Menu Bar Real Estate
By default, the macOS menu bar displays a digital clock in the top-right corner. Alongside the current time, Apple also displays the current day of the week and the date (e.g., “Tue 14 Oct 10:30”). While this is incredibly helpful for keeping track of the calendar while working in full-screen applications, it takes up a significant amount of horizontal space.
If you are using a MacBook with a 13-inch screen (or a newer model with a physical camera notch), horizontal menu bar space is extremely limited. If you have several background applications running (like Dropbox, a VPN, and a clipboard manager), their icons might get hidden because the date is taking up too much room. If you only need the time, you can easily remove the date to reclaim that space.
How to Hide the Date in the Menu Bar
You can customize the clock display within the Control Center settings.
- Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner of the menu bar and select System Settings… (or System Preferences).
- Scroll down the left-hand sidebar and click on Control Center (On older macOS versions, this is under “Dock & Menu Bar”).
- Scroll down the right-hand pane to the “Menu Bar Only” section.
- Click on the Clock Options… button next to “Clock”.
- In the popup window, look for the dropdown menu labelled Show Date.
- Click the dropdown and select Never.
- (Optional) You can also use the toggle switch just above it to turn off Show day of the week.
- Click Done.
The date and day will instantly vanish from your menu bar, leaving only the digital time (e.g., “10:30”) and freeing up several inches of space for your other application icons.