Pinned apps and open windows on Mac: what should you click?

A pinned app is a way back to an application. A window button is a way back to a particular document. If you keep a browser and a text editor on your taskbar, those targets can look similar even though they answer different questions: “open this app” and “return to this window.”

This guide explains how to pin an app in Dockline, what happens when its windows are absent from the panel, and how to check the difference with two documents. The instructions describe the published Dockline 1.269.

Keep an app handy in the macOS Dock

For a familiar app shortcut, the built-in Dock may be enough. Drag an app to the app area of the Dock, or Control-click a running app’s icon and choose Options → Keep in Dock. Click its icon to open the app. Removing the shortcut from the Dock does not uninstall the application. See Apple’s Use the Dock on Mac.

Keeping an app available and choosing one of its documents are separate tasks. For keyboard shortcuts and macOS window overviews, use the guide to switching between windows of the same app.

Pin an application in Dockline

Open the application so its window appears on the Dockline panel. Right-click its window button and choose Pin App. Pinning keeps a shortcut to the application; it does not pin that document or save its contents.

To remove the pin later, use Unpin App from a window or group menu, or Unpin from an icon-only pinned item. Removing a pin does not close its windows or uninstall the app.

Choose a window by its title

When you want an already open document, select its named window button. If its app is collapsed into one button, open the group’s window list and select the title there. Use the title as your target: the app icon alone does not identify one specific document.

In Windows and groups, Combine app windows controls the shared background. Collapse windows into one button controls whether the windows remain separate buttons. Choose Never for this comparison so you can see each title. Clicking an already active window follows the configured Active window click action, so it can behave differently from selecting another window.

An app icon without window buttons is not a closed-app indicator

A pinned icon can remain when the panel has no visible windows for that app. The app may be closed, running without an ordinary window, or have windows excluded by your display or desktop filters.

Clicking that pin asks Dockline to return to the application. With Accessibility permission, Dockline first looks for an existing window, including windows outside the panel’s current filter. If it finds one, it can take you to that window on another display or Space. Otherwise it opens or activates the app. The app decides whether that produces a document window, a chooser or another result; a pin does not guarantee a new blank document.

Before assuming a document has closed, check Displays and desktops: Show windows from displays and Show windows from desktops can limit the list. The multiple-monitor and Spaces guide explains those choices. Pinning alone does not change the filters.

Try the distinction with two documents

Open two ordinary windows in one app. Use harmless documents with different titles, for example “Notes” and “Plan.” Tabs in one window do not count as two windows.
Pin the app, then choose by title. Set collapsing to Never and select the other document’s button. Notice that the pin belongs to the app, while the titles identify its windows.
Check a filtered window if you use Spaces or another display. With a current-desktop or current-display filter, a missing button can mean “outside this list.” Clicking an icon-only pin may bring that existing window back into view.
Compare after closing the test windows normally. Save anything you need first. The pin remains available. Click it and observe what that particular app opens; create a new document through the app’s own menu when needed.

If the panel exists but expected window buttons are missing, follow missing-window troubleshooting, including Accessibility permission. Optional window previews need separate Screen Recording permission; you can make this comparison using titles alone.

Choose your next step

Keep a small set of apps you launch often, and use window titles for documents you revisit. You can keep using the macOS Dock alongside Dockline while deciding which routine suits your work.

Before trying Dockline, check the current compatibility, Trial and price and follow the installation guide. For the full set of controls, open the settings guide.