The Apple () menu is a very useful feature that lets you get to any folder,
application or document without having to return to the Finder
The Apple Menu Items Folder
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  The Apple Menu Items folder contains desk accessories. applications, files, folders
and aliases that appear under the  menu — use aliases wherever possible. If
you put applications in the folder you must ensure they don’t save documents in
it as well! Items within the folder can be enclosed inside other folders as desired.
Desk Accessories
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A Desk Accessory (DA) such as NotePad or Scrapbook, is similar to an application but uses a fixed memory allocation of only 20 K when active.
Any DA originating from System 6 (or earlier) must be dragged out of its suitcase and then dragged into the Apple Menu Items folder. The suitcase itself needn’t be retained, unless you want to revert to an earlier system!
Customising the Ô£ø Menu
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The best way to customise your menu is to use a utility such as Now Menus, part of Now Utilities. This lets you choose the menu font or subdivide the menu into different sections and much more. Failing this you could try one or more of the following:-
¬ø The order in which items appear in the Ô£ø menu can be altered by adding spaces or
other symbols to the beginning of their names. The following characters come after z
in the order shown:-
` accent
~ tilde (Shift-`)
‚Ñ¢ (Option-2)
• (Option-8)
¿ Empty files or folders with names such as ‘------’ can act as dividers in the  menu.
If it’s a file it can convey useful information! If you find the icon next to each divider
irritating you can remove it by pasting ‘blank white’ (from a graphics program) onto
the icon box in the Get Info window.
¬ø An alias of the Apple Menu Items folder in the folder itself gives fast access!
  An alias of your hard disk in the Apple Menu Items folder lets you get to all your
files, including some folders that are usually invisible. These are the Desktop
Folder, containing files on the Desktop, the Trash folder (whose files you can
open) and, in some instances, the Temporary Items folder.
  If you frequently look at your Clipboard, and your applications don’t make
provision for it, you can place an alias of the Clipboard file (which resides in your
System Folder) in the Apple Menu Items folder.
Standard Menu Items
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The Installer puts the following items in the Apple Menu Items folder:-
AppleCD Audio Player
  An alias of a useful application that controls your Apple CD drive when playing
conventional audio disks.
Automated Tasks
  An alias of a folder of the same name that’s on your hard disk — it contains a
range of AppleScript mini-applications.
Calculator
  A DA for working out simple calculations. Better alternatives are available — but
this is very small!
Chooser
  A DA for selecting a printer or AppleTalk.
Control Panels
 
An alias of the Control Panels folder in the System Folder.
Mail and Catalogues
  This folder is only necessary if PowerTalk is installed. It contains an alias of the
AppleMail application, the Find in Catalogue and Personal Catalogue file.
Find File
  Provides a comprehensive search facility without you having to switch to the
Finder. By using the Find File Extension you can launch it by pressing †-F. You
may prefer to move Find File into your Applications folder and perhaps put
an alias of it in the Apple Menu Items folder.
When Find File locates a files it shows a list of matching items in the upper pane of its window. The path to any item highlighted in this list is shown in the lower pane. The divider between the panes can be dragged to resize them as desired.
z To open the folder containing a file or folder simply double-click on the item’s
name in the lower pane.
z To open the file itself double-click on its name in the upper pane.
z To open or print a group of items just Shift-select them in the upper pane and
select Open Selected Item or Print Selected Item under the File menu.
Jigsaw Puzzle
  You can paste a file of type PICT or an icon into this application to make puzzles
of your own. if you’re desperate you can use the Puzzle to open PICT files!
Key Caps
  A DA that demonstrates all the characters available using combinations of keys
with Shift, Option or Shift-Option.
Ï Different characters are often obtained when you use a different fonts.
Ï Some applications may not provide all the desired characters.
Ï The action of keys may be remapped by using ResEdit to modify the System or
more conveniently means of a utility such as QuicKeys.
NotePad
  You can paste or drag any item onto this application. It uses little memory and
includes a Find feature, but any font you use is the same for all pages. Its contents
are automatically saved to disk without requiring a Save command.
ScrapBook
  You can paste or drag any item onto this application but you can’t edit text
within it. Any item can be cleared using Clear or †-B. The contents are
automatically saved to disk without requiring a Save command.
An alternative such as ScrapIt Pro can provide many more options.
Shut Down
  This DA lets you shut down your Mac without having to switch to the Finder.
Stickies
  This application effectively creates sticky labels on the screen. Preferences include
Launch At Startup (optionally in the background to startup in the Finder rather
than in Stickies), Confirm Window Closing (a dialog for saving the sticky as a text
file) and Zoom Box Collapses ( for choosing what the zoom box actually does).
