3 ms·

The two things in my mac menubar i definitely know i can do without are the two things i can't remove: - Searchlight icon - TimeMachine icon Everything else

The two things in my mac menubar i definitely know i can do without are the two things i can't remove: - Searchlight icon - TimeMachine icon Everything else in my menubar is either removable myself, or indicate state about my machine that i need to track (input mode, wireless connection, volume level and the like)

shizcakes 16y ago
System Preferences > (System Row) Time Machine > Uncheck "Show time machine status in Menu Bar"
- ugh 16y ago
  More to the point, every icon in the menu bar except for Spotlight can be turned on or off in the System Preferences. If hunting down those checkboxes is too much work, you can also Command-click on any of Apple’s icons [0] and drag them out of the menu bar. This also allows you to rearrange icons. (That works also for buttons on toolbars.) Super User has a hacky way of disabling the Spotlight icon: http://superuser.com/questions/32593/remove-spotlight-icon-from-the-menu-bar http://superuser.com/questions/32593/remove-spotlight-icon-f... [0] I only have one third-party icon in my menu bar (Dropbox) and it can’t be dragged out of the menu bar. I don’t know whether that’s the case for all third-party icons.
  - alextgordon 16y ago
    I only have one third-party icon in my menu bar (Dropbox) and it can’t be dragged out of the menu bar. I don’t know whether that’s the case for all third-party icons. It is. Apple has their own private API for their "menu extras" and actually loads them into the windowserver itself. It's a major PITA to support one of these things, so only a very small number of third party apps choose to do it. The alternative public API is basically just a tiny window for each item sitting in the menubar. There's no technical reason why Apple couldn't implement the same kind of command-drag behaviour, but thus far they haven't.
burgerbrain 16y ago
If you can do without them, then why can't you remove them?
- spicyj 16y ago
  The system doesn't allow you to remove the Spotlight icon, but Time Machine's icon is removable (just Cmd-drag it off or disable it in System Preferences).

shizcakes 16y ago

System Preferences > (System Row) Time Machine > Uncheck "Show time machine status in Menu Bar"

ugh 16y ago
More to the point, every icon in the menu bar except for Spotlight can be turned on or off in the System Preferences. If hunting down those checkboxes is too much work, you can also Command-click on any of Apple’s icons [0] and drag them out of the menu bar. This also allows you to rearrange icons. (That works also for buttons on toolbars.) Super User has a hacky way of disabling the Spotlight icon: http://superuser.com/questions/32593/remove-spotlight-icon-from-the-menu-bar http://superuser.com/questions/32593/remove-spotlight-icon-f... [0] I only have one third-party icon in my menu bar (Dropbox) and it can’t be dragged out of the menu bar. I don’t know whether that’s the case for all third-party icons.
- alextgordon 16y ago
  I only have one third-party icon in my menu bar (Dropbox) and it can’t be dragged out of the menu bar. I don’t know whether that’s the case for all third-party icons. It is. Apple has their own private API for their "menu extras" and actually loads them into the windowserver itself. It's a major PITA to support one of these things, so only a very small number of third party apps choose to do it. The alternative public API is basically just a tiny window for each item sitting in the menubar. There's no technical reason why Apple couldn't implement the same kind of command-drag behaviour, but thus far they haven't.

burgerbrain 16y ago

If you can do without them, then why can't you remove them?

spicyj 16y ago
The system doesn't allow you to remove the Spotlight icon, but Time Machine's icon is removable (just Cmd-drag it off or disable it in System Preferences).