A recent post in one of my favorite Mac-centric publications, ScreenCasts Online (SCO), reminded me of a part of the Macintosh I rarely think about: the menu bar. According to Apple, “The menu bar runs along the top of the screen. Use the menus on the left side to choose commands and perform tasks in apps. The menu items change, depending on which app you’re using.” And, according to a Safari AI-based overview, “Menu Extras (a.k.a. ‘menulets’) are small icons on the right side of the menu bar that provide quick access to system settings and information. They can act as both a status indicator and a menu for adjusting various apps and settings.” By the way, on a Windows PC, the menu bar is called “the task bar,” and icons are found in the “system tray”; both are at the bottom of the screen. Go figure.
Here’s where things get a little confusing: on the Mac, these menu icons can be a function of a typical app that has its own windows and menus, or they can be the app itself! In other words, an item that only exists in the menu bar and can only be accessed there.
The SCO post prompted me to reflect on the icons that have been residing in my menu bar for years, if not decades. While some of them require a fee, most are free! I’ll tell you a bit about each one, explain why I find them useful, and provide links so you can get more information about them. I’ve listed them in “usage” order: the first group consists of the ones I use most often, and the second group consists of the ones I rely on but don’t need to access as frequently. These two groups are a function of “Bartender,” which I’ll talk about first.
Ready? Let’s go!
MY MOST-USED MENU BAR ICONS
Bartender — This item — the “three dots” icon — only lives in the menu bar, as Bartender literally “tends bar”; in this case, the menu bar itself. While it has many features, such as allowing you to drag icons to any position you want, Bartender’s primary job is to reduce the “icon clutter” caused by too many Menu Extras, which is more noticeable when using a 13 to 14-inch laptop screen. When Apple introduced the “notch” in the middle of the screen a few years ago, the problem became even more pronounced. Bartender’s solution is to create a “sub-menu bar” — a “hidden” menu bar — that appears when you hover over a specific area of the regular menu bar or click on Bartender’s “three dots” icon. In Bartender’s settings, you can drag the icons you rarely use to the “hidden” menu items area, resulting in a cleaner, neater menu bar.
1Password — If you’re a faithful reader, you know that I can’t live without the 1Password app, which is the best password manager around. Whether or not the 1P app itself is running, its menu bar icon is always there to provide quick access to its primary functions.
Dropbox — If you use the Dropbox cloud service for file storage, sharing and collaboration, you’re familiar with this icon; I click on it several times a day. I will say that its relationship with the Dropbox app is a strange one: the item in your Applications folder is essentially a front-end for Dropbox preferences, and that’s about it.
CleanShot X — Like many others on this list, CleanShot only lives in the menu bar, and is a more sophisticated version of Apple’s built-in “Screenshot” app, which used to be called “Grab. You can use it to take screenshots and video recordings of what’s on the screen; however, it goes far beyond what Apple offers. My favorite feature is “Scrolling Capture,” which I use frequently to save an item in a web browser’s window that is too long to view completely, such as restaurant or store receipts. After invoking this feature in CleanShot, you drag over the part you can see, then click “AutoScroll” and finally “Done.” The file is then saved to my Desktop… easy-peasy!
Carbon Copy Cloner 7 — CCC 7 is a traditional app that lives in your Applications folder. Like 1Password, it has a companion icon that’s always in the menu bar, providing quick access to backup tasks and status reports.
Jettison — Another menu bar-only item, it controls any external drives connected to your Mac. If you only have one drive — for example, a backup drive — you don’t need Jettison. However, I use more than one, and my external drives often have anywhere from four to nine “volumes” on them. That means, when mounted, all those icons can appear on the desktop… 12 or more! Jettison knows that I don’t need to see all of them, as I typically only want to use one or two at a time. It allows me to configure these drives so that, when plugged in, only the volumes I specified appear on the desktop while the others remain “unmounted.” I can then mount any of those with a single click … neat!
MENU BAR ICONS HIDDEN BY BARTENDER
Note: I sort these icons alphabetically because that’s how my brain works. Draw whatever conclusions you like.
Alfred — This is another of those items that only lives in the menu bar. Alfred’s friendly “bowler hat” icon appears when Alfred is running in the background. Hitting option-spacebar opens the Alfred window, where you can launch apps, find documents and more in a split second. Alfred utilizes Apple’s “Spotlight” index, but — similar to CleanShot — is light years beyond what Spotlight offers. It is so powerful that I could write several columns about what Alfred can do! However, I don’t have to, because the good people at SCO have already created a series of videos on Alfred — 21 of them! That alone is worth paying their yearly subscription fee of $8.25 per month.
Balance Lock — This is a service I installed just a few hours ago, after finding it on the App Store. The problem? For some reason I cannot fathom, whenever I use Sibelius, my music notation app of choice, the left-right balance for my external speakers shifts all the way to the left and remains there. A quick web search revealed that many people are complaining about this issue, and it’s not the only app doing it. Balance Lock to the rescue! All this thing does is “lock” the left-right balance of the Sound settings pane to dead-center, and that’s it. The fact that this free app even exists proves there was a need for it. It’s also another classic example of independent software developers finding solutions for very obscure problems!
Boom 2 — This menu bar-only app offers system-wide sound control, including Volume Boost, EQ, and sound shaping. If you regularly listen to music, movies, or other content via external speakers or headphones, Boom 2 is a must-have, as it enhances the sound quality of all your audio. A long time ago, there was a freeware extension called Soundflower that did the same thing, although it was buggy, difficult to use, and often failed. When Apple banished system extensions, it disappeared. Thankfully, Boom 2 (and its headphones-only cousin Boom 3D) is solid as a rock.
Default Folder X — I’ve used this invaluable menu bar-only item for almost 20 years! It works inside “open and save” dialog boxes, automatically directing you to a specified folder depending on the app you’re currently using. A favorite function is assigning system-wide key shortcuts to specific folders, which work both in the Finder and inside those open and save dialogs — when the Mac asks you what you want to name a file you’re saving, and where you want to store it. For example, when I’m using Microsoft Word while working on the magazine I’ve edited for over 15 years, I can hit Command-3 when saving a document and save it right to my “Finals” folder for that issue.
Grammarly — Living only in the menu bar, this is the controller for the Grammarly suite of AI-assisted writing tools that I find more useful — at the moment, anyway — than the free tools that Apple provides. Yes, Grammarly costs money, but if you write for a living (or simply care about what you write), I think it’s worth the cost.
Keyboard Maestro — This app / menu bar hybrid is to modern Macs what the late, great QuicKeys was to 90s-era Macs. Much of its functionality can now be achieved using Apple’s Shortcuts app and various system settings; however, I find Keyboard Maestro to be easier to use and more powerful. Truthfully, I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of what it can do… yet.
MailButler — This is the front-end for the MailButler extension, which works inside the Apple Mail app. It provides access to both basic and advanced settings, and that’s it. MailButler is a German company that brings professional-level CRM features to Apple Mail, plus scheduling, task management, follow-ups, templates, “rich” email signatures and more. I often use it to determine when someone opens an email I send and when (or if) they click on any links within that email. This helps me to determine if my communication is effective or not. It’s a huge timesaver, but it is not cheap, nor intended for use by “the average Joe or Jane.” Not by a long shot.
SpamSieve — The strangely mushroom-shaped icon (that’s supposed to look like a sieve? I’ve never figured that out) is the controlling mechanism for the SpamSieve app that, like MailButler, also works inside the Apple Mail app. I’ve relied on SpamSieve to filter out junk mail for more than a decade, and it just keeps getting better with age. I used to get 100 to 200 spam emails a day. Now, with SpamSieve — after I trained it over the initial two-week period — I get about five a month.
StreamDeck — OK, I’ll admit it: this one is pretty niche! It works with the Elgato StreamDeck XL device, which sits in front of my monitor —a black box containing 32 LED buttons. Each button can display an icon and perform a user-defined function when pressed. I use it with Sibelius, Word, Final Cut, and other apps that have numerous menu commands — too many to keep track of. Think of those ‘lightbox’ devices you see at fast-food restaurants when they take your order: it’s the same idea.
StudioICC — The last item on the list is even more niche than the StreamDeck. Like Balance Lock, it was invented to solve an annoying problem, this one involving higher-end Apple laptop displays and monitors. That problem? The user (i.e., me) creates a “monitor profile,” but the system ignores it after every restart.
Here’s the deal: the Mac currently has, buried deep within it, an app called “Display Calibrator” that lets users fine-tune their screen. For many years, this function was easy to find as it was in System Preferences (now System Settings) → Displays, but when Apple introduced “pro” displays, they removed it. Why? The company claimed that their high-end MacBook Pro and Apple Studio/XDR displays were so good that they didn’t need calibration. They were wrong. I have never seen an Apple display that couldn’t benefit from a bit of “fine tuning” when it comes to brightness and contrast levels.
But guess what? The feature is still available via the Display Calibrator app, if you can locate it. (System → Library → ColorSync → Calibrators.) Holding down the option key while launching the app gives you the same “expert” control we used to have many years ago. But again, what good is creating your own display profile if the Mac ignores it? StudioICC fixes that by forcing the Mac to apply your custom profile each time it starts or restarts. If you care about such things, it’s bliss.
THAT’S A WRAP!
Whether it’s to provide a service or fix a confounding problem, there’s a Menu Extra that has the potential to make your tech life easier, so go exploring and let me know what you find. Until then, I remain…
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