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Menu bar pattern reference

Write your own date, time, week number and next-event text for the Mac menu bar with Unicode date pattern letters and Blipcal's tokens.

The short version

  • Set the pattern in Settings > Menu bar. The preview under the field shows the result as you type.
  • The letters are the standard Unicode date patterns: E d MMM HH:mm gives Thu 5 Nov 09:18.
  • The next event reads Title in 12m, then Title now, then Title · 12m left.
  1. 1

    Where to set it

    Open Settings > Menu bar. The Pattern field takes the letters below; the Presets pop-up fills in common ones. The preview under it renders the real status item in the current appearance. Leave the field empty for no clock.

  2. 2

    The icon beside it

    The date icon is separate from the pattern: filled, outlined or the calendar glyph, with the month and weekday on or off. Turn Show icon off to show text only, for a clock replacement, and hide the system clock in System Settings > Control Centre.

  3. 3

    The next event

    Turn on Show the next event and the title and countdown follow the clock: Standup in 12m, Standup now under a minute, then Standup · 12m left while it runs. Set how far ahead it looks (Up to), the width, and whether only meetings with a video link count.

The letters

The standard Unicode date pattern letters, the same ones macOS uses for date formats. Repeat a letter for the longer form.

Letters Example Meaning
E Thu Weekday, short
EEEE Thursday Weekday, full
d 5 Day of month
dd 05 Day, two digits
MMM Nov Month, short
MMMM November Month, full
M 11 Month number
y 2026 Year
yy 26 Year, two digits
h 9 Hour, 12-hour
hh 09 Hour, 12-hour, two digits
H 9 Hour, 24-hour
HH 09 Hour, 24-hour, two digits
mm 18 Minutes
ss 42 Seconds
a AM AM or PM
w 45 Week of year, counted the way your Mac’s region counts weeks
ww 45 Week of year, two digits
D 309 Day of year
'text' W Plain words, in single quotes
'' ’ An apostrophe inside quoted text

Examples

Pattern Shows
E d MMM HH:mm Thu 5 Nov 09:18
EEE dd/MM Thu 05/11
'Week' w Week 45
h:mm a 9:18 AM
d MMM 'W'w 5 Nov W45
HH:mm:ss 09:18:42

The next-event text

The next event is not part of the pattern; it is its own setting and follows the clock after two spaces. The forms it takes, decided by the app:

State Reads
Starts within the window Standup in 12m (under an hour) or Standup in 1h 5m
Starts within a minute Standup now
In progress Standup · 12m left, then Standup · ending
Nothing within the window Nothing: the clock alone, or the icon alone

A video glyph appears before the text from ten minutes before a meeting with a link until it ends. Long titles are shortened to fit the width you pick: Compact, Regular or Wide (about 140, 180 or 280 points). The countdown itself never truncates.

The second clock

Choose one of your time zones from Second clock in the same tab. It renders after the other text as the zone’s time and label, for example 04:18 NYC, in your region’s short time style rather than the pattern. Add zones in Settings > Appearance.

Good to know

  • Seconds: a pattern with ss updates every second, which costs a little battery. Everything else updates on the minute.
  • Width: a pattern is measured against every date of the year so the item keeps one width and the bar never jitters. A weekday name changes width once a day; the next-event countdown changes width only at the 10-minute and 60-minute marks.
  • Moving the item: hold ⌘ and drag it along the menu bar, as with any status item.
  • Hiding the system clock: System Settings > Control Centre, then the Clock options. Keep at least the icon or a pattern showing; the app will not let both be empty.

Still stuck? Email support@blipcal.com and we will help.