Help needed with: defaults write com.apple.dock

[cwolff]

Hi, i just beginning with this so please forgive me my ignorance!
Ok, i need some help with this: (in this) i want to add some like Documents to the dock. It's working as long as i use the following:

<dict> <key>_CFURLString</key> <string>/Users/Me/Documents</string> <key>_CFURLStringType</key> <integer>0</integer> </dict>

But it does not works properly when using (the VARIABLE $HOME or using ~):

<dict> <key>_CFURLString</key> <string>$HOME/Documents</string> <key>_CFURLStringType</key> <integer>0</integer> </dict>

Does this mean that you can't use VARIABLES?
(here's the complete "script")

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add ' <dict> <key>tile-data</key> <dict> <key>displayas</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>file-data</key> <dict> <key>_CFURLString</key> <string>$HOME/Documents</string> <key>_CFURLStringType</key> <integer>0</integer> </dict> <key>file-label</key> <string>Documents</string> <key>showas</key> <integer>2</integer> </dict> <key>tile-type</key> <string>directory-tile</string> </dict>'; Killall Dock

[Cornoir]

Have you tried using the $USER variable:
/Users/$USER/Documents

[Cornoir]

Have you tried using the $USER variable:
/Users/$USER/Documents

[cddwyer]

I wouldn't use that method to add items to the dock, it is notoriously unreliable, and likely to differ with OS versions.

My best advice would be deploy 'dockutil' in a package and call it with scripts, it works really well and has a lot of settings you can customise.

Download it from:

https://github.com/kcrawford/dockutil

[Manu]

I have set up my dock using profile management.
On a test machine, I created a dock with the Apps and folder that I wanted.
Then I went I copied the plist file /Users/Testaccount/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist to my machine. On Profile Management, if you wish to create a new profile, you can import the plist in the Custom Settings Payload and simply delete the string: _CFURLString which contains the user name (in my example, it will be "Testaccount")

This is the link that helped me: https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/18357/el-capitan-user-template-dock-customisation-issue

And now, any user can log in to this machine and they will all have the same dock that I have set up.
On the plus side, you don't have to play with SIP.