Stop the menu bar text changing based on application open

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Level 1

8 points

Stop the menu bar text changing based on application open

I use multiple desktops on my 2019 MacBook Pro (i.e. I open everything in full screen and move between them that way). Since updating Big Sur (including the 11.1 and 11.2 updates, neither of these changed anything), when I'm in certain applications (specifically Microsoft Word and other MS programs), the text on my menu bar is white. It's obviously hidden most of the time but if I need to use it, e.g. to see the time, I can barely read it. My wallpaper is pretty pale, and I have everything on dark mode, but on Safari and Spotify and basically everything else, the text is black. For some reason, it changes depending on what program is running in that window.

I have tried turning off wallpaper tinting, and changing it through accessibility, but the first one doesn't work and the latter just makes the menubar black with white text which isn't what I want.

Besides changing my wallpaper, does anyone know how I can get the text in my menubar to stay black for every window open?

Screenshots attached to show what I mean

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Feb 3, 2021 2:47 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

73,500 points

Feb 3, 2021 8:12 AM in response to alixhudsn

I think that there are a few variables here.

I never use fullscreen, but I did some experiments.

FWIW, I use Dark Mode, but I don't think that is the most relevant here. The most relevant seems to be the desktop picture.

The color of the menu bar is influenced by the desktop picture, and different Spaces can and do have different background pictures. This is why sometimes the text is white and sometimes it is black (even without involving fullscreen). This is the Finder in one space:

And this is the Finder, in the next space:

Notice how not just the letters, but also the menu bar behind, are different.

Now even a fullscreen application does have a desktop background - that is the default background you set in System Preferences->Desktop & Screen Saver.

All you have to do is change this picture to something that yields the menu bar text to black.

Here is Word (in fullscreen) when the background was "Big Sur Horizon" from the pictures available from Apple:

And here it is, after I changed the desktop picture to one of mine, that has a lighter color:

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Answer 2

alixhudsn Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 4, 2021 2:06 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

thank you so much! I tried a few different wallpapers (mostly Apple ones) and it was still happening, but I realised that if I make windows full screen by clicking the green full screen button in the top left, the menubar stays black, whereas if I zoom out to mission control and drag windows up to the top from there, the menu bar changes to white for some reason. Thank you for your help!

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Stop the menu bar text changing based on application open

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