How to delete and rearrange menu bar icons in macOS. With macOS, the menu bar allows us to quickly access some system functions (sonic, Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth, volume…) as well as many of the applications we use every day (DropBox, Todoist, Time Machine, etc.). However, the bar can be filled with icons before the one you imagined, and space is insufficient. If the menu bar on your Mac has become a mess that makes your work more accessible and more difficult, today I’ll show you a few tricks to better organize the menu bar into macOS.
Reordering Icons in the Menu Bar
Some of the icons in the menu bar offer useful shortcuts to specific application and system functions. They remain there permanently, but if their arrangement is not the most suitable for you, you can reorganize them quickly and easily. To do this, just follow these steps:
- Press and hold the Command key (⌘).
- Place the mouse cursor over the icon you want to move.
- Press and hold the left mouse button, drag the icon to the desired position in the menu bar (you will see how other images move apart and “leave space” for the icon), and release the left mouse button.
Note, however, that the Notifications icon cannot be moved from the far right of the menu bar.
To remove system icons from the menu bar
Icons that are linked to the system controls can be easily removed from the menu bar as follows:
- Press and hold the Command key (⌘).
- Place the mouse cursor over the icon you want to delete.
- Press and hold the left mouse button, drag the icon of the menu bar, to the desktop, and release the left mouse button.
But if you want to further optimize the use of the icons in the macOS menu bar, you can use the Bartender 3 app, which includes a free trial period in case you’re not convinced.