The Gear Menu Click to see a larger image

Many applications show the Gear button either in the Toolbar or near the bottom of the window. Clicking on the Gear brings up a list of common menu items or settings that you might need.

Menu options in the Gear menu are normally items that are in Menu Bar items or secondary-click context menus. Occasionally, a function is only found in the Gear menu, but this is considered bad form on the part of the developer.

As an example of the Gear menu, in the Finder, the Gear menu shows options to create a new folder or get info about a file.

Look for the Gear in many applications, including the Finder, Mail, and the iPhoto.

The gear can also be used to indicate Smart playlists, albums or groups in applications such as iTunes, iPhoto and Address Book.

Lion note: Since Lion drained all of the color out of its icons, the gear icons that indicate "Smart" items now look pretty much the same as the Gear for the Gear menu. If you see a gear icon directly to the left of an item in a list, that probably indicates a "Smart" item and not a Gear menu.