Show icons next to window titles on your Mac

Why it happens

By default, your Mac keeps title bars clean and leaves out the little icon beside a window's name. That icon is handy: it shows at a glance what kind of document or folder you're looking at. A switch in Accessibility brings it back for every window that has one.

How to fix it

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings and click Accessibility in the sidebar.

2. Click Display, then turn on Show window title icons.

   Accessibility›Display›Show window title icons

3. Open a Finder window or a saved document. You should see a small icon just before the title.

Still not fixed?

1. Some windows never show an icon, such as a new document you haven't saved yet or windows that don't belong to a file or folder. Save the document and the icon appears.

2. If toolbar buttons are hard to make out too, turn on Show toolbar button shapes in the same Display list. On macOS 27 it's called Show borders.

   macOS 26 Tahoe Accessibility›Display›Show toolbar button shapes

   macOS 27 Golden Gate Accessibility›Display›Show borders

3. If one app still shows no icon, quit it with Command-Q and open it again so it picks up the change.

4. If the switch turns itself off again after a restart, contact Apple Support.