---
id: getting-started.menu-bar-icon-colours
url: https://storagestudio.us/faq/getting-started/menu-bar-icon-colours
category: "Getting started"
subcategory: "Finding your way around"
question: "What does each Storage Studio menu bar icon state mean?"
alt_questions:
  - "Storage Studio icon is red"
  - "Why is the Storage Studio menu bar icon yellow?"
  - "Storage Studio icon orange badge"
  - "Storage Studio icon question mark"
  - "Storage Studio icon pulsing green"
  - "Menu bar icon states"
short_answer: "Plain means healthy, a green pulse means a clean-up is running, yellow means Full Disk Access is missing, orange means space is low, red means the drive is disconnected or space is critical, and a minus means paused."
tags: ["menu bar", "status", "icon"]
related: ["https://storagestudio.us/faq/getting-started/where-is-the-storage-studio-icon", "https://storagestudio.us/faq/getting-started/menu-bar-right-click-menu"]
applies_to: "all"
last_reviewed: 2026-10-01
---

# What does each Storage Studio menu bar icon state mean?

The icon shows the most urgent state at a glance:

- **Plain drive** — running and healthy.
- **Green pulse** — a clean-up or cloud-optimisation run is in progress.
- **Yellow warning triangle** — Full Disk Access isn't granted.
- **Orange warning badge** — your built-in drive is getting low on space.
- **Red ✕ badge** — the external drive is disconnected or not verified, or the built-in drive is critically low.
- **Minus badge** — running, but automatic actions are paused.
- **"?" badge** — no drive set up yet.
- **Stop symbol** — installed but not running.

Errors always win over the green pulse, so an important warning never hides behind a running job. Click the icon to see details.