The Mac Menu Bar—the thin strip at the very top of your screen displaying the Apple logo, application menus, and the clock—is an iconic piece of the macOS interface. However, if you are working on a smaller 13-inch MacBook Air, every single pixel of vertical screen real estate is precious.
If you are editing a large spreadsheet, writing a novel, or trying to focus completely on a single application without the distraction of a ticking clock in the corner of your eye, you can instruct macOS to automatically hide the Menu Bar, just like it does with the Dock.
How to Auto-Hide the Menu Bar
By default, the Menu Bar is permanently pinned to the top of the screen. You must change its behaviour in the system settings.
- Click the Apple Logo in the extreme top-left corner of the screen.
- Select System Settings from the drop-down menu. (If you are running an older version of macOS, select System Preferences).
- Scroll down the left-hand sidebar and click on Control Centre. (On older versions, click on “Dock & Menu Bar”).
- In the main panel, look for the section labelled Menu Bar Only.
- You will see an option labelled Automatically hide and show the menu bar with a drop-down menu next to it.
Click the drop-down menu. You have four choices:
- Always: The Menu Bar will immediately slide up and off the screen, vanishing completely.
- On Desktop Only: The Menu Bar will hide when you are looking at your wallpaper, but will reappear if you open an app full-screen.
- In Full Screen Only: The Menu Bar stays visible normally, but hides when you maximize a movie or an app (this is usually the default setting).
- Never: The Menu Bar is permanently locked to the screen.
To maximize your screen space permanently, select Always.
How to Access the Hidden Menu Bar
Once the bar is hidden, accessing it is incredibly intuitive. The operating system simply pushes it out of the way until you explicitly need it.
To reveal the menus or check the time, simply slide your mouse cursor to the absolute top edge of your physical screen and push against it. The Menu Bar will instantly slide down into view, dropping right over the top of whatever application you are currently using.
You can click whatever menu you need. The moment you move your mouse back down toward the centre of the screen to continue working, the Menu Bar will automatically retract and vanish again, giving you your screen space back.