The menu bar at the top of the Mac screen only occupies a small area but can provide many hidden functions. In addition to offering the basic functions of the default settings, it can also be extended to customize the menu, add extensions, track data, and other features. Today we will unlock three hidden skills of the top menu bar to make your Mac faster and more efficient.
Hide status bar icons
One of the hidden skills of the Mac menu bar is that you can drag and drop the small icon of the top menu bar at will by pressing the “Command” key and dragging the icon out of the menu bar.
If you want to make the menu bar cleaner, you can remove the display of the default icons that are in the settings. Just follow the guide below to make the menu bar clean.
Native icons cleaning: The display of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Backup, and other apps can be disabled. To enable the display again, go to “System Preferences” > Time Machine > check “Show Time Machine in the menu bar”. The display and non-display of other native settings’ statuses in the menu bar are as below.
When the function name is identical to the button name, the operation process is as follows:
- Bluetooth: System Preferences > Bluetooth > Uncheck “Show Bluetooth in the menu bar”.
- Siri: System Preferences > Siri > Uncheck “Show Siri in the menu bar”.
- Sound: System Preferences > Sound > Uncheck “Show Volume in menu bar”.
When the function name is inconsistent with the button name, the operation process is as follows:
- Location: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Location Services > Drop-down to “Details…” in “System Services” > Uncheck “Show location icon in menu bar When System Services request your location”.
- Wi-Fi: System Preferences > Network > Uncheck “Show Wi-Fi Status in the menu bar”.
- Input Method: System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources > Uncheck “Show Input menu in menu bar”.
- Battery: System Preferences > Energy Saver > Uncheck “Show battery status in menu bar”.
- Clock: System Preferences > Date & Time > Uncheck “Show date and time in menu bar”.
- User: System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Options > Check “Show fast user switching menu as” and select “Icon” as Full Name.
If you think it is troublesome to tidy up menu bar icons on Mac over and over, you might as well try to organize them through third-party software, such as Bartender or Vanilla, which are both easy to use.
Bartender: Simplify and customize the reorganization of the status menu bar. Bartender is divided into two layers. The outer layer is the default display state, and the inner layer is the icon that needs to be hidden. It can also choose different display methods according to different applications. For example, when there is a notification, it appears in the outer layer, and when there is no notification, it hides quietly in Bartender.
Vanilla: Set hidden nodes and one-click fold the status menu bar. Compared with Bartender, Vanilla has only one layer. It hides icons by setting nodes. It can be achieved by holding down the command key and dragging icons into the left arrow area.
Another hiding skill of the menu bar is that many applications can be used directly in the menu bar. These apps, which can be used in the menu bar, have doubled the efficiency of Mac’s usage.
When the Mac desktop has been occupied by applications, the menu bar can open a wide range of applications in one click, without launching apps in Launchpad, which is convenient and efficient.
- EverNote: Multi-purpose draft paper, which is easy to record, collect and save at any time.
- Clean Text Menu: Super-strong Text Format Painter. It can be customized to any format you want. When downloading, pay attention to selecting the Menu version so that it can be used in the menu bar.
- pap.er: It can change the desktop wallpaper regularly for you. And you can set it to your Mac in one click when you see beautiful wallpaper.
- Degree: It will directly show the weather and temperature of the current location in the menu bar.
- iStat Menus: It will tell you the software and hardware monitoring information in the menu bar.
- PodcastMenu: Listen to podcasts in the menu bar on Mac. It allows you to move forward and backward for 30 seconds and pause.
These apps help us make Mac more efficient, so ” If you use Mac well, Mac will be a treasure ”
These apps allow you to unlock the Universal Menu achievement
Don’t forget that besides the icons on the right of the top menu bar, there are text menus on the left. To unlock the Universal Menu, quick usage of the left side of the menu bar is naturally needed.
MenuMate: When there is occupied with too much space by the application icons on the right side, the menu at the left will be crowded out, resulting in an incomplete display. And MenuMate will play a large role at this time. The menu of the current program can be opened anywhere on the screen through MenuMate without going to the top-left corner to select the menu.
Shortcut key combination “Command + Shift + /”: Quickly search for the item in the application menu. Similarly, for the function menu on the left, if you feel that it is troublesome to select the menu layer by layer, you can use the shortcut key to search for the menu item quickly. For example, in the app of Sketch, you can directly select the graphics template you want to create by typing “New From” via a shortcut key. It is easier, faster, and more efficient.
There are two other all-purpose tools that allow custom plug-ins and scripts to be injected into the menu bar. As long as the functions you want, they will make it for you.
- BitBar: Fully customized menu bar. Any plug-ins program can be placed in the menu bar, such as stock uplift, DNS switching, current hardware information, alarm clock settings, etc. Developers also provide the plug-in reference addresses, which can be downloaded and used at will.
- TextBar: Any number of scripts can be added to display the desired information, such as the number of unread mail, the number of clipboard characters, the Emoji display, the IP address of the outer network display, etc. It is a free and open-source program on GitHub, and it has a large potential to do what it can.
Following this guide, the efficiency of the Mac has been improved by more than 200%. All over Mac will become a treasure if you use it well. So hurry up and collect it!