Bartender 7.0.4 — macOS

Bartender 7.0.4 is a minor update that smooths out a few rough edges in the menu bar manager. Mainly, it stops items from shifting around after a restart — especially spacers — and fixes items getting stuck while you're trying to move them. The clipboard helper in the Command Bar also got an update.

Hides menu bar icons until syncing or updating

Menu bar organizer — Bartender lets you decide which icons appear in the main menu bar and which stay hidden in the Bartender Bar. You can change the order of items, show app icons only during updates or syncing, and hide Bartender's own icon if you want a cleaner look.

Minimal interface — The app itself stays out of the way. You control everything through keyboard shortcuts or a quick click on the Bartender bar.

Shortcuts support — Version 7 works with Apple's Shortcuts app through app intents, so you can trigger Bartender actions from automations.

Three issues that trip up new Bartender users

After helping a few coworkers set Bartender up on their machines, I've seen the same handful of issues come up. None of them are serious, but knowing what to look for saves time.

Items not appearing after a restart

This was the main reason for the 7.0.4 update. If you still see an icon missing after upgrading, open Bartender's preferences and check that the item's trigger is set the way you expect. Sometimes a menu bar app updates itself and changes its name, which can confuse the rule you had set. Deleting the old rule and creating a new one usually does it.

Items stuck while dragging

Bartender 7.0.4 fixed items getting stuck during reordering, but if you're running into it on an older version, update first. If the problem persists after updating, quit Bartender entirely from the menu bar icon, relaunch it, and try again. That clears whatever state it got into.

Spacers shifting after a reboot

Spacers are the invisible dividers between menu bar items. The 7.0.4 changelog specifically mentions fixing them. If your carefully arranged layout still looks off after a restart, check that you're running 7.0.4 — the About Bartender window shows the version number. If you are and spacers still wander, remove them and add fresh ones from the Bartender preferences.

The Command Bar clipboard helper acting up

The clipboard helper in the Command Bar got updated in this release. If it stops showing recent clips or shows old ones, a full quit and relaunch of Bartender clears its cache. You don't need to restart macOS.

Setting up a new office Mac with Bartender step by step

I'll walk through how I set up a new Mac for the office. It's not the only way to use Bartender, but it's a realistic session that covers most of what the app does.

After dragging Bartender into Applications and launching it, the first thing I do is open its preferences. I set a keyboard shortcut to show the Bartender bar — Control-Option-B works for me because nothing else uses that combo. Then I go through every icon in my menu bar and decide what to do with it.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the clock stay in the main bar. Those are things I glance at throughout the day. Third-party utilities like Dropbox and the backup status icon go into the Bartender bar — I only need to see them when something's happening. I set triggers for those: show the icon while it's syncing or uploading, hide it when idle.

Next, I reorder the items that are left in the main bar. That way the things I check most are clustered together. The Bartender bar items I leave in their default order because I rarely look at them.

Finally, I hide Bartender's own menu bar icon. I already have the keyboard shortcut memorized, so I don't need the icon taking up space. From that point on, I use Control-Option-B to pop open the Bartender bar when I need it, arrow through the items, and press Enter to click one.

The whole setup takes about five minutes. After that, I don't think about it again until I add a new app that puts something in the menu bar.

Real-world scenario: a designer managing multiple tools

A freelance designer I know runs Figma, Slack, Zoom, a color picker, a screen capture tool, and a font manager — all of them want space in the menu bar. Before Bartender, her menu bar was crowded enough that the clock was getting pushed off screen on a 13-inch MacBook.

She uses Bartender to keep Slack and Zoom in the Bartender bar, with triggers set so they only appear when there's an unread message or an incoming call. The color picker and screen capture tool stay hidden unless she opens them. The font manager icon appears only during a sync. Figma and the clock stay visible. She set a keyboard shortcut to open the Bartender bar, so she can get to Slack or Zoom without clicking a tiny icon.

The result is a menu bar with four icons instead of nine, and she hasn't missed a notification because the triggers handle that automatically.

How Bartender compares with similar Mac apps

There are a few other apps that try to tame the menu bar. Here's how Bartender stacks up against the ones I've used or seen in the office.

Bartender vs. Hidden Bar

Hidden Bar is free and open-source, which appeals to people who don't want to pay for a menu bar manager. It does the basic job: you put a divider in the menu bar, and everything to the left of it stays hidden until you click. The catch is that it's less flexible. You can't set triggers to show items only during certain activities, and there's no keyboard shortcut to open the hidden section. If all you need is a simple hide/show toggle, Hidden Bar works fine. If you want control over individual items and keyboard-driven access, Bartender is the better fit.

Bartender vs. iStat Menus

iStat Menus is a system monitor first and a menu bar organizer second. It puts CPU, memory, disk, and network stats in your menu bar, and it can hide its own icons. But it doesn't manage third-party menu bar items the way Bartender does. If you're trying to organize icons from other apps, iStat Menus won't help. Bartender handles that specifically. Some people run both — iStat Menus for system stats, Bartender for everything else.

Bartender vs. Dozer

Dozer is another free option, similar to Hidden Bar. It hides menu bar items to the left of a dot you place. It's lightweight and does one thing. Like Hidden Bar, it lacks triggers, keyboard shortcuts for navigation, and the Command Bar. For someone with just a couple of extra icons, Dozer is enough. For anyone who manages more than a handful of menu bar apps, Bartender's extra features justify the switch.

None of these alternatives offer the same level of per-item control or the ability to search for menu bar items. Bartender's Command Bar, which lets you find and activate any menu bar item by typing, is something the others don't have at all.

• macOS 27
• Intel or Apple Silicon
• English interface