How to add folders to your iPad Dock in iPadOS 26

Learn how to add folders to the Dock of your iPad so you can quickly access your favorite files and documents and use them in apps via drag-and-drop.

iPadOS 26 (currently in beta) enables you to add folder shortcuts to the Dock on your iPad, making it behave more like its Mac counterpart. Clicking a folder in the Dock displays icons of the files within, and you can easily add or remove items.

Dock folders provide lightning-fast access to your most essential files; use drag-and-drop to import an item from your Dock like an image into your Pages document or another app. Follow along with the tutorial below for the full instructions.

Add a file folder to the iPad’s Dock

1. Open the built-in Files app on your iPad and select the On My iPad or iCloud Drive section under the Locations heading in the sidebar, depending on whether the source folder is saved on your device or in iCloud.
2. Touch and hold the folder and drag a little bit to unseat it from its position, but don’t lift your finger yet. Using another finger, make a short swipe-up gesture from the bottom edge of the screen to bring up the Dock.
3. Drag the folder you’ve been holding all the time, then drop it on the rightmost section of the Dock. Repeat these steps to add more folders to the Dock, if needed.

You cannot add folders to the left of the Dock’s vertical divider where your recent apps appear. Instead, Dock folders are always positioned next to the App Library icon. Also, you must use Apple’s Files app; adding Dock folders from third-party file managers like Readdle’s Documents is unsupported at this moment.

Viewing files in a Dock folder

Tap a folder icon in the Dock to reveal a Mac-like menu listing the files and subfolders inside your Dock folder. Tapping any file or folder will open it in the Files app, except for images and PDFs which open in the new Preview app. To use a file in an app, simply drag it from its Dock folder and drop it where you want.

Customize Dock folder views

Another aspect where the iPad’s Dock behaves similarly to its Mac counterpart is customization. To switch between different views and sorting options, touch and hold a Dock folder and choose desired options in the “Sort by” and “View Content As” sections. For example, I always sort my files by Date Modified and prefer browsing them in Grid layout.

Remove a folder from the Dock

If you no longer need a folder in your Dock, touch and hold its icon and choose Options > Remove from Dock. Or, enter jiggle mode and tap the minus button.

A consistent Dock experience

Consistency is a key theme of iOS 26 and Apple’s other redesigned operating systems scheduled to launch this fall. The ability to put folders in the Dock is another step in the right direction toward bringing iPadOS one step closer to macOS.

Among other improvements in iPadOS 26 are a new Phone app for making cellular calls from your iPhone and an enhanced windowing system with precise window placement, Mac-like traffic light buttons in the top-left corner of windows, and an Expose feature for a bird’s eye overview of all open windows.

One feature I’d love to see added in the future is Mac-like virtual desktop spaces, which would enable me to keep apps and windows organized in separate spaces.

Are you liking Dock folders in iPadOS 26. Speaking of which, what do you think of iPadOS 26, and how has your experience been so far?

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/07/17/how-to-add-folder-to-ipad-dock/