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Using TaskMenuBar

As you launch applications (including desk accessories, control panels and the Finder), application icons will appear on the menu bar as shown below. The highlighting states of the icons indicate the status of the applications. In the example below, SimpleText, PictureViewer, ResEdit, Photoshop, QuickTime Player and the Finder are open (running). the Finder is the active application (red frame). StuffIt Expander and Netscape are closed (not running, faded icons).

Notice that there is a "separator" between PictureViewer and StuffIt Expander. There also are a few more icons on the menu bar other than the applications mentioned above. Namely, two desktop printers, a remote volume, two folders and the trash can. The items on the right hand side of the separator are "resident" items that always stay on the menu bar. Resident items can be anything including document files, folders and volumes. Please read "Adding Resident Items" in the next section about how to add these items.

Selecting, Hiding and Launching Applications

TaskMenuBar lets you select, hide and launch applications, including desk accessories (Calculator, Chooser, etc.), control panels and the Finder, by mouse clicks.

Single click an open (running) application icon to select the active application.
Double click or option-click an open application icon to hide all other applications.
Double click or option-click a closed (not running) application icon to launch the application.
Double click on the empty area at the middle of the menu bar (the left side of SimpleText in the above example) to show all applications.

NOTE: There are options to launch applications or hide other applications by single clicks. Please read "Setting Options" in the next section.

LIMITATION: Under systems prior to the 9.0, TaskMenuBar can not select or display the running status of certain control panels.

Opening, Moving, Copying and Printing Files

If you have a file, folder, desktop printer or the trash on the menu bar as a resident item, a double click or an option-click on the icon will open the item.

You can also drag and drop files from the Finder or from applications that support Macintosh Drag and Drop onto:

an application to open the files,
a folder or volume to move or copy (with the option key down) the files,
a desktop printer to print the files. The printer will be the default printer if it is not the default already.
the trash to move the files to the trash can.

In the picture on the left, a Netscape file is being dropped onto SimpleText. If the application can open the file, the icon will be highlighted.

NOTE: Drag and drop requires the System 7.5 or later.

LIMITATION: Moving control panels or extensions to the "System Folder" using TaskMenuBar will not move them to the appropriate folders.

Drag and Drop of "Promised" Files and URLs

NOTE: The degree of support varies from one application to another.

Saving, opening and printing "promised" files

Promised files are files yet to be created at the beginning of the drag and drop operation. The files will be created at the end of the drop and drag, if accepted. For example, a news reader "Hogwasher" fully supports promised files. After downloading a news article, you can drag and drop it onto TaskMenuBar to save it in a folder, to open it with another application or to print it by a desktop printer.

Many other applications support promised files with various degrees. For example, a mail client Eudora supports saving and opening mails, but not printing. Most web browsers support saving and opening of URLs. Internet Explore also supports saving and opening of images from web pages.

NOTE: On opening and printing promised files, the files will be created on the desktop.

Saving and opening Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)

TaskMenuBar can convert text clippings to Internet location files, like the Finder does. Select and drag a text contains an URL, such as "http://www.apple.com", and drop onto TaskMenuBar. Dropping onto a folder saves the URL as an Internet location file. TaskMenuBar handles web pages (preceded by "http:"), FTP sites ("ftp:"), HTML files ("file:") and e-mail addresses ("mailto:") as shown above.

You can also open those URLs without saving them first. Just drop a web URL onto Internet Explorer or iCab (but not Netscape) to open the page or an e-mail address onto Eudora to create a mail.
NOTE: TaskMenuBar actually creates Internet location files in the temporary items folder. You may see those files in the trash after the reboot.

Using Drop Down Menus

All icons on the menu bar have drop down menus. To open the menu, hold down the mouse on the icon for the double click duration or control-click the icon.

In the picture above, the drop down menu for the the Finder is shown. It is the most feature rich menu. Its features include:

Open "Finder" command to select the Finder as the front process.
"Show Clipboard" and "About This Macintosh" commands.
Open "TaskMenuBar" command to open the TaskMenuBar control panel.
The "Printer" menu to select a printer.
The "Eject" menu to eject removable volumes (floppy disks, CDs, etc.).
All mounted volumes (hard disks, CDs, floppies, remote volumes, etc.) from which you can access the contents of the volumes via hierarchical menus as shown above.

NOTE: Requires the OS 8.5 or later to display icons on the menu.
LIMITATION: Due to the Mac OS, hierarchical menus are limited to five (5) levels.
NOTE: If the printer you are using does not appear on the "Printer" menu, select the printer using the Chooser even if it is already selected. The printer should appear after closing the Chooser.

For items other than the Finder:

Applications: "Quit", "Quit Others" and "Quit All" to quit itself without selecting it first or to quit other applications.
Folders and volumes: All contents are accessible via hierarchical menus.
Desktop printers: "Set Default Printer" to select the default desktop printer.
Trash can: "Empty Trash" command.

In addition to these commands, all menus (except for the Finder menu) have the "Open", "Get Info" and "Show Original" commands.

NOTE: TaskMenuBar will not quit excluded applications or the Finder.
NOTE: There is an option to open a folder menu immediately with a single click without holding down the control key. Please see "Setting Options" in the next section.
NOTE: The empty trash warning won't be given when emptying the trash regardless of the trash preference setting.
LIMITATION: You cannot empty the trash if there is a locked item in the trash. Holding down the option key has no effect. ZZRH Monaco;£6;£6∂…°44ZZR*…¯<òRMPSRMWBB*ÌˇˇÔˇˇLˇˇR