How to rearrange menu bar icons on a Mac.

The icons you use most should sit where your pointer already is. macOS lets you move most of them with one shortcut. Here’s how, plus the few icons that won’t budge and how to keep your order.

By Thomas Kanze, maker of Menucove · Updated 17 October 2026

Move an icon with ⌘-drag

1. Hold ⌘ (Command).
2. Press on a menu bar icon and drag it left or right. The other icons slide out of the way.
3. Let go where you want it.

To remove an icon instead, ⌘-drag it down, out of the menu bar, and let go. Not every app allows this; if the icon snaps back, look for a “Show in menu bar” option in that app’s settings.

Icons that won’t move

• The clock and Control Center stay at the right end of the bar. Everything else moves around them.
• Icons behind the notch can’t be dragged on a MacBook with a notch, because you can’t see them. Click the desktop first so Finder is in front; its short menus leave more room, which may uncover the icon. Our notch guide explains why this happens.
• Some apps place their icon themselves and ignore where you put it.

When icons forget their place

Most icons remember where you put them. A few go back to their default spot after a restart, an app update or a macOS update, usually because the app re-creates its icon from scratch. If one keeps wandering:

• Make sure you’re on the latest version of that app.
• Move it again after the update, then restart once to see if it sticks.
• If it still moves, it’s the app’s behaviour, not something you did wrong.

A good order to start with

There’s no right answer, but this works for most people:

1. Far right, near the clock: things you glance at, like battery and Wi-Fi.
2. Middle: the two or three apps you click every day.
3. Left, nearest the notch: things you rarely touch. On a notched MacBook, these are the first to disappear when space runs out, so put nothing important there.

Anything you haven’t clicked in a week probably doesn’t need to be in the bar at all. See how to hide menu bar icons.

Rearranging with Menucove

Menucove keeps a list of every app in your menu bar. Drag a row to reorder it, or press Show and Tuck away to choose what stays in the bar. Menucove moves that one icon for you, checks where it landed, and offers Undo. It never moves anything on its own. It works alongside macOS’s own ⌘-drag, so you can still arrange by hand.

Moving icons for you uses macOS Accessibility, which Menucove asks for only when you choose to. Tidying itself needs no permission.

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