The menu bar icon doesn't appear

Storage Studio lives in the menu bar at the top of your screen. If you can't see its icon, it's almost always still running — macOS just has no room to show it. Opening Storage Studio again from your Applications folder brings it straight to the front, and turning on a Dock icon gives you a second way in that never gets crowded out.

Likely causes

• The menu bar is full. When there are more icons than fit, macOS simply doesn't show the ones that don't fit.
• The camera notch. On a MacBook with a notch, icons that would sit behind it aren't shown.
• Another app hides menu bar icons. Some menu bar organisers hide icons until you reveal them.
• Storage Studio isn't running. It may have been quit, or it isn't set to start when you log in.

%% caption: Finding Storage Studio when its menu bar icon isn't visible
flowchart TD
  A[No Storage Studio icon in the menu bar] --> B[Open Storage Studio from Applications]
  B --> C{Did a Storage Studio window appear?}
  C -->|Yes| D[It was running - the icon is just hidden]
  D --> E[Make room in the menu bar or turn on the Dock icon]
  C -->|No| F[Wait a moment for it to finish starting]
  F --> G[Turn on Start at login so it is there next time]

How to fix it

1. Open it again from Applications. Double-click Storage Studio in your Applications folder. If it's already running, the running copy comes to the front instead of a second one starting: in the standard view you get the Home window, and in the Advanced view the popover opens. Only one copy ever runs at a time.
2. Make room in the menu bar. Quit a few other menu bar apps, or rearrange icons by holding ⌘ and dragging them, so Storage Studio's icon has space.
3. Check any menu bar organiser you use and make sure Storage Studio isn't in its hidden section.
4. Add a Dock icon. In Settings, open Interface and turn on Show Storage Studio in the Dock. It's "Off by default — Storage Studio lives in the menu bar. Turn this on to keep a Dock icon as well, in either view." Clicking the Dock icon opens Storage Studio just like the menu bar icon.
5. Make sure it starts at login. See Starting Storage Studio at login so the icon is there after every restart.

Good to know

The menu bar icon has two clicks. A normal click opens Storage Studio; a right-click (or Control-click) shows a short menu that includes Settings…, the eject command for your drive, More…, Restart Storage Studio, Quit Storage Studio and About Storage Studio. See The menu bar icon and popover.

See also: Show in Dock · Interface settings · Installing Storage Studio · Something's not working: start here