scook
The bypass button in the standard header was added for VST3 plugins. IIRC, bypass is part of the VST3 spec but not VST2.

I'm seeing it on all FX that I put in the FX bin. VST2.4 and VST3. You have to mouse over the FX in the bin to see the on/off button. Heck it works for DX plugins too. 

Thanks for all the replies.  Yes, there is a bypass button in the top left corner of each plugin window, but as scook pointed out, this only works for VST3, it is grayed-out for VST2 plugins.  Unfortunately not all of my favorite VST2 plugins have been updated to VST3.
 
It would be nice to have that option for all plugins, not just the VST3s.  As I said in my first post, while it's not a major inconvenience, it does tend to disrupt the flow a bit when you are tweaking your plugin settings and must jump out of the plugin window, hunt for the track strip, then make sure you are choosing the right plugin every time you need to check it bypassed.  Why not be able to just reach up and click that button in the top left corner of the plugin window?
 
Thanks again folks! 

John

scook
The bypass button in the standard header was added for VST3 plugins. IIRC, bypass is part of the VST3 spec but not VST2.

I'm seeing it on all FX that I put in the FX bin. VST2.4 and VST3. You have to mouse over the FX in the bin to see the on/off button. Heck it works for DX plugins too. 

The on/off button in the FX rack and PC is a different function than the FX bypass provided in the standard header for VST3 plug-ins.

Yep it works here for all plugins. So I'm not seeing what you are seeing. Hold on a moment. Look at that picture it is all about the track FX bin I have not used the PC for any of this. Its from my understanding came with FX Stacking. I tested it too and it does what it is supposed to do.  

BTW just to be clear I am on Sonar Platinum 64 bit Newburyport under Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.

John
Yep it works here for all plugins. So I'm not seeing what you are seeing. Hold on a moment. Look at that picture it is all about the track FX bin I have not used the PC for any of this. Its from my understanding came with FX Stacking. I tested it too and it does what it is supposed to do.  

We're not talking about the button on the fx in the bin. Double click a plugin to open its interface. On the left top of the interface header is a bypass button. That one only works on VST3.

Yes, it is not the same. The host bypass was introduced in the VST standard header starting with X3 and looks like this when enabled in a VST3 instance of FabFilter Pro-C

Sanderxpander

John
Yep it works here for all plugins. So I'm not seeing what you are seeing. Hold on a moment. Look at that picture it is all about the track FX bin I have not used the PC for any of this. Its from my understanding came with FX Stacking. I tested it too and it does what it is supposed to do.  

We're not talking about the button on the fx in the bin. Double click a plugin to open its interface. On the left top of the interface header is a bypass button. That one only works on VST3.

You may not be, I am. It was very confusing that you were quoting me and disputing my post. It is a new feature in Sonar with FX stacking that allows independent bypass on all FX in a bin. Its an alternative to not having this built into the plugin itself. It also works with any plugin. That was why I posted that picture. Again it allows the bypassing of a plugin independent of the status of any other plugin. It is not VST 3 or any other VST type dependent.
 
Now the question as I recall was how to bypass a plugin if there is no bypass on the GUI of the plugin. I gave the answer I did to answer that question.  

mse21tx
Maybe I've missed something, but when opening a plugin's properties window I see solo, read/write and other functions in the top strip as part of the Sonar interface, but I don't see a bypass switch.  I know some plugins have a bypass switch built into their interface, but if they don't, is there any other way to bypass a plugin other than in the track strip in console or track view?  To me, it's more convenient to have a bypass switch right there in the same place when I'm tweaking the plugin parameters rather than having to jump over to the track strip and hunt for the bypass button.  I know it's a pretty minor thing but this seems to be a fairly standard feature in many other DAWs.  I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find a previous thread on it.  Thanks!
 
Mike

I think the OP was looking for solutions where he didn't have to go to the track or console views.

Well you are right but then there is no other way, Dave.