Mac users love the Dock because it automatically hides itself at the bottom of the screen, staying out of the way until you need it. The Menu Bar at the top of the screen, however, is a different story. By default, it is a permanent, solid strip that spans the entire width of your monitor, displaying the time, battery life, and application menus. If you want true, distraction-free focus—or if you simply want an extra half-inch of vertical screen real estate on a small MacBook Air—you can configure macOS to automatically hide the Menu Bar.
How the Hidden Menu Bar Works
When you hide the Menu Bar, the top of your screen becomes completely clear. Your desktop wallpaper stretches all the way to the top bezel. The Menu Bar is not gone; it is simply sleeping. When you need to check the time or click the “File” menu in an app, you simply push your mouse cursor to the very top edge of the screen, and the Menu Bar instantly drops down. When you move your mouse away, it slides back up into hiding.
How to Enable the Auto-Hide Feature
Apple recently moved this setting into a slightly confusing location in macOS Ventura and Sonoma.
- Click the Apple Logo in the top left corner of your screen.
- Select System Settings from the dropdown menu (or System Preferences on older Macs).
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Control Center. (Do not look in “Desktop & Dock” or “Displays,” where you might logically expect it to be).
- Scroll down the main window on the right until you find a section titled Menu Bar Only.
- Look for the dropdown menu labeled Automatically hide and show the menu bar.
By default, this is set to “In Full Screen Only” (which hides the bar when you maximize a movie, for example). Click the dropdown menu and you will see three new options:
- Always: The Menu Bar will hide constantly, no matter what you are doing. This gives you the maximum amount of screen space at all times.
- On Desktop Only: The Menu Bar hides when you are looking at your desktop wallpaper, but reappears permanently the moment you open any application window. (This is rarely useful for most people).
- Never: The Menu Bar remains permanently locked to the top of the screen, like a traditional computer.
Select Always to enable the auto-hide feature. You can immediately close the System Settings window; the change is applied instantly.