How to Pin Shortcuts to the Mac Menu Bar

The Shortcuts app can resize windows, convert files, toggle settings, and chain a dozen steps into one action — but only if running a shortcut is easier than doing the task by hand. Pinning shortcuts to the menu bar makes them two clicks from anywhere, in any app. The checkbox is tucked inside each shortcut's details panel, and once one shortcut is pinned, a dedicated menu appears.

Pin a shortcut

1. Open the Shortcuts app and double-click the shortcut you want to pin.
2. In the editor, click the shortcut details button — the ⓘ icon in the right sidebar.
3. On the Details tab, check Pin in Menu Bar.

The first pin makes a Shortcuts glyph appear in the menu bar; every shortcut you pin afterward joins the same menu, so your bar gains exactly one icon no matter how many automations you hang off it. The steps are identical on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia. You'll also notice a Menu Bar collection appear in the Shortcuts sidebar — it lists everything currently pinned, which becomes the easiest place to manage the set.

Running shortcuts from the bar

Click the menu bar icon, click a shortcut, and it runs immediately — no Shortcuts window opens. Shortcuts that need input still get it: an "Ask for Input" action pops a small dialog wherever you are, so a "rename my screenshot" or "start a timer for N minutes" shortcut works fine from the menu. Keep the names short and verb-first ("Resize Window", "Log Weight", "Open Work Tabs") — the menu shows names only, and a tidy list is what makes this faster than hunting through the app. Failures surface as a notification rather than silently, which is more than some automation tools manage.

Unpinning and next steps

To remove a shortcut from the menu, open it again and uncheck Pin in Menu Bar — or find it via the Menu Bar collection in the sidebar. When the last pin is gone, the menu bar icon disappears too. Nothing about pinning changes the shortcut itself; it stays runnable from the app, from Spotlight, and from anywhere else you've wired it. If you find yourself running one pinned shortcut constantly, that's the sign to graduate it to a global hotkey — the same Details tab has an Add Keyboard Shortcut field waiting.

Ideas worth pinning

The menu earns its slot when the shortcuts behind it compress real friction. Reliable winners: a Toggle Appearance shortcut using the Set Appearance action, for flipping dark mode on your schedule rather than macOS's; an Open Work shortcut that launches your standard apps and browser tabs in one click; a clipboard cleaner that strips formatting or converts a copied image to JPEG before you paste it somewhere fussy; and a Where's My File shortcut that reveals the most recent download in Finder. Each is three or four actions in the editor, built once, used daily.

The pattern to notice: menu bar shortcuts are best for actions with no natural home — not tied to one app, not worth a global hotkey, but needed often enough that opening the Shortcuts app would kill the point. Anything you trigger while your hands are on the mouse belongs here; anything you trigger mid-typing deserves the keyboard shortcut treatment instead. Sort your automations along that line and both lists stay short and fast.

Give your best shortcut a hotkey

Menu bar pins are for the shortcuts you run daily; hotkeys are for the ones you run hourly. See how to run a shortcut with a keyboard shortcut on Mac to wire an automation to a key combo.