Intended for organization and as an application switcher, DragThing allowed for multiple docks with user-specified settings such as color, texture and shape.

DragThing won many awards,[1] and in 2010 MacWorld gave it 4.5 mice, highlighting its utility for users who preferred using the mouse over keyboard-oriented launchers such as LaunchBar or QuickSilver.

In its early versions, DragThing brought many features useful in a multitasking environment to Classic Mac OS such as alt-tab application switching and an onscreen representation of running processes.

DragThing was one of the first applications to adopt the Platinum appearance on Mac OS 8[3] and ran in the Blue Box on Apple's aborted Rhapsody project.

[citation needed] The DragThing release schedule slowed between 1998 and 2000, as its developer James Thomson was then employed at Apple Inc. as part of the team working on Mac OS X's Finder and Dock.