To name the button, type the name in the text box under “Touch Bar Button Name.” Place the cursor in the box, then press the keystroke you want the button to invoke. You can also invoke a keystroke with the button press by adding a keystroke in the “Custom Keyboard Shortcut” box. You can search through the predefined actions with the search field at the top of the list. Click on the dropdown under “Predefined Action” to access the list. There’s a detailed list of predefined actions that can be attached to the button when pressed.

To add a simple button, click “+ Touch Bar Button.” The button can do one of two things: it can either invoke a keyboard shortcut or perform a “predefined action” from the list of options. You can create a Touch Bar button to trigger a specific keystroke or bind it to one of the many predefined actions available through BetterTouchTool. With BetterTouchTool, you can create an action that performs nearly any function on the Mac. If the scope is limited to a single app, the button will only be shown when that app is in the foreground. If the scope is “Global,” the button will appear in any app. The left pane sets the scope of the button. In this pane we can build buttons to be shown on the Touch Bar. Click on the Touch Bar tab near the top of the window to access the Touch Bar pane. With BetterTouchTool’s preference window open, we can adjust the Touch Bar. Today, BetterTouchTool works on nearly every input method available on the Mac, from the keyboard to the Siri Remote to the Touch Bar. It was first used to create custom multitouch trackpad gestures. You can also drag icons in and out of it by clicking “Customize Touch Bar …” Advanced: Transforming the Touch Bar with BetterTouchToolīetterTouchTool has been an important tool for macOS customization for years.

This strip can be turned off completely by unchecking the “Show Control Strip” box in the Keyboard preference pane. This will allow you to adjust the Control Strip, which is the strip of four to five buttons shown by the Touch Bar on the right side. The Touch Bar can also be adjusted in the Keyboard pane of System Preferences. They’re typically fairly limited, and they don’t offer the kind of flexibility we want. The available palette of Touch Bar buttons will be different for each application.

It’s a lot like customizing the toolbar in an application. Then you can drag a set of preset options to and from the Touch Bar. In some apps you can select “Customize Touch Bar…” from the View menu in the menu bar. They’re limited but worth investigating anyway. MacOS does offer some built-in options for customizing the Touch Bar. Basics: Customize the Touch Bar with Built-in Tools

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