How to Show the Input Menu in the Mac Menu Bar

The Input menu is the flag or letter glyph that sits in the menu bar and answers one question at a glance: which keyboard layout am I typing in right now? If you use more than one language it's close to mandatory, and even single-layout Macs benefit — it's the quickest route to the Keyboard Viewer and the full character palette. One checkbox turns it on.

Turn the Input menu on

1. Open System Settings → Keyboard.
2. In the Text Input section, click Edit… next to Input Sources.
3. Switch on Show Input menu in menu bar.

The icon appears in the menu bar immediately. The path is identical on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia, and the same switch turned off is the undo. Worth knowing: the moment you add a second input source, macOS enables this menu on its own — which is also why the icon sometimes shows up "uninvited" after a stray dialog added a layout you never wanted.

What the icon tells you

The menu bar item displays the active input source: a national flag for regional layouts (🇩🇪 for German, 🇫🇷 for French), the letters ABC for the plain Latin layout, or a script glyph for input methods like Pinyin or Hiragana. It updates the instant you switch — which makes it the fastest diagnosis for the classic "my keyboard is typing the wrong characters" moment. One glance up: if the flag isn't what you expect, an accidental Ctrl+Space switched you, and pressing it again switches you back.

What's inside the menu

• Your input sources — every layout you've added, with the active one ticked. Click to switch; no shortcut memory required.
• Show Emoji & Symbols — opens the full Character Viewer, the deep version of the Ctrl+Cmd+Space popup, with search across every symbol macOS can type.
• Show Keyboard Viewer — a live on-screen keyboard mirroring your current layout. Hold Option with it open and watch every key reveal its hidden character; it's the best tool there is for learning a new layout.
• Open Keyboard Settings… — a shortcut straight back to the pane where you manage sources.

Getting rid of it

The reverse operation trips people up because there are two moving parts. If you have multiple input sources, the menu stays on regardless of the checkbox — macOS insists you have a visible way to switch. So: open the same Edit… sheet, remove the layouts you don't use with the − button until one remains, then turn off Show Input menu in menu bar. With one source and the box unchecked, the icon is gone for good. If you'd rather keep the menu but tidy the bar, you can also Cmd-drag the icon left or right to reposition it among your other menu bar items — or Cmd-drag it out entirely, which unchecks the same setting.

Is it worth the menu bar space on a single-language Mac? Reasonable people differ, but consider what the two menu items at the bottom buy you: the Character Viewer for any symbol you can't type, and the Keyboard Viewer for discovering the ones you can. If you'd rather reach those through shortcuts — Ctrl+Cmd+Space opens the character picker anywhere — then a lone-layout Mac genuinely doesn't need the icon, and unchecking the box costs nothing. The setting is per-user and takes effect instantly in both directions, so you can audition life with and without it in under a minute.

Put the menu to work

The most underrated item inside it is the Keyboard Viewer — the on-screen keyboard guide shows how to use it to learn every Option-key symbol your layout hides.