> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://squad.so/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Use the notch and the menu bar > See who is working, answer questions in place, chat, and snooze Squad from the notch and the menu bar in Squad for Mac. Squad for Mac is in private beta. Squad for Mac lives around the notch at the top of your screen and in the menu bar. Both show who is working and what needs you, so you can answer without opening the main window. On a screen without a notch, Squad draws a small pill in the same place. The notch and the menu bar are Mac only. ## Turn the notch on or off The switch is **Squad in the notch**, in **Settings** > **This Mac** > **General**. It is on by default. With it off, questions and requests to use your Mac come as notifications instead. Select a Mac access notification to answer the request at the notch. A spoken answer still shows at the notch for the moment. See [Settings, notifications, and updates on the Mac](/docs/mac/settings#general-settings-for-this-mac). ## The notch at rest **The notch shows**, in the same settings, chooses what the notch shows while nothing new happens: | Choice | At rest | | - | - | | **Activity** | The default. Beside the notch, in the menu bar, the faces of the teammates who work, the count of what needs you, and a blue dot with the count of conversations with new replies. When a teammate starts, a strip drops under the notch for a moment. | | **Only changes** | Nothing at rest, unless something needs you. The notch speaks up for a moment when a teammate starts, replies, or finishes a task. | | **Only what needs you** | Only questions and requests to use your Mac. Replies and progress wait in the chat. | With any choice, a new question shows under the notch for a moment. Then its count waits beside the notch until you answer. While you share your screen, nothing shows at the notch. The menu bar counts what needs you the same way. The Dock also adds the conversations with new replies into its number. See [What the list holds on the Mac](/docs/tickets#what-the-list-holds-on-the-mac), [What the number counts](/docs/tickets#what-the-number-counts), and [The Dock badge](/docs/mac/settings#the-dock-badge). ## Peek at your squad Point to the notch. After a moment, the peek opens: * the squad's name and how many things need you, or "All quiet", * the teammates who work now, with what they do and for how long. "Nobody is working right now." shows only when nobody works and no reply waits for you. * unread conversations. Select one to open it in the notch chat. A group chat opens in the main window. * your other squads with something for you, when you are in more than one squad. See [Other squads](#other-squads). * **Answer** with the count when only questions wait, or **Open Needs You** when there is also something to fix, a suggested trigger, or one of your steps in Contacts that is due. Both open **Needs you**. * **Open Squad**, which opens the main window. The owner and Administrators see **Stop** on a working teammate's row when they point to it. **Stop** asks first, with **Stop the run** and **Keep going**. See [Stop a run](/docs/runs-and-health#stop-a-run). ## Cards that the notch opens The notch opens a card by itself when something happens. A question card waits its turn while a question, a spoken answer, or your voice is on screen. A Mac access card waits behind a question, your voice, or another Mac access card, and replaces a spoken answer. A spoken answer replaces any card. A reply that arrives while a question, a Mac access card, a spoken answer, or your voice is on screen shows only as a notification. | Card | When | What it has | | - | - | - | | Question | A teammate asks you something, an email waits for your review or your call, or a teammate wants to pay with your card, or to save it at a store | The teammate, the kind of ask, the question, and quick answers. Then **Open**, or **Open in Squad** (**Review the Draft** for an email, **Review and Approve** for a payment) and **Later**. Needs **Questions** on, or **Email that needs you** for an email. A question held by **Hold non-urgent decisions** opens no card. | | Reply | A teammate replies in a conversation that you are not looking at | The reply, with **Open chat** and **Close**. Needs **Replies and mentions** on. | | Finished | A teammate finishes a task | The teammate and the task, for a moment. | | Mac access | A teammate asks to use your Mac | See [Let your teammates use your Mac](/docs/mac/mac-access#answer-a-request). | | Answering | Squad reads an answer aloud | The words light up as they are read. **Stop** and **Open chat**. | A question card plays a sound when **Play a sound when it opens** is on. It closes by itself after a short time, or soon after your pointer leaves it. Pointing at it keeps it open. A card for a question that you answered somewhere else closes by itself. To hand files to your squad, drag them onto the notch. Drop them on a teammate's face to give them to that teammate. The chat opens with the files attached, so that you can add a note before you send. A Viewer cannot do this. ## Answer in place On a question card, you can answer without opening Squad: * A yes-or-no decision shows **Approve** and **Decline**. * A decision with a few options shows one button for each option. * An action shows **I've done this** to the owner. Everyone else sees **Open in Squad** and **Later**. * An approval, an input, an access ask, and a decision with many options show **Open in Squad** and **Later**. * An email draft or an email escalation shows **Review the Draft** and **Later**. * A payment that waits for your approval says **Needs your approval**, with **Review and Approve** and **Later**. **Review and Approve** opens the approval page of your card vault in your browser. See [Approve a purchase](/docs/payment-cards#approve-a-purchase). After you answer, the card says what you chose and that it was sent to the teammate. When the answer does not go through, the card says "That didn't send. Try again, or open it in Squad." A Viewer gets no quick answers. For the full question card, see [Answer a question](/docs/tickets#answer-a-question). ## Chat in the notch Press ⌃⌥C, or click the notch, to open your squad's conversations under the notch. It opens on the teammate with the newest unread reply, else your chief of staff. A conversation with replies that you have not read opens at the first of them, so that you read a long reply from its start. With many new replies, it opens at the newest. See [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). When you open the notch chat again, it starts at what arrived in the meantime. A closed notch chat does not mark replies as read. * The row of faces at the top switches teammates. A dot marks unread replies. * The expand button opens the conversation in the main window. * Esc, the close button, or a click somewhere else closes it. Focus goes back to the app that you were in. While the chat is open, the notch steps aside. Cards that waited come out when you close it. To change the shortcut, see [Settings, notifications, and updates on the Mac](/docs/mac/settings#general-settings-for-this-mac). ## Hide or snooze the notch * **Hide for now** in the right-click menu of the notch, **Hide for Now** in the peek's right-click menu, or Esc on the strip, hides the notch until something new comes in. Something new is a new question, a new reply, a teammate that starts, a new item in another squad, or more to fix. Questions still wait in **Needs you**, and the menu bar still counts them. * **Snooze for 1 hour** and **Snooze until tomorrow** keep Squad quiet: no voice, no sounds, and the notch does not open by itself. A request to use your Mac still shows at the notch while snoozed or in a meeting, without a sound. What waited comes out when the snooze ends. A snooze lasts after you quit Squad. While snoozed, the menu says until when, with **Stop snoozing**. For when tomorrow starts, see [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). The snooze choices are in the right-click menu of the notch, of the peek, and of a reply card, and under **Snooze the notch** in the menu bar panel's **⋯** (**More**) menu. ### The right-click menus | Where | Items | | - | - | | The notch at rest, with something beside it or under it | **Hide for now**, **Open Needs You** when something waits, the snooze choices, and **Notch settings…** | | The peek | **Chat with Your Squad**, **Delegate…** (not for a Viewer), **Hide for Now** when something shows, and the snooze choices | | A working teammate's row in the peek | **Stop** with the teammate's name and **Run**, for example **Stop Nina's Run**. For the owner and Administrators. It stops the run at once, with no confirm step. | A bare notch, with nothing beside it, has no right-click menu. **Notch settings…** opens **Settings** > **This Mac** > **General**. ## Other squads When you are in more than one squad, the notch, the menu bar, and the Dock also count what needs you in your other squads. For each squad, they count what its **Needs you** would list for you, with the same rules for your role there, except a signed-out AI account and routines that cannot run. Your own steps in Contacts count when they are due by the end of your day. They also count new replies there, in conversations that you are in (you wrote in them or forked them), while **Replies and mentions** is on. New messages in another squad's group chats and Squad chat count by the same rule as in the open squad, also while that squad is busy or its computer restarts, so the number does not change when you switch squads. Squad counts a set number of other squads. See [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). Beside the notch, the look of each count says where it comes from: | Count | Where | | - | - | | Filled | This squad only. | | Outlined | Your other squads only. | | Filled, with a ring around it | This squad and your other squads. | The notch's tooltip and VoiceOver say the counts in words, for example "3 things need you: 2 here, 1 in Brightline Studio." When the count comes from more than one other squad, the words say "in your other squads". The faces beside the notch are always this squad's teammates. The peek shows a few other squads that have something for you, each with how many things need you, how many are new, and how many teammates work. Select one to switch to that squad. Squad then opens what waits there: **Needs you**, the question, or the conversation. ## Close notch cards with Esc from any app By default, Esc reaches the notch only while your pointer is on an open card. Elsewhere, Esc belongs to the app that you use. With **Close notch cards with Esc from any app** on, Esc in any app closes a card that the notch opened by itself. Your app still gets the Esc too. Esc never answers a card. On a request to use your Mac, Esc moves the request to a notification. On a spoken answer, Esc stops the voice. This setting needs the Accessibility permission for Squad. Turn on Squad in **System Settings** > **Privacy & Security** > **Accessibility**. ## The menu bar The Squad mark sits in the menu bar. Beside it: * a number: everything that needs you, in this squad and your other squads, * a dot when a conversation has an unread reply, * a breathing mark while a teammate works. Click the mark to open the panel. It opens from any app, as Control Center does, and the app that you were in stays in front. You can click and type in the panel. A click anywhere else, Esc, ⌘Tab, or another click on the mark closes it. The panel takes its size when it opens, and grows or shrinks when something arrives while it is open. The panel shows: * The header shows the squad's name and how many things need you, or how many teammates work, or "All quiet". * **Your other squads** lists the other squads with something for you. **Open** switches to one. * **Needs you** shows the first questions as question cards, so you can answer them there, with **Undo** for a short time after. A payment that waits for your approval shows with the urgent questions at the top, with **Review and approve**. Links under them open the rest in **Needs you**: **Answer the other** with the count **in Squad**, the tasks that wait on you, what needs fixing, the suggested triggers, and your steps in Contacts that are due, for example **Look at your 2 steps that are due**. When nothing waits, it says "Nothing needs you." * **At work** lists the teammates who work now, and what they do. * **Open Squad** opens the main window. The panel's **⋯** menu has **Delegate…** (not for a Viewer), **Share your squad's day…**, **History**, **Snooze the notch**, **Settings…**, and **Quit Squad**. For how many questions the panel shows, see [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#squad-for-mac). ## Check that it works Point to the notch. The peek opens with your squad's name and who is working. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.