Tray in macOS

Tray items spacing

Reduce spacing between icons / items in tray:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing -int 8

Here is how the setting of 8 looks like:

TBD

Note

Requires a logout or a restart to take effect

More generally

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing -int X

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding -int Y

The default defaults can be restored by running:

defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSpacing

defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain NSStatusItemSelectionPadding

References

• https://www.jessesquires.com/blog/2023/12/16/macbook-notch-and-menu-bar-fixes/