Cannot insert applications in Mac OS X's dock

Question

For some reason I cannot insert an application into the main part of my dock. Is there a technique or some kind of limit?

Answer 1

it turns out that what I had been trying to add to the dock wasnt actually an application, but the folder containing the application I was trying to add. In this case, it was Aptana. So I was trying to drag the folder "Applications/Aptana Studio 2.0" instead of the application "Applications/Aptana Studio 2.0/AptanaStudio"

Answer 2

Is it possible that Parental Controls were turned on for this user account?

Launch System Preferences > Parental Controls, then choose your user name and look at the System pane. There's a checkbox for "Can modify the Dock"--is it selected?

Can other users of this Mac add applications to their Docks? Did you used to be able to add them to yours?

Answer 3

There once was a limit of 128 Applications in the Dock. I'm not certain if that limit is still valid. If you have more then 100 Applications in your Dock you suffer from a totally different missorganization problem than a Dock's limitation. :-)

Are you dragging the Application itself to the Dock or an enclosing folder? Folders (and files) can only be dragged to the right (or lower if your Dock is on the side) part of the Dock. Also be sure not to drag the new Application onto an exisiting Application but between two other Apps.