As somebody whose job includes testing and writing about Mac apps, a crowded menu bar is an occupational hazard. Till its possession change final 12 months, my go-to advice for tidying up your menu bar was Bartender. However as soon as it grew to become clear that we do not actually know who owns Bartender now, I attempted just a few alternate options, and none of them had all of the options I used to be searching for. So, I deserted menu bar managers till lately, when the apps in my menu bar started extending greater than midway into my display screen and I used to be discovering it onerous to even find which app I used to be searching for.
That is once I found Barbee, a robust menu bar supervisor for Mac. It might do every part from hiding pointless menu bar icons to customizing the form of your menu bar and even the look of the Apple emblem within the top-left nook of your display screen.
The app is a free obtain and comes with a three-day free trial so that you can strive all its options. Word that you simply will not even get charged robotically on the finish of the trial. You may merely lose entry to the app’s options, and you may then both pay $7 for a one-time unlock or select the annual subscription price of $3. This lets you strive Barbee with no stress to see if it really works for you.
Barbee requires accessibility and display screen recording permissions to can help you use all its options. These permissions enable the app to indicate totally different menu bar layouts and allow you to arrange and run automations, which is a useful characteristic for me. Nevertheless, should you’re fearful, know that the app is sandboxed, so it’s restricted in how a lot of its knowledge it could entry by these permissions.
Credit score: Pranay Parab
The Menu Bar Format settings web page is your finest to put to get began in Barbee, since that is the place you may truly organize which of your menu bar icons are hidden. Right here, you’ll be able to choose which apps you’d prefer to at all times see, equivalent to calendar or efficiency monitoring apps, whereas shifting the remaining to the hidden part. There’s additionally an “At all times Hidden” part, which is nice for apps that may’t run if they don’t seem to be within the menu bar. In my case, one in all these is Unclack, which mutes the Mac’s mic once I’m typing. I have to run this app on a regular basis however I by no means truly need to see its menu bar icon. The distinction? You may quickly reveal hidden icons when wanted, however not At all times Hidden ones.
This app additionally has a whole lot of tweaks obtainable in its settings menu, and I extremely suggest going by all of them to profit from it. Beneath Barbee Settings > Common > Mode, as an illustration, you’ll be able to select between Regular Mode and Enhanced Mode. In regular mode, whenever you reveal hidden icons, the app shows them inside the menu bar, proper subsequent to the seen icons. However enhanced mode shows them in a small floating menu as an alternative. For individuals who have a whole lot of menu bar icons (just about your complete audience for this sort of an app), that could be a nice characteristic.
What do you assume thus far?
You can even customise the menu bar’s feel and look within the Menu Bar Look part. This allows you to change the form of the menu bar, and you may select if you would like it to have rounded corners, a special tint, and even if you wish to use a separated structure the place app menus seem in a separate menu bar on the left. I choose a extra unified look, in order that’s not for me, however I could not resist altering the Apple emblem to the basic rainbow variant, which is perhaps one in all my favourite Barbee options.
Automation and different choices
Credit score: Pranay Parab
Barbee additionally has an automation part that lets you present or cover sure menu bar icons based mostly on triggers. The best instance is the battery widget, which I solely actually need to see when the battery is low. So, I went to Barbee Settings > Automation and rapidly added a brand new automation to make that occur. You may arrange comparable triggers with just about each menu bar icon, so be happy to set it up in accordance with your wants.
I additionally added a customized keyboard shortcut to see hidden menu gadgets, which accelerates my workflow fairly a bit. You are able to do this by going to the Shortcuts part within the app’s settings. The Common settings web page has many different helpful choices, too. You’ll want to allow Launch at login to make the app hearth up every time you utilize your Mac, and likewise the Prolong battery life possibility to make sure that Barbee would not eat an inordinate quantity of energy. There are additionally area of interest, however helpful options on this web page, equivalent to the flexibility to indicate all menu bar icons whenever you’re utilizing an exterior show. That is good to have, as a result of my MacBook Air’s display screen has restricted actual property, however once I plug it in to my ultrawide monitor, I need not cover any menu bar icons.
