Where do Menus live on the Mac?

Where do Menus live on the Mac?

The Windows operating system (OS) puts menus within each application window. Now, you can Maximize the window so that it takes over the whole screen and in that case the Windows system will treat menus much as the Mac does.

The Macintosh OS always puts menus at the extreme top of the screen. Here are examples of each:

The Windows Way:

Note that in this screen shot the View menu has been pulled down from within the window.

The Macintosh Way:

In the screenshot above, the File menu has been pulled down from the top of the screen. In addition, note that the window within the screen shot does not have any menus.

Menus on a Macintosh live in a different place than menus on a Windows PC but they work the same way.

Activity 1-Let's Choose from a Menu!

1. In the Finder, move the mouse so the point of the arrow is within the File menu across the extreme top of the screen.
2. Click the mouse button. The menu will pop down.
3. Roll the mouse so the pointer rolls down the menu until it highlights the Print Desktop... menu command
4. Click the mouse button while it's over the Print Desktop... menu item
5. Click Cancel

When you click this two things will happen: 1) The pop-down menu you've been seeing will go away and 2) a dialog box will appear on screen asking you to go ahead and Print or for you to choose options affecting the print job.

We don't want you to print the desktop, just to see how menus work so please click Cancel! For more about dialog boxes, click here.

Oops! How do I get out of a menu I don't want?

Now that you've pulled down a menu, let's say you decide the command you want isn't there or you just change you mind. Here are the two ways to get out of a menu:

1. Move the mouse so the pointer is over any open part of the desktop, i.e.: not over any part of the menu. Click. This will cancel the menu pull-down.
2. Move the mouse so the pointer is back within the text or label of the menu at the top of the screen. Click. This will de-select the menu so it no longer pops-down.

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