How to Take Control of Your Mac’s Menu Bar With Bartender.
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Menu bar clutter on Mac is real, but Bartender helps by hiding everything you don’t need and bringing it to the surface when you do. Here’s how to use it to tidy up your menu bar forever without losing functionality.
Why the bartender is so useful
Sometimes it seems like every app adds a menu bar item. Over time, the number of items in our menu bar increases.
The problem is that Apple’s solution to decluttering this area isn’t very helpful. Sure, you can enable and disable specific items, but there are some that you may need occasionally but don’t want to see all the time.
That’s where Bartender comes in. If you only need an item once in a while, you can hide it behind the Bartender icon. You click on it to bring up the bartender bar, and there you will find all the items you chose to hide.
as a four-week free trial. You have to pay $15 to continue using the app after that.
How to hide an item with Bartender
Right-click on the Bartender icon in the menu bar and click on “Preferences”.
Click on the “Menu Items” tab. All available items are listed on the left of the window. Click on an item to select it.
Select an option from the first dropdown box to choose whether you want an item to be shown or hidden.
Bartender offers four options:
Show – Shows the item on the menu bar.
Hide – Hides the item from the menu bar and moves it to the menu bar.
Always Show – Shows the item on the menu bar and on the toolbar.
Always Hide: Hides the element completely. It is still accessible via search.
Some elements change based on different circumstances; for example, the dropdown box item changes during the synchronization process. The waiter displays the items when a change is detected. Check “Show for updates” to enable the option and select how long you want the item to be visible.
You can also type a text name for the item to use when searching for it.
How to find or search for an item
Items set to “Hide” are not visible on the main menu bar, but items set to “Always Hide” don’t even appear on the bar. However, you can search for them to access them. The easiest way to do this is to set Bartender to use a hotkey, so you can quickly access the search.
Right-click on the icon in the menu bar to open Bartender preferences and select the “Hotkeys” tab to configure the search.
Click on the “Enter Hotkey” area and press the key combination you want to use.
Once set up, you can quickly open the Bartender search prompt. Quickly press your new hotkey to test it out.
Type the shortcut and a search bar will appear below the Bartender icon. Type the search name of an item and press Return. Press Return again or click the item to interact with it.
This is the fastest way to access hidden items, and the only way to access items that are always hidden. You can assign more hotkeys to show hidden items, show all menu bar items, and more.
Inside bartender setup
The bartender has many options. Some are cosmetic, but others are vital to how the app works.
First, you can choose whether Bartender opens when you start your Mac. Make sure it’s checked (you can find it in the “General” tab) to get the most out of Bartender.
You can also automatically hide hidden items after showing them for the ultimate in clutter reduction. Otherwise, all items will remain visible until you click the Bartender icon again.
The Bartender icon does not have to be visible if you prefer to use keyboard shortcuts to view hidden items; we discussed them earlier.
To disable the Bartender icon, uncheck the “Visible” checkbox in the “Appearance” tab. You can also customize the Bartender icon when it is visible.
Bartender keeps track of items, so you can show them when they change. That uses power, which can affect battery life in portable Macs. You can tell the Bartender to check for changes less frequently by checking the “Decrease checking for updates” option in the “Advanced” tab.
Please note that Bartender checks for article updates less regularly and may not appear immediately if this option is selected.
An application’s menus may obscure menu bar items, especially on small, low-resolution screens. Check the “Remove apps menu when needed” checkbox on the same tab to allow Bartender to remove bar items when it needs more space.
