How to permanently show Menu Bar in full-screen mode on Mac

macOS 12 Monterey Full Screen Menu Bar

The macOS Menu Bar is a place where you can find essential controls for apps. It also hosts the notification center, the control center, and other important functions. Plus, it’s an iconic element of Mac’s history.

However, It’s sometimes quite annoying to have to hover the pointer to the top of the screen while in full-screen mode and see the macOS Menu Bar juggle itself in front of your eyes, unable to decide whether it wants to appear or not.

It’s also counter-productive. When in full-screen mode, macOS, by default, hides the dock as well as the Menu Bar so as to offer optimum immersion. The Menu Bar, for one, only re-appears when you hover your pointer over to the top of your Mac’s display. The delay in responsiveness due to macOS system animations might slow you down, especially if you interact with the Menu Bar often.

That is poised to change with macOS Monterey, Apple’s latest operating system for Mac. One of the little-known improvements is that you can now make the Menu Bar stick into one place even in full-screen mode.

No more wobbly behavior, that is.

How do you do that? It’s simple and only involves un-ticking a checkbox.

How to show the Menu Bar even in full-screen mode in macOS 12 Monterey

  1. Head over to System Preferences on your Mac by clicking the Apple logo on the Menu Bar.
macOS System Preferences Button
  1. Head over to the Dock & Menu Bar tab.
macOS 12 Monterey Dock & Menu Bar Preferences.
  1. Within the section that says Dock & Menu Bar, and under the section labeled Menu Bar, “untick the Automatically hide and show the menu bar in full screen” option.
Menu Bar permanent full-screen mode display.

Final Thoughts

This is how the menu bar works normally:

And this is how it works now:

On the surface, it may seem like a minor improvement, but if your workflow involves working with apps in full-screen mode, you will prefer a sticky Menu Bar.

Other macOS Monterey Guides you should check out: