A FEW USEFUL ANSWERS.
Fix missing menu bar icons.
Keep controls within reach.
Troubleshoot the OverflowBar arrow, missing previews, permissions, and restoring icons.
Which icons can OverflowBar manage?
OverflowBar offers supported status items that it can identify and arrange safely. Protected macOS controls are excluded. An app’s icon can also remain unavailable if its source or identity cannot be resolved reliably.
Open another app that has a menu bar item, then use Refresh Icons in OverflowBar Settings. Compatibility varies by application and operating system. The second row does not imply that every system indicator or every icon hidden by a notch can be managed.
What happens when a new icon appears?
While Hide selected icons is on, newly discovered eligible icons are added to your saved selection. On first use, the current inventory becomes the baseline when no verified prior order is available. Protected or unstable items are excluded.
The arrow or second row is missing.
Refresh the icon list in Settings. If the arrow remains unavailable, choose More → Reset Icon Selection to restore the managed icons.
Some macOS Tahoe installations retain status-item ownership references in Control Center’s protected state. Report the problem with your macOS and OverflowBar versions. Repeatedly resetting Control Center or changing protected preferences is not a supported recovery path.
Why are preview images missing?
Screen Recording is optional. Without it, the row uses available application icons. To enable live previews, grant Screen & System Audio Recording to OverflowBar in System Settings, then quit and reopen it if macOS requests this.
A granted permission does not guarantee that every app’s status item can be captured. Read the permission setup steps.
How do I restore every icon?
- Turn off Hide selected icons to reveal the managed items.
- Choose More → Reset Icon Selection and confirm to reveal icons and clear the selection.
- Quit OverflowBar to reveal managed icons while retaining your choices for the next launch.
To uninstall, quit first, then remove OverflowBar from Applications.
Permissions look enabled, but no longer work.
Replacing an ad-hoc-signed local build can leave a grant associated with the old signature. Quit the app, remove only the stale OverflowBar entry from the affected permission list, add /Applications/OverflowBar.app again, enable it, and reopen the app.
This recovery is for an app replacement whose permissions stopped working. See the complete permission guide.
macOS blocks the app on first launch.
The community build is not notarized. Download from the official release and follow the installation and Apple Open Anyway guidance for a trusted copy.
Does it work on macOS 27?
The current engine disables native icon management on macOS 27 and later, leaving icons accessible in the menu bar. That compatibility path comes from source review; macOS 27 runtime behavior was not tested.
What about macOS 15, macOS 26, and Intel?
The app has a universal binary and a macOS 15 deployment target. A limited workflow was checked on macOS 26.4. Physical macOS 15 and Intel validation, and the full display and third-party app matrix, remain incomplete. Review the compatibility table.
Does OverflowBar upload my screen?
No. Preview captures, menu content, and icon selections remain on your Mac. The updater contacts the configured GitHub release feed to check for signed updates and asks before installing. Read the privacy model.
Is it free and open source?
Yes. OverflowBar is available under GPL-3.0. Its native engine includes work from Ice and Thaw, which also offer menu bar management and separate bars. OverflowBar focuses on selecting icons and accessing their original controls through a second row.
Search, saved visibility profiles, and a global toggle shortcut are possible future work, rather than current OverflowBar features.
Still stuck?
Report an issue on GitHubInclude your app and macOS versions, steps to reproduce, and relevant permission state. Check screenshots for private content before sharing.