Many apps display the full name of the app in the menu bar

[Goodeye]

Since installing Sonoma yesterday I noticed that the menu bar in Sonoma now shows the full name of the app. Case in point.

Chrome shows as "Google Chrome" now.

Outlook shows as "Microsoft Office".

Anyone know where and if that can be changed? That just seems excessive imho.

 

[fisherking]

perhaps something in settings? am not seeing that (ie chrome shows as 'chrome', despite the name 'google chrome' in the applications folder...

 

[adrianlondon]

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/16sw6b8
"That’s an issue with the developer. They need to provide a proper short name. It will likely be addressed with the next update."

 

[fisherking]

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/16sw6b8
"That’s an issue with the developer. They need to provide a proper short name. It will likely be addressed with the next update."

chrome is just 'chrome' here on both of my macs. i'd suggest that something else is going on, and not a developer issue

 

[Goodeye]

chrome is just 'chrome' here on both of my macs. i'd suggest that something else is going on, and not a developer issue

What that is I have no idea. I updated to Sonoma and now they display like that. Some stuff like Slack is just that "slack".

I attached examples (they want box them up but if you click you'll see what I mean what the menu bar looks like).

 

[bob_zz123]

I have the same thing with Brave, it shows "Brave Browser" [as the app is named in the Applications folder] whereas it used to just show "Brave".

 

[fisherking]

settings>accessibility>text>menu bar size, & select 'default'....

 

[Goodeye]

settings>accessibility>text>menu bar size, & select 'default'....

Mine was already at default and that didn't change anything.

 

[fisherking]

Mine was already at default and that didn't change anything.

aw well. changing it from 'default' to 'large' gave me 'google chrome' over the usual 'chrome'.

not running bartender by any chance? (altho i am, and don't see the longer name)...

 

[Goodeye]

aw well. changing it from 'default' to 'large' gave me 'google chrome' over the usual 'chrome'.

not running bartender by any chance? (altho i am, and don't see the longer name)...

Nope and while its a great program. I'd rather not have to install other apps to accomplish things that are not broken.

This isn't a broken thing either. Just an odd choice by Apple with no rhyme or reason behind it.

 

[fisherking]

Nope and while its a great program. I'd rather not have to install other apps to accomplish things that are not broken.

This isn't a broken thing either. Just an odd choice by Apple with no rhyme or reason behind it.

it's not as simple as that... since not everyone is seeing this (i'm not, for example, on either of my macs). and fwiw, bartender offers additional functionality, it doesn't 'fix something that's broken'.

anyway, someone here will (hopefully) figure this out 👍

 

[netnothing]

Just chiming in, I see the same on my M1 Max Mac Studio that I upgraded to Sonoma yesterday.

So far long names I'm seeing are:

Google Chrome
Microsoft Outlook
Photoshop 2024
Microsoft Edge

Oddly things like Word and Excel are just short.

 

[fisherking]

what macs are people running? and what display resolution? (just wondering what the common denominator(s) might be for people seeing this).

are others who see 'microsoft outlook', for example, also simply seeing 'word' and 'excel' for those apps, as @netnothing mentions?

 

[netnothing]

what macs are people running? and what display resolution? (just wondering what the common denominator(s) might be for people seeing this).

are others who see 'microsoft outlook', for example, also simply seeing 'word' and 'excel' for those apps, as @netnothing mentions?

M1 Max Mac Studio with the Studio Display running Default 2560x1440.

Not an issue for space for me as you can see in the screenshot - plenty of room between left and right.

I'm also in the US, using standard English (US) text.

 

[netnothing]

Ok, so I thought I was going crazy but I just tested it - when I launch Photoshop, it shows Photoshop 2024 when the app launches, and then about 2-3 seconds later it turns into Adobe Photoshop 2024.

EDIT: And I just closed down Chrome and re-opened and it now just says Chrome and so far is staying just Chrome.
EDIT 2: And now without closing the app, Chrome has switched back to Google Chrome.

 

[fisherking]

Ok, so I thought I was going crazy but I just tested it - when I launch Photoshop, it shows Photoshop 2024 when the app launches, and then about 2-3 seconds later it turns into Adobe Photoshop 2024.

EDIT: And I just closed down Chrome and re-opened and it now just says Chrome and so far is staying just Chrome.

seems... erratic, and so harder to pin down. for ppl on the beta (14.1 dropped today), worth reporting this in feedback assistant.

 

[Nermal]

Out of interest, what happens if you go to Sys Prefs/General/Storage/Applications? Do the apps show up with the "normal" names there?

The reason I ask is because one of my games, Wing Commander 3, inexplicably shows up in Storage as "The Dame Was Loaded" and I have no clue where it's got that name from.

Edit: It's in the Info.plist. It looks like GOG put the wrong name in there what packaging it up (it seems that The Dame Was Loaded is the name of another game). For bonus points there's also a PDF manual for a third game (Harvester) inside the .app bundle!

 

[Steve Ballmer]

So the way things are supposed to work is there is the full name, and a short name. The full name is the actual application name, the short name is usually just one word that shows up in the menu bar. Sounds like there is some bug that isn't displaying the short name properly. But sometimes it does work. Probably something that will get addressed. Short names have been in place since the beginning of macOS 10 so it's unlikely major apps don't have one, it's an issue with Sonoma.

 

[macrumoruser12]

Noticed this immediately after updating. Also noticed that the text in the menu bar loses its drop shadow from time to time as well.

 

[n-evo]

Noticed this immediately after updating. Also noticed that the text in the menu bar loses its drop shadow from time to time as well.

Depending on what wallpaper I use the drop shadow around Menu Bar text and items disappears. I get it using the default Big Sur and Sonoma wallpapers. It disappears with the Ventua, Monterey and Hello ones per example. The same thing happens on my work Mac still running macOS Ventura with the exact same wallpapers, so this behavior isn't unique to Sonoma.

Regarding the app name in the menu bar: Word first starts off simply saying "Word". Then after a few moments changes to "Microsoft Word".

 

[macrumoruser12]

Depending on what wallpaper I use the drop shadow around Menu Bar text and items disappears. I get it using the default Big Sur and Sonoma wallpapers. It disappears with the Ventua, Monterey and Hello ones per example. The same thing happens on my work Mac still running macOS Ventura with the exact same wallpapers, so this behavior isn't unique to Sonoma.

Regarding the app name in the menu bar: Word first starts off simply saying "Word". Then after a few moments changes to "Microsoft Word".

Actually happens with the same wallpaper, and only started occurring in Sonoma. Clicking the menu bar brings back the drop shadow whenever it disappears randomly.

 

[n-evo]

Haven't seen that bug personally. Because of your post in noticed for the first time that it disappears with certain wallpapers as well. 😅 Is that supposed to happen? I honestly have no clue.

 

[macrumoruser12]

Haven't seen that bug personally. Because of your post in noticed for the first time that it disappears with certain wallpapers as well. 😅 Is that supposed to happen? I honestly have no clue.

Probably just a bug, 90% of the time the drop shadow is there and comes and goes randomly. Didn't happen on Ventura or Monterey

 

[macrumoruser12]

Fixed in 14.2

 

[Goodeye]

Fixed in 14.2

Yep just looked and noticed it's back. Chrome just says "Chrome" instead of "Google Chrome".

Same with Microsoft Office apps. Just the app names not Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Excel.