The macOS menu bar is a great place for quickly accessing system and awarding functions using menu extras or "menulets", but it can get chaotic pretty chop-chop every bit more and more icons vie for a space there.

If the corner of your Mac's screen is fast becoming an eyesore, hither are some quick and simple actions you can perform to bring order to the chaos, plus a few additional tips for making the well-nigh of Apple tree's card bar extras.

How to Rearrange Icons in the Menu Bar

Plenty of bill of fare bar icons offering useful shortcuts to app and system functions, and may accept upwardly permanent residence on your screen. But left to their own devices, the arrangement of said icons is likely to become haphazard. Fortunately, re-organizing them is simple, in one case you know how to do it.

  1. Agree down the Command (⌘) key.
  2. Hover your mouse cursor over the icon you want to move.
  3. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the icon into your preferred position on the menu bar. Other icons will stride aside to make infinite for it.
  4. Let become of the left mouse button.

move menu bar icon
Annotation that the Notifications icon in macOS is designed to sit in the far right corner of the menu bar and cannot exist moved elsewhere.

How to Remove Organization Icons From the Menu Bar

Icons linked to organisation controls can be easily removed from the menu bar in the following way:

  1. Hold downward the Command (⌘) primal.
  2. Hover your mouse cursor over the icon you desire to remove.
  3. Property downward the left mouse button, drag the icon out of the menu bar and onto the desktop.
  4. Let go of the left mouse button.

remove menu bar icon
If the icon doesn't vanish with a "whoosh" sound, and then it was likely put there past a third-party app you lot or another user installed. In that case, await for an option in the associated app'southward settings such as "Show in Carte du jour Bar" and uncheck it.

How to Add Organization Icons to the Menu Bar

If y'all removed a arrangement icon from the menu bar and would like information technology back, or if yous'd similar to add a fresh ane, y'all can notice options in the associated preference panes. For example, to reinstate the AirPlay icon in the carte du jour bar:

  1. Click the apple symbol in the far left of the menu bar and select System Preferences....
  2. Select the Brandish preference pane.
  3. At the bottom of the pane, check the box to "Show mirroring options in the card bar when available".

rearrange menu bar icons how to
Like bill of fare bar options relating to Audio volume, Bluetooth, Siri, Time Machine, and Accessibility condition tin be found in their respective preference panes. In addition to Wi-Fi status (listed beneath), the Network pane will also offer "menulet" options for things like modems and VPNs if you have them set up, while menu bar icons related to keyboard, battery, user account, and date/fourth dimension are located less obviously in the following preference pane menus and tabs:

  • Keyboard -> Input Sources -> Bear witness Input menu in menu bar.
  • Energy Saver -> Show bombardment status in bill of fare bar.
  • Network -> Wi-Fi -> Show Wi-Fi status in menu bar.
  • Users & Groups -> Login Options -> Evidence fast user switching card as Total Name / Account Name / Icon.
  • Date & Time -> Clock -> Show date and time in card bar.

Carte du jour Bar Extras

For one reason or another, some menulet options remain hidden in Organization Preferences by default. Interested users can find the full collection in the System folder: Open up a Finder window, from the menu bar select Go -> Go to Folder..., and then navigate to /Organization/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras.

Some of the extras in this folder are pretty obscure, but one or two might come in handy – like Eject if you use an optical drive, or Ink if you connect a graphics tablet to your Mac, for case. Merely double-click any that look useful and they'll be added to the menu bar. They can be removed simply every bit hands using the Command (⌘) key method described above.

Finally, users looking for a more comprehensive method of managing menu bar icons should consider third-party app Bartender 3 ($xv).

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