Xmenu not working on Macbook Pro (2023, 16", M2 Max)

Miscellaneous Needful things
1

I just migrated from an Intel Macbook Pro to a shiny new 2023 M2 Max, and Xmenu no longer appears in the menu bar.

If I connect my external display and set it to be the main display, Xmenu does appear in the menu bar. But if set the external display as the extended display and the Retina display as the main display, Xmenu disappears from the menu bar. Activity Monitor shows the Xmenu process running during all of this.

I’ve tried:

  • Uninstalling Xmenu and downloading it from devontechnologies.com (version 1.9.11).

  • Quitting Xmenu from Activity Monitor, deleting com.devon-technologies.XMenu.plist, restarting the computer.

  • Creating a new test user account and running Xmenu in that account.

(I’m a licensed user of Devonthink Pro 3.)

2

Going to guess that Xmenu’s menu bar icon is hidden behind the camera notch. You can control drag icons to the order you want them in but if you have enough some will always be behind the notch.

2 Likes
3

Ahh… that’s damnable notch. Not Apple’s finest idea :roll_eyes: Yes, that may be a possibility.

1 Like
4

Thanks very much. Indeed, the notch was the issue – never would have thought of it myself, mainly because there’s more than enough room to display an additional icon:

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image1920×262 49.9 KB

Putting aside the hardware design, let’s count the ways of UI sloppiness:

  1. Not using the blank space to the right of the notch.

  2. Not displaying “…” with a drop-down menu when there are too many icons.

  3. Not letting the user suppress unwanted icons when apps don’t provide that preference themselves.

Sigh.

5

As much as we love much of the Apple ecosystem, we collectively sigh along side you :roll_eyes:

1 Like
6

Big sigh here too. The app “Bartender” may be of help for you to have multiple rows of icons in the menu bar.

2 Likes
7

Thanks for this recco.
If apple would just allow us to reduce the space between icons in the bar that would be enough for me. I am trying Bartender right now and it’s more that I need right now. But the compact setting makes room for tons of icons.
Of course I can’t promise that my use of the extra space won’t eventually make it necessary to use the other features of the app.

8

Don’t forget Bartender can do multiple rows of icons, so many that will help avoid the icons behind the notch. I don’t have a notch to confirm that, but I use Bartender on both my MacBook and iMac and it helps.

1 Like
9

XMenu, M1 MacBookPro.
I believe I disabled all viewing options and can now no longer use XMenu.

I have used XMenu for years but cannot on my newer M1. It is not a notch problem, I am running on a monitor without a notch. I have uninstalled and re-installed from both the Apple App site and DEVON web site.

I believe I disabled all viewing options at one time and can not get to XMenu preferences.

Is there a way to do a master ‘reset’ or a configuration file I can ‘reset’

Thank you, -Fred

10

Followup; I can now get to the preferences menu BUT under the XMenu all I get are [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[.
When I open XMenu the entire screen is taken up with what appears to be a WIDE XMenu, from side to side, of gray blank screen.

I ended up installing Bartender 5 and found the XMenu icon after scrolling the menu from side to side. I am assuming the W I D E setting of XMenu is also affecting the XMenu icon…

I might have multiple problems (maybe with the M1 and Somona 14.1.2),

Back to my original question; is there a way to do a ‘reset’ of XMenu?

Thank you, -Fred

2023-1208 XMenu example

11

What “wide setting” of XMenu?

  1. Quit XMenu.
  2. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app.
  3. Paste: defaults delete com.devon-technologies.XMenu and press Return.
  4. Type: exit, press Return, and quit Terminal.
  5. Relaunch XMenu.
12

THANK YOU! -Fred

13

You’re welcome :slight_smile:

14

I wanted to revive this thread, because I have the same issue with the notch on my 2022 MacBook Air. At the moment there is still a large amount of space on the toolbar, but DEVONThink has disappeared, presumably for not having enough space. I wonder is there any thought about making the DT button in the toolbar smaller (i.e. less wide) a la the Dropbox or Google Drive logo/widget?

In the meantime, if this button for DT is missing from my toolbar, how can I still e.g. capture from web to DT?

15

you can already do that in the DTP settings

16

you can change the order of the icons in the menu bar. just move the more important apps to the right, so they will always be visible

What’s in the menu bar on Mac? - Apple Support.

17

Thank you, vinschger. A good explanation on removing icons.

I realized that I was actually looking for this toggle, which I think you were referring to in the previous post. Linking the forum here for future reference:

18

I can run xMenu fine on M1 Air (non-notch.) There are apps like bulldozer, ice (I use Ice) that cover Bartender’s purpose.

1 Like