I stay in a small, cramped condominium in an enormous metropolis. For every merchandise I deliver into my home, I really feel like I have to toss stuff out to maintain litter from piling up. In some methods, my battle with my MacBook’s restricted display screen actual property mirrors my house points at residence. As a tech journalist, putting in apps is a day by day prevalence for me, which suggests an overcrowded dock or menu bar.
Fortunately, I’ve largely solved my menu bar points on my Mac, however my dock continues to be an space of concern. It is filled with apps, and regardless that I’ve moved it round just a few instances, it nonetheless takes up an excessive amount of house on my 13-inch laptop computer display screen. It is gotten so dangerous that I’ve now switched to routinely hiding the dock (below System Settings > Desktop & Dock). There’s only one drawback—I nonetheless want to have the ability to entry the apps I used to be preserving on my dock. Fortunately, with some tweaking, it is easy to maneuver apps from my chaotic dock to my organized menu bar. This is how.
Credit score: Pranay Parab
If an app would not supply a menu bar icon ( you, Slack!), then by default, macOS would not allow you to transfer it there. That is the place Badgeify is available in. It helps you to add any app to the Mac’s menu bar, the place these apps will act as they’d within the dock. You possibly can click on their menu bar icons to open them (or navigate to their lively window), or right-click their icons to disclose further options (when accessible).
As soon as you have put in Badgeify, it’s good to give it accessibility permissions, though that is customary for apps that make modifications to the menu bar. The app will then immediately open to its settings web page, with the Common tab chosen by default. Click on the + button within the Icons part to begin including your favourite apps to your menu bar. The free tier helps you to add three apps to the menu bar, however there’s a trick you need to use so as to add only one extra.
Credit score: Pranay Parab
So as to add extra apps to your menu bar, you possibly can alternatively group a number of apps in a folder and add that to the menu bar as a substitute. Clicking the folder icon within the menu bar will present the apps inside it in a drop down menu. Sadly, the free tier is simply restricted to 1 folder, and that folder can solely have as much as two apps in it. With the 2 customary app icons you possibly can add along with that folder, that offers you 4 free menu bar apps in complete. The paid model, nonetheless, lifts these restrictions.
Credit score: Pranay Parab
In case you like what you see with the free tier, you possibly can pay $9 to unlock all options on one Mac or $16 to make use of the app on as much as three Macs. This removes the boundaries on the variety of apps and folders you possibly can add to the menu bar, in addition to what number of apps a folder can have inside it. It additionally, delightfully, unlocks some customization choices.
Amongst these options, essentially the most helpful one for me is the power to cover an app from the menu bar when it has no notifications. For example, for those who add Messages to the menu bar, you possibly can hold it hidden till somebody messages you. This manner, if the app’s icon is there, you realize you might have a message to learn. You’ll find this characteristic over at Badgeify settings > Superior.
What do you suppose thus far?
It additionally helps you to customise how an app’s menu bar icon appears, which is nice for me as a result of I desire monochrome icons within the menu bar. Though, for those who’re feeling inventive, you possibly can add your personal customized app icons as a substitute. This characteristic is offered below Badgeify settings > Common. Click on the i button subsequent to an app’s title to begin customizing it.
There’s additionally one experimental characteristic known as Utility Integration in Badgeify’s Superior settings web page. This solely works with browsers for the time being, and makes it in order that if you add a browser to the menu bar, you possibly can right-click its icon to disclose an inventory of all open tabs. This makes it simpler to shortly swap to a particular browser tab, which might pace up your workflow.
General, although, I like Badgeify, and it has been properly value the price for me. I’ve used this app to maneuver Slack, Messages, WhatsApp, and my e mail shopper (FMail) to the menu bar, which makes it so much simpler to stay with out the dock on my display screen, which means I can fortunately maximize my accessible display screen house.
