TuckGuide
Menu Bar Layouts Across Multiple Mac Displays
A notched laptop screen and a wide monitor need different menu bars. Here is how Tuck's display settings work and what to check after you plug something in.
Short answer. Tuck keeps display settings in Displays, with a global template and per-display settings. Per-display layouts and profile bindings are planned for Tuck Pro. Display changes can trigger brief glitches, so wait a few seconds before you edit anything.
Steps
- Open Displays. Open Settings, Displays. The Global section is a template that displays without custom settings follow.
- Pick a display. Use the picker to choose the built-in screen or an external monitor and set it up on its own.
- Set the Tuck Bar per display. Use Tuck Bar is a display setting. Turn it on for the notched screen and leave it off for a monitor that has room.
- Broadcast only if you mean it. Apply to All Displays copies the global template to every connected and previously seen display.
- Turn on relaunch confirmation. Keep Confirm before relaunching apps on, so a display change asks before it restarts apps for spacing.
- Test by docking. Connect and disconnect the monitor, wake the Mac from sleep, and check your layout each time.
What differs between displays
A notched built-in display has less room than an external monitor, so it is the one that benefits from the Tuck Bar. A wide monitor may show everything in the bar.
Profiles and Spaces
Tuck can bind a profile to a display, to a Space or to a Focus filter, so switching context changes the layout. Those bindings belong to Tuck Pro, which is not on sale yet.
Known limits
- Connecting, disconnecting or switching displays can cause short visual glitches, often transient.
- A spacing change on one display may need apps to relaunch, which can show duplicate icons for a moment if the app also relaunches its own agent.
- iPhone mirroring and Live Activities can interfere with layout changes. Pause mirroring while you edit.
- We have not tested every dock, scale factor or Spaces setup. If yours misbehaves, note the arrangement and report it.
The macOS steps target macOS 26. Tuck instructions describe its documented settings and supplied UI renders; the public DMG is launching soon. Pro features remain planned.