How to Hide and Show your Mac's Menu Bar

Jun 3, 2022

1 minute

By default, your Mac's Menu Bar is generally a consistent presence on your Mac. The automatic hide and show settings, however, can easily be turned on, allowing your Menu Bar to hide until you are ready to use it.

By hiding your Menu Bar, either on your Desktop or when you have a window in full screen, your Menu Bar will not be visible until you bring your cursor to the top of the screen. It will then pop down until you move your mouse again.

This particular feature can be great for those who like Mac's that are very organized. In this guide, I will show you how to turn it on, or in some cases off, so that you can customize your Menu Bar preferences to your liking! When you're done, learn how to customize your Mac's Finder View.

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First, click the Apple logo in the upper left-hand corner.

Now, select "System Preferences" from the drop down.

Click "Dock & Menu Bar" to bring up the Menu Bar preferences.

Lastly, make a choice about when you want your Mac's Menu Bar to "hide and show." The options for hiding and showing your Menu Bar are as follows:

Automatically hide and show the Menu Bar on desktop- this option means your normal desktop won't bring up your Menu Bar unless you bring your cursor to the top of the screen.
Automatically hide and show the Menu Bar in full screen- this option means when in full screen, the Menu Bar will not appear until you bring your cursor to the top of the screen.

By default, these two options are generally off. You can decide to select both, just one, or neither. Once you have made your selection, enjoy using your newly customized Menu Bar!

For further customization of your Mac, check out any of these guides: