Once you let go, it’s gone! Holding down Command as you click and drag icons also enables you to reposition them within the menu bar if you’re just looking to move icons left or right. Press and hold Command on your keyboard, click on your unwanted menu bar item, and drag it down away from the top of the screen. I remember it taking me quite a while to figure this out as a new Mac user, but it’s ridiculously easy to remove these icons. Having a jam-packed menu bar is not only bad for OCD neat-freaks like myself it can also slow down your system in general - especially during startup. That sure is a lot of functionality packed into such a tiny area, but the main point to remember is that sucker can fill up quickly and get out of hand if you’re not careful. Others include the battery indicator, Spaces, Time Machine, languages… the list goes on and those are just the ones from Apple! Never mind the countless menu bar add-ons you can download and install from third party software developers. Some have the Spotlight icon, clock, WiFi networks, Bluetooth devices, volume controls, etc. With that said, screen resolution still limits the number of icons that can fit comfortably before things get a little cramped.Įvery Mac user’s menu bar looks different.

Although it doesn’t seem like it at first glance, Mac OS X’s menu bar is surprisingly flexible.

Change mac menu bar settings