Stacks configuration

Question

Where can I change the default appearance of the stacks? I was able to change that in the past but I can't remember how to revert back to the default way.

Answer 1

To get the fanning out of items (as Apple promoted in Leopard marketing), in the right/control-click menu you need to select:

Display as -> Stack
View content as -> Fan

Here are a couple of other visual stack tweaks which modify their appearance:

If in grid mode you want a helpful roll-over:

Type this into your terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean YES
killall Dock

If you want to make stacks look like they are, collections, add a stack overlay:

Stack overlay icons

And, a cool trick to add a recent things stack (right/control-click to get more options:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'
killall Dock

Answer 2

Control-click on the stack, there should be a popup menu that lets you change that among other settings.

Answer 3

From you comment on RCIX's solution it sounds like you simply have too many items in your stack. After something like ten items the files will only display in grid form. Otherwise the line of files would go right off the screen!

Answer 4

Just discovered what the problem is. It turns out that the type of view i was talking about was the Fan content view, which only appears if you use your dock on the bottom. In my case i was using the dock on the right side. Thanks for all the answers.