macOS Sierra: The Missing Manual

Menulets: The Missing Manual

See the menu-bar icons in Figure 5-11? Apple calls them Menu Extras, but Mac fans on the Internet have named them “menulets.” Each is both an indicator and a menu that provides direct access to certain settings: sound, monitor resolution, Wi-Fi, and so on.

To make the various menulets appear, you generally visit a certain pane of System Preferences (Chapter 10) and turn on a checkbox called, for example, “Show volume in menu bar.” Here’s a rundown of the various Apple menulets you may encounter, complete with instructions on where to find the magic on/off checkbox for each.

Along the way, you’ll discover that secondary, hidden features lurk in many of these menulets, if you happen to know the secret: Press the Option key.

Tip

The following descriptions indicate the official, authorized steps for installing a menulet. There is, however, a folder on your hard drive that contains 22 of them in a single window, so you can install one with a quick double-click. To find them, open your hard drive→System→Library→CoreServices→Menu Extras folder.

• AirPort () lets you turn your Wi-Fi (wireless networking) circuitry on or off, join existing wireless networks, and create your own private ones. To find the Show checkbox: Open System Preferences→Network. Click Wi-Fi.

  Tip

  Once you’ve installed this menulet, you can Option-click it to produce a secret menu full of details about ...