How do I hide default CommandMenu in SwiftUI on macOS?

Question

I'm (attempting) switching over my AppDelegate macOS app to the SwiftUI lifecycle - but can't seem to find out how to handle the CommandMenu. I just want to delete these default menu items (Fie, Edit, View, etc...). In the past, I would just delete them from the Storyboard - but I'm not using a storyboard here. Is there a way to delete these items in SwiftUI?

The items I want to delete:

I know how to add new items via:

.commands {
  MyAppMenus()
}

But that just adds them inline with the existing menu items.

Andrew · Accepted Answer · 2024-10-18 15:41:38Z

8

swiftUI -- override AppDelegate with your custom:

@main
struct PixieApp: App {
    @NSApplicationDelegateAdaptor(AppDelegate.self) var appDelegate
///........
}

code of appDelegate:

final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
    func applicationWillUpdate(_ notification: Notification) {
        DispatchQueue.main.async {
            if let menu = NSApplication.shared.mainMenu {
                menu.items.removeFirst{ $0.title == "Edit" }
                menu.items.removeFirst{ $0.title == "File" }
                menu.items.removeFirst{ $0.title == "Window" }
                menu.items.removeFirst{ $0.title == "View" }
            }
        }
    }
}

result:

As truly this is bad solution.

will not work on non-English localizations
can be flickering on menu line

But i didn't found better one. =(

edited Oct 18, 2024 at 15:41

answered Jan 2, 2022 at 5:20

Andrew

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6 Comments

danneu Over a year ago

This worked for me. I don't seem to have a problem with SwiftUI adding menu items back like the other commenter mentions, so I was able to stick this under applicationDidFinishLaunching. Note: applicationWillUpdate is called a lot, forever.

Andrew Over a year ago

applicationDidFinishLaunching works until first refresh of menu ,thats why better applicationWillUpdate - to update once more when this menu will be refreshed.

outrowender Over a year ago

for Swift 5, what will work for you is menu.items.removeAll { $0.title == "Edit" }

Andrew Over a year ago

@outrowender it will work only for english language :) Just like in my answer.

user20325868 Over a year ago

After some messing around I found leaving the items and changing isHidden to be the most efficient approach. That way I can set the items once in ApplicationDidLoad and change my menu separately as needed.

|

Jared Updike · Accepted Answer · 2025-02-11 20:20:58Z

4

Working off of the above, but using NotificationCenter vs KVO.

final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
    func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) {
        let unwantedMenus = ["File", "Edit"]
        
        let removeMenus = {
            unwantedMenus.forEach {
                guard let menu = NSApp.mainMenu?.item(withTitle: $0) else { return }
                NSApp.mainMenu?.removeItem(menu)
            }
        }

        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
            forName: NSMenu.didAddItemNotification,
            object: nil,
            queue: .main
        ) { _ in
            // Must refresh after every time SwiftUI re adds
            removeMenus()
        }

        removeMenus()
    }
}

edited Feb 11 at 20:20

Jared Updike

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answered Jul 24, 2023 at 1:16

z2k

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1 Comment

Jared Updike Feb 11 at 20:21

Sadly this doesn't let me remove the File menu and add back my own, because this code removes my new File menu. I guess I just have make a different name for that menu in my App?

waggles · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-14 22:35:18Z

2

Until SwiftUI adds more support for adjusting menus, I think you have to worry about SwiftUI reseting the NSApp.mainMenu whenever it updates a window.body. I haven't tried every method for adjusting the mainMenu, but of the methods I tried, the flaw was that SwiftUI seems to have no check for whether it last set NSApp.mainMenu or if something else did.

So however you are managing the menu, update it after SwiftUI has.

Use KVO and watch the NSApp for changes on .mainMenu. Then make your changes with a xib, or reseting the whole thing, or editing SwiftUI's menus.

Example:

@objc
class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
    
    var token: NSKeyValueObservation?
    
    func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) {
        
        // Adjust a menu initially
        if let m = NSApp.mainMenu?.item(withTitle: "Edit") {
            NSApp.mainMenu?.removeItem(m)
        }

        // Must refresh after every time SwiftUI re adds
        token = NSApp.observe(\.mainMenu, options: .new) { (app, change) in
            // Refresh your changes
            guard let menu = app.mainMenu?.item(withTitle: "Edit") else { return }
            app.mainMenu?.removeItem(menu)
        }
    }
}

struct MarblesApp: App {
    @NSApplicationDelegateAdaptor(AppDelegate.self) var appDelegate

    var body: some View { 
        //... 
    }
}

This seems to work in Xcode 13.4.1 with Swift 5 targeting macOS 12.3.

Hopefully Apple adds greater control soon. It seems Catalyst has other options. Or you can create a traditional AppKit app and insert the SwiftUI views into it.

answered Jun 14, 2022 at 22:35

waggles

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2 Comments

Peter Nowell Over a year ago

This seems to work reliably. I’m having trouble adapting the solution to remove the File > Share menu item that comes with a SwiftUI document-based app. SwiftUI doesn’t provide a CommandGroupPlacement for the Share command, so I can’t remove it the official way. I can get the File menu with let fileMenu = items.first { $0.title == "File" } and the share menu command with fileMenu?.submenu?.items.first {$0.title == "Share"}. But I can't figure out how to use the KVO observer to detect when SwiftUI re-adds the Share command.

waggles Over a year ago

I couldn't come up with a simple solution. Maybe you can use NotificationCenter.default.publisher(for: NSMenu.didAddItemNotification, object: nil) instead of KVO and check each time if it is the item you want to remove (e.g. the "Share"). And then remove it when it is. I have found messing with the menus too cumbersome at this point.

Lemon · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-09 01:26:18Z

0

You can remove command menu items through the AppDelegate file:

override func buildMenu(with builder: UIMenuBuilder) {
    super.buildMenu(with: builder)
    builder.remove(menu: .services)
    builder.remove(menu: .format)
    builder.remove(menu: .toolbar)
}

This thread on the Apple Developer forum might help as well: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/649096

answered Dec 9, 2020 at 1:26

Lemon

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2 Comments

JoeBayLD Over a year ago

That would work if I'm using Catalyst but I'm not - UIMenuBuilder isn't available on macOS.

Lemon Over a year ago

@JoeBayLD Oh, sorry about that

Qulou Wan · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-28 03:18:07Z

-3

CommandGroup(replacing: CommandGroupPlacement.appVisibility, addition: {})

answered Apr 28, 2021 at 3:18

Qulou Wan

11

2 Comments

Luc-Olivier Over a year ago

Please can you develop you answer?

SiKing Over a year ago

Can you add some explanation why/how this solves the OP's question.

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