Change Menu Bar settings on Mac

On your Mac, use Menu Bar settings to choose items to include in the menu bar. You can also drag items directly to the menu bar when you customize Control Center. See Customize the menu bar and Use Control Center.

To change these settings, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Menu Bar in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)

Open Menu Bar settings for me

General options

Option	Description
Automatically hide and show the menu bar	Choose when to hide and show the menu bar: Always: Always hide and show the menu bar. On Desktop Only: Hide and show the menu bar when not using an app in full screen. In Full Screen Only: Hide and show the menu bar when using an app in full screen. Never: Never hide the menu bar. Move the pointer to the top of the screen to show the menu bar when it’s hidden.
Show menu bar background	Choose to show your wallpaper behind the menu bar, or to show the menu bar background.
Recent documents, applications, and servers	Choose how many items to show in the Recent Items menu command. Items you’ve used recently are listed in the Apple menu , so that you can easily open the items from there. This setting also determines how many recent items appear in app menus, such as the Open Recent option in the File menu in TextEdit.

Option

Description

Automatically hide and show the menu bar

Choose when to hide and show the menu bar:

Always: Always hide and show the menu bar.
On Desktop Only: Hide and show the menu bar when not using an app in full screen.
In Full Screen Only: Hide and show the menu bar when using an app in full screen.
Never: Never hide the menu bar.

Move the pointer to the top of the screen to show the menu bar when it’s hidden.

Show menu bar background

Choose to show your wallpaper behind the menu bar, or to show the menu bar background.

Recent documents, applications, and servers

Choose how many items to show in the Recent Items menu command. Items you’ve used recently are listed in the Apple menu , so that you can easily open the items from there.

This setting also determines how many recent items appear in app menus, such as the Open Recent option in the File menu in TextEdit.

Menu Bar Controls

These items can appear in the menu bar. More items are available in Control Center.

Option				Description
Clock				The clock is always shown in the menu bar. Click Clock Options, then choose how you want the date and time displayed in the menu bar clock. See Change the menu bar clock format.
Siri Spotlight Wi-Fi Bluetooth^®				Select to show in the menu bar.
Battery				If you’re using a Mac laptop, you can select to show the Battery status in the menu bar. Click Battery Options, and you can also choose to show the percentage of battery charge (the percentage is always shown when Battery is in Control Center), and when to show the energy mode.
Focus Screen Mirroring Display Sound Now Playing				Select to show in the menu bar. Click the pop-up menu next to an item, then choose an option: Show When Active: Only show the status icon in the menu bar when the item is active. Always Show: Show the status icon in the menu bar at all times.
Fast User Switching				Select to show in the menu bar. Click the pop-up menu, then choose an option: Full Name: Show the full name of the user in the menu bar. Account Name: Show the name of the user account in the menu bar. Icon: Show the Fast User Switching icon in the menu bar.
Time Machine VPN Weather				Select to show in the menu bar.

Allow in the Menu Bar

Some applications provide menu bar items for extra functionality.

Option				Description
[Application name]				Select to show in the menu bar.

Reset Option

Option				Description
Reset Control Center				Click to return the Control Center to its original settings.

Helpful?

Mac User Guide

Change Menu Bar settings on Mac

General options

Menu Bar Controls

Allow in the Menu Bar

Reset Option