TL:DR - Hold Alt > View > Show Menu Bar (Or press Ctrl + B)
If you've updated to the new iTunes 11 and have noticed some of the useful items missing then you're not alone.
After updating I wanted to simply select "File > Add Folder to Library..." which is how I normally add albums to iTunes. The only problem was that there seemingly was no "File" menu to speak of. It just wasn't there.
After hitting a few modifier keys to try to find the menu I stumbled upon holding down "Alt" (I'm on a Windows 7 PC) which temporarily showed the "File" "Edit" "View" etc. Menu Bar.
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| Holding "Alt" Brings Up The iTunes 11 Menu Bar |
This was helpful but the fact that something as useful as a "File" menu is hidden by default is very bad design in my opinion. We're all used to "File" and "Edit" menus and we can often get lost when we can't find them or even worse think features (like "Add Folder to Library...") have been removed.
If you like the iTunes Menu Bar to only appear when holding "Alt" then simply press ALT when you need to use it.
If, however, you are like me and want the Menu Bar to show up all the time you can select that option by:
- Holding down Alt to bring up the Menu Bar
- Selecting "View" from the Menu Bar
- Selecting "Show Menu Bar" (or press Ctrl + B)
The menu bar should now be visible without having to hold Alt.
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| Turning Menu Bar On: View > Show Menu Bar |
Having to hold a somewhat obscure (or any) modifier key to access something as fundamental as the Menu Bar is really a UI fail in my book. If I hadn't stumbled upon it I would have simply assumed iTunes 11 didn't have a menu bar and therefore was less useful.
Having just started using it I can't say for sure whether iTunes 11 is a step in the right direction but I think hiding much-used and familiar features is not a good route to go.
