How to Add an Eject Menu to the Mac Menu Bar

Eject CDs and DVDs by using the macOS menu bar

What to Know

  • Open Finder and select Go > Go to Folder. In the Go to the folder box, type /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras.
  • In Menu Extras, double-click Eject.menu. The Eject menu icon is added to the menu bar. Select the icon and choose Open or Close.
  • To reposition the Eject menu icon, press and hold Command, then drag the icon to the desired location on the menu bar.

This article explains how to customize your Mac's menu bar by adding an Eject menu, allowing you to eject a CD or DVD quickly without moving windows around to drag the disc icon to the Trash. Instructions cover OS X Leopard and later. Menu and command names may differ depending on your OS X or macOS version.

Add an Eject Menu to the Menu Bar

Access to eject functionality from the menu bar offers benefits beyond a quick way to eject a disc. For example, if your computer has multiple optical drives, the Eject menu lists each drive so that you can select the disc you want to eject.

The Eject menu also comes in handy when you eject a stubborn CD or DVD, such as a disc in a format macOS doesn't recognize. Because the CD or DVD never mounts (that is, it doesn't become accessible to the computer), there's no icon to drag to the Trash and no pop-up menu you can use to eject the disc.

The Eject menu works for peripheral and built-in optical drives.

To add the Eject menu to the menu bar, complete the following steps:

  1. Open Finder.

  2. From the Go menu, select Go to Folder.

    Go to Folder command in Mac Finder
  3. In the Go to the folder box, type /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras.

    Go to the folder text box in macOS Catalina

    Folder names in the Library are case sensitive.

  4. In the Menu Extras folder, double-click Eject.menu.

    The Menu Extras Finder folder in macOS Catalina

    The Eject menu icon is added to the menu bar (the icon is a chevron with a line beneath it).

  5. Select the Eject menu icon to display all the optical drives attached to the Mac. An Open or Close command appears, depending on each drive's current state.

    The Eject Menu icon in macOS Catalina

Position the Eject Menu Icon on the Menu Bar

Like any other menu bar icon, you can position the Eject menu icon to appear anywhere in the menu bar. To reposition the Eject menu icon, press and hold the Command key on the keyboard, then drag the Eject menu icon to the desired location on the menu bar.

Remove the Eject Menu Icon From the Menu Bar

To remove the Eject menu icon from the menu bar, press and hold the Command key on the keyboard, then select and drag the icon off the menu bar.

Was this page helpful?