“Files Menu” is another system menu to give you quick access to your most commonly used files. It has one twist, though: It will filter out files from the menu based upon which application you are currently using! This way, while you’re using ClarisWorks for example, the menu will only show ClarisWorks files.
Installation:
Place “Files Menu” in your “Extensions” folder and restart your Macintosh.
Configuration:
After restarting, there will be a folder called “(Files)” inside of your “Preferences” folder. You can place files, folders, applications, or aliases inside of this folder. Anything in this folder will be displayed in the system menu. The easiest way to get to this folder is to select “Open “(Files)” folder” from the menu.
In addition, if you use the “Recent Documents” feature of System 7, any aliases in that folder will also be added to the menu. Any file showing up in both places will only be added to the menu once.
The menu will only display a maximum of 50 files.
But wait, there’s more!
Files in the menu are sorted by the application that created them, and separated accordingly. Also, files are filtered out based upon the application you are currently using.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you have 3 ClarisWorks files, 1 SimpleText file, and 8 CodeWarrior files inside of your “(Files)” folder. When you are in the Finder, pulling down the menu will show ALL files. Should you select a ClarisWorks file, that file will be opened with ClarisWorks as expected. While ClarisWorks is in front, pulling down the menu will show ONLY the ClarisWorks files. Holding down the “option” key will force the menu to show ALL files, regardless of the frontmost application. Switching to SimpleText will cause the menu to be rebuilt, showing only SimpleText files. Each time you switch applications, the menu will automatically detect the switch, and rebuild the list of files!
Selecting the first menu choice, “Open “(Files)” Folder…” will cause the (Files) folder inside of the Preferences folder to be opened. Please note: It does NOT cause the Finder to become the frontmost application, so you may not notice the folder opening if another application has a window open. Switch to the Finder to see the open window.
Updates:
To download the latest version of Files Menu, go to my Home Page at:
http://www.sky.net/~jcollins
I will also try to keep the latest version on the Info-Mac archive, as well as on America Online.
Contacting me:
Jason Collins
Rt. 1 Box 25
Wellington, MO 64097
You may mail in any bug reports or feature requests, or send them to jcollins@kagi.com, or jcollins@sky.net.
This utility may be distributed freely to any online service, as long as it remains unchanged in any way, and is distributed along with this Read-Me. It may also be included on any CD as long as I am notified in advance.
Thanks:
Thanks to Matt Slot for writing the system menu shell that this is based on.
The icon concept was designed by Jeff Backes.
This menu came about after a discussion of ideas with Mitch Fry.
For helping me test it: Doug Troxel, Mike Sketers, and David Weis.
Future enhancements:
• Add items in the “Recent Applications” and “Recent Servers” folder
• A preferences application to let you configure menu options
