īartender keeps your Mac’s Menu Bar clutter to a minimum. Version 4 is a major update, adding new ways to surface items just when you need them, including by hovering over blank menu bar space and by creating your own keyboard shortcuts. Simplify Gmail is Gmail-only simpler.Ī less-busy menu bar: For Mac diehards, Bartender has long been a popular way to hide unneeded menu bar icons from the top of the screen. Its $24-per-year subscription fee (after a free trial) is a small price to pay for a more peaceful inbox. It also blocks email trackers, lets you separate emails by date, and offers a beautiful, full-screen composition window. The web browser extension centers your inbox so it’s easier to read, hides Google’s unnecessary app buttons, and tones down distracting colors. Clear the clutterĪ less-messy Gmail: As an answer to all the cruft that Google’s email service has built up over the past 17 years, Simplify Gmail is a revelation. Check them out if you need help getting out of a productivity rut. Great apps like the ones here can make work feel more tolerable, and all of them are either new or had major updates over the last year. That means it’s still important to find your own ways of staying on task and keeping organized, even if you’re not heading back to the office full time (or at all).
