Article by Domain Support
As Jason Snell, MacWorld, puts it, “the menu bar is one of the defining features of the Mac.” If you are a Mac user and have tried to use or assist someone with Windows you quickly notice that the Windows menu bar is not only mysterious but is wanting (how do these guys get around in Windows?). For those of you who may need some help in understanding the power of the Mac menu bar, Apple has a page dedicated to tutor you. There are some very powerful features you may not have known about. For example, all the little icons on the top right of menu bar (called status menu) that have some depth to them if you hold down the option key when you select them. For example, the sound icon seems cute and simple if you click on it, but try doing this holding down the option key. A wealth of choices and information is available to you! Try using the option key when choosing any of the items in the menu bar (i.e., click the top left black Apple icon with the option key and toggle back and forth to notice the difference).
You may not have used the Help menu (the last one from the left to the right just before the status menu assortment begins on the right side). You can get all sorts of information using the Help menu. As Jason Snell puts it, “The Help menu is usually a place to view documentation, open web resources, or report a bug. But I use the help menu all the time, because of the powerful search function built into it. From the top of the Help menu, you can search the contents of every menu of the currently open app. When I’m using a complicated app like Numbers or BBEdit or Logic Pro, sometimes I can’t remember where to find a particular command. And I don’t need to know: I just type a word from the menu item and move my mouse over the right result. That menu item will activate and a big arrow will point right at it. You know, for education. You can also just click on the result to activate that command as if you had known where it was all along.”
You may want to rearrange and customize the Menu bar. Or you may simply need the basics of Navigating the Apple Menu in Mac OS X or Mastering the OSX menu bar. c/net offer six tips for organizing your Mac’s menu bar. A helpful tutorial is What’s on the Menu Bar—And Why?
Or you may simply want to download Bartender, a utility that manages the menu bar.