I'm not sure as to how to fix your issue but I have used the arduino IDE for quite some time and have just started using Visual Studio Code instead. I find it quite nice as compared to the arduino IDE. The two extensions I'm using is C++ and PlatformIO.
I'm a silly goof. It didn't occur to me that the menu would be on the Mac menu bar! I've started years ago with Windows OS, and even though I've been running Macs for at least 10 years the Apple conventions still trip me up.
Problem (actually no problem, except for my cluelessness) solved!
I'd be in your same situation, I've never owned a Mac in my life!
If you get time to check it out, I think the VS Code makes some things pretty handy coding as compared to Arduino IDE. Some things for me with VS and Platform IO seem a little off but I think the good outweighs the bad for sure.