How to Hide and Remove System Preference Panes in macOS

Why learn the art of organizing or removing System Preferences on macOS? To begin with, nobody likes a cluttered System Preferences window. For instance, if you want to change System Preference pertaining to Bluetooth, Network, Desktop & Screen Saver, or anything for that matter, you should be able to access these preferences promptly without having to scour other System Preferences.

However, that’s not always the case. Many common apps tend to add their icons and that makes the task of zeroing down on the right System Preferences a headache. There are some System Preference panes that you can’t remove and we won’t even suggest you do that. But, how about the unwanted third-party preference panes, many of which are just refusing to go? Here is how you can manage such stubborn preference panes with utmost ease.

How to Hide and Remove System Preference Panes in macOS

1. Hide System Preferences in Mac

The first option that we are going to discuss is hiding a System Preference pane that you don’t want to see. This can especially be useful in the event you want to hide a system preference that you can’t remove but just wish to hide so that the System Preference window becomes a little more sorted. Here we are going to have a look at the steps to hide and unhide unwanted System Preference panes.

1. Click on the Apple menu

2. Select and open System Preferences

3. Click on View

4. Head to Customize

5. Untick or deselect the tickbox next to the items that you wish to hide.

6. Click on Done

What if I Want To Unhide The Preferences That I Had Hidden?

Here are the steps to unhide System Preference panes in macOS –

1. Open System Preferences

2. Click on View > Customize. You will now be able to see all System Preference panes.

3. Click on the tickbox next to the item that you want to unhide.

4. Save the changes by again selecting  View > Customize.

2. Remove Unwanted Third-Party System Preference Pane

There are some third-party apps that are known to add their own icons to System Preference and it is possible, to remove them using the steps mentioned below –

1. Open System Preferences

2. Control-click on the items that you want to get rid of.

3. Click on Remove “Item” Preference Pane.

4. Type in your administrative password when prompted to confirm the removal.

Remove Unwanted Preferences Using A Third-Party Utility –

Sometimes it may be hard for you to judge which preferences you want to keep and which ones to delete. A third-party utility like Advanced Uninstall Manager makes this task easy and safe for you. The utility is a specialist in uninstalling programs in their entirety. That means after uninstalling apps using Advanced Uninstall Manager, you’ll no more have their setup files, language files, or any other associated data. They’ll be gone forever, leaving behind no traces. You can check out this post to know more about Advanced Uninstall Manager.

How To Use Advanced Uninstall Manager To Get Rid Of Unwanted Preferences –

1. Download, run and install Advanced Uninstall Manager.

2. Click on Delete Files from the left-hand side> And, Preferences Pane from the right.

3. Select the items and then click on the Delete button.

3. Use The Finder To Remove Third-Party System Preference Panes

You can even use the Finder app to remove third-party preference panes from your Mac. Here are the steps for the same –

1. Open Finder

2. Head to Go > Go to Folder

3. Type Library/PreferencePanes

4. Click on Go

5. Select the items you wish to remove.

6. You can either delete the preference pane you want or move the file to some other location or send the file to the trash.

Wrapping Up

We hope you now are armed with everything you need to organize, remove and hide unwanted System Preference panes. Want more tips and tricks to ace System Preferences? Here are some more. Found the post to be helpful? Do share it with others as well. For more such content, keep reading WeTheGeek.