add apps and folders you open often, plus bookmarks and a File Shelf for temporary files.
  • Mix live information with actions — a weather or system-stats widget can sit next to a quick toggle or a Pomodoro timer.
  • Keep it beside the native Dock, so your original Dock stays as-is and CoolDock acts as an extension rather than a replacement.

One user quoted on the site, James Ferguson, describes going further and replacing the default Dock entirely, which suggests the second Dock can carry enough of a daily workflow to stand in for the original if you want it to.

What "customizable" does and doesn't mean here

It's worth being precise, because the site describes customization in terms of content and layout rather than themes or code:

  • Supported: picking widgets, apps, folders, and controls; arranging what shows in the dock; combining live data widgets with quick actions.
  • Not stated in the available material: custom widget development, scripting hooks, or theme/skin editing. If you need to build your own widget, that isn't something the page evidence confirms.

CoolDock also emphasizes a local-first, privacy-first approach, so the widgets draw on your Mac rather than requiring a cloud account for the features listed.

Who gets the most out of it

This setup suits Mac users who currently juggle several small apps and menu bar items for the same information — calendar, reminders, weather, music, system stats — and would rather see them in one strip beside the Dock. If your workflow is already minimal and you rarely check live data, the benefit is smaller.

Before you install

  • Confirm you're on macOS Sonoma 14.0 or later.
  • Note that CoolDock is a one-time purchase; the site does not list a free tier, so treat it as a paid app unless you find otherwise at checkout.
  • Decide whether you want CoolDock as a companion to your existing Dock or as a replacement — the widget set is broad enough to support either, but starting as a companion is the lower-risk way to test which widgets you actually reach for.