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Rearranging macOS Menu Bar Items

10/1/2023

The Menu Bar along the top of your Mac screen can show system icons for a multitude of features and functions, such as battery status, date/time and Wi-Fi signal strength. But did you know that you can easily customise what is shown in the menu bar? Read our latest blog to find out how.

Rearranging Icons in Your macOS Menu Bar

Moving icons around on the Menu Bar is super-simple! Some of the icons, such as the date/time and Control Centre, are locked in place, but others can be easily moved around. Simply hold down the ‘cmd’ key (the key to the left of your space bar), click on an icon, and then drag and drop along the Menu Bar to the location you would like it to live.

Removing Icons from Your macOS Menu Bar

Removing an icon from your Menu Bar is also simple. Hold down the ‘cmd’ key, click on the icon and then drag it downwards away from the Menu Bar. An ‘X’ will appear – let go of the icon and it will disappear. Note: you haven’t deleted the actual feature/function, just removed the shortcut from the Menu Bar.

Adding Icons to Your macOS Menu Bar

You can also add new items to your Menu Bar. IMHO the best way to do this is from the Control Centre in System Preferences (as it gives you more options to add than via the Control Centre icon in the Menu Bar).

Go to System Preferences > Control Centre (in older macOS versions, go to System Preferences > Dock and Menu Bar). Down the left-hand side of the window that opens up, you will see a list of all the Modules available to you. To the right of this list is a menu that lets you select where and when the option will appear. The settings available are ‘Show in Menu Bar’, ‘Don’t Show in Menu Bar’ (or check/uncheck a tick box in older macOS versions) and, for some, ‘Show when active’.