I have been asked that same question several times in the past few days, so I know some of you probably have had the same problem. And even if you knew the answer, it is pretty easy to forget some of the tiniest details of the Mac OS X interface.

Do you see that tiny little “jellybean” in the upper right corner of the window above? That little tiny icon is the source of the problem! Click it and the toolbar is gone – just gone! Click it again and the missing icons will quickly reappear. But if it has been a while since you accidentally clicked that jelly bean, it can sure make simple tasks difficult!

Of course, not every window has a toolbar at the top. If there is no toolbar, there is no jellybean:

Here are some other windows with toolbars and jelly beans. This one is Pages:

This is Word 2008:

Even more interesting is the Finder window. When you click the jellybean, the left sidebar also disappears:

Next time the icons are “just gone,” remember the jellybean!

Pat