Any way to reduce space between icons?

[TECK]

Is there a way to reduce the space between icons? It used to be way more compact in Catalina. Right now, on my work laptop they stretch over half of the screen.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don' believe that is natively possible. There may be a third party app that may allow you to customize some of the GUI.

 

[DeltaMac]

Bartender may do what you want...
Never tried it, but looks like it has been updated for Big Sur.

 

[adrianlondon]

Is there a way to reduce the space between icons?

No.

 

[Mishkale]

Bartender may do what you want...
Never tried it, but looks like it has been updated for Big Sur.

it works well

 

[Canubis]

Bartender seems to do exactly what you are looking for. I am not using it myself, but this is what they say on their website:

 

[fisherking]

huh... i run bartender, and didn't even know that was an option...

bartender is a GREAT app


EDIT: for me, anyway... the default spacing actually looks best; but am sure this will make some ppl happy 👍

 

[Steve121178]

please don't do a search on this forum; no one's discussed that... anywhere...

you're aware that, for example, wifi, bluetooth, and sound are all under the control center icon? that alone would save you some space...

If you're not going to be helpful then don't bother posting.

 

[gilby101]

Bartender may do what you want...
Never tried it, but looks like it has been updated for Big Sur.

I was horrified by early Catalina betas where the icons were even further apart. I assume I was not the only one who complained (i.e. gave Apple Feedback) as there was a little improvement as the betas progressed.

Bartender fixes that and has been a lifesaver.

The developer not only fixed Bartender to work with Big Sur (and that must have been hard) but also made it much better than before.

 

[ignatius345]

The developer not only fixed Bartender to work with Big Sur (and that must have been hard) but also made it much better than before.

Agreed -- the new version of Bartender is SO much clearer and has a lot of new features. Bartender is one of the apps that makes me glad to be able to install things outside the App Store. Happy to support it.

 

[srbNYC]

Thanks, everyone here. I'm gonna try Bartender! Any downsides or warnings?

 

[fisherking]

Thanks, everyone here. I'm gonna try Bartender! Any downsides or warnings?

i've used bartender for years, and never an issue

 

[srbNYC]

Been using Bartender for a week now and loving it (especially since "Safari Technology Preview" takes up so much menu-bar space!). Thanks again, forum, for the recommendation.

 

[Feek]

Just to add to this, I bought Bartender a couple of years ago for my MacBook because of the limited amount of menu bar and I've recently installed it on my iMac to reduce the gaps between icons.

I've not found another method to remove the gaps.

Not only does it look so much better but now the icons stay where I want them to be, unlike before where Big Sur just seems to move stuff around to wherever it feels like.