PowerMenu is the definitive, comprehensive Contextual Menu utility. PowerMenu adds powerful commands to the Finder's Contextual Menu under MacOS 8, and provides its own Contextual Menu for System 7 users. Only PowerMenu's wide range of commands lets you:
･ Open selected files into any running application. Just select a running app from the Contextual Menu.
･ Open selected files into any other application on your drive. Just place an alias of the application in PowerMenu's Applications folder to make it available on the Contextual Menu.
･ Copy or make an alias of selected files into target folders of your choosing. Just place an alias of your favorite folders, network servers, or removable disks into PowerMenu's Target Folders folder.
･ Quickly open commonly used files or launch any application right from your Contextual Menu. Just drop an alias in PowerMenu's Quick Access Items folder to make it available.
As if that weren't enough, PowerMenu also provides a pop-up menu, accessible from any application, that lets you quickly open or launch your commonly used files and applications. Items in PowerMenu's Quick Access folder can be opened instantly from any application with a single click.
PowerMenu's Contextual Menu items and its Quick Access popup menu are all fully hierarchical, which means you can organize your applications and files into groups for even faster access. As well, PowerMenu rebuilds all your menus in the background while you work, which means even very deep, complex menus come up instantly.
PowerMenu has been around since well before MacOS 8, providing a Contextual Menu to System 7 users. Now, under MacOS 8, PowerMenu adds its unique commands to the Finder's Contextual Menu for seamless integration. Of course, PowerMenu still works great under System 7, even providing Finder commands like Open, Print, Delete, etc. on its Contextual Menu, just like MacOS 8.
PowerMenu is heavily customizable and is optimized for both Macintosh and Power Macintosh computers, meaning it will run at full speed on whatever model you use. PowerMenu requires MacOS 8, System 7.5.x, or System 7.1.x with the Scriptable Finder installed. PowerMenu is $15US shareware.
How do I install PowerMenu?
PowerMenu comes as two main components, a system extension called "PowerMenu Extension", and a control panel called "PowerMenu Controls". Drop both of them onto your System Folder and answer "Yes" when your computer asks you if you want to store them in their appropriate place.
If you are running MacOS 8 on a PowerPC-based computer, PowerMenu provides two additional components that enable it to add items to the Finder's Contextual Menu. Just drop the "PowerMenu CMPlugin" and the "PowerMenu SupportLib" items onto your System Folder and answer "Yes" when your computer asks you if you want to store them in their appropriate place. These items are not needed under System 7, nor under MacOS 8 on 680x0-based machines.
On 680x0-based machines running MacOS 8, PowerMenu is unable to add its commands to the Finder's Contextual Menu, so you should follow the instructions below for System 7 users. This is deficiency is a shortcoming of the Finder's design, not a flaw in PowerMenu.
Restart your computer to activate PowerMenu.
Since it may take a few moments to prepare your menus when you first boot your machine, PowerMenu sounds a short series of tones when it is ready to use. You can disable these tones with the control panel.
How do I use PowerMenu?
If you are running MacOS 8 on a PowerPC-based computer, you will notice that PowerMenu will add commands to the Finder's Contextual Menu. You get the Contextual Menu by clicking on an icon while holding down the Control key (usually the leftmost button on the bottom row of your keyboard).
If you are running System 7, you get the Contextual Menu in the Finder by clicking anywhere on your screen while holding down certain control keys. Initially, PowerMenu is set to pop up its menu when you hold down the Command ("cloverleaf" or "Apple" key) and Control key and click anywhere on the screen.
The first time you open the Contextual Menu with PowerMenu installed, you'll notice that there are several options, including a list of all running applications. If you choose the name of a running application, PowerMenu will try to open any currently selected items with that application. Try it out! Make sure that the item or items you want to open are selected and the application you choose is able to work with those documents.
PowerMenu also provides a pop-up menu, available from any application, that lets you quickly open your commonly used files or launch applications. To get this menu, click anywhere on your screen while holding down the Command and Control keys. If you are running System 7, switch to an application other than the Finder first. When PowerMenu is first installed, this menu will be empty until you add items to PowerMenu's lists.
For PowerMenu to be useful, you should add items to PowerMenu's list of applications, target folders, and commonly used items. Then you will be able to open files directly into any application, and quickly launch or open your commonly used items. You can add items to PowerMenu's lists by putting aliases into certain special folders located in your System Folder. Using the Contextual Menu in the Finder, choose the "Open PowerMenu Items folder" command. You should see a window like this one:
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Adding aliases to the Applications folder makes applications available for opening files or for quick launching. Be sure to only put aliases of applications into this folder.
Adding aliases to the Quick Access Items folder makes items available for quick opening.
Adding aliases to the Target Folders folder makes folders available as targets for the "Copy to..." and "Make alias in..." commands. Be sure to only put aliases of folders into this folder.
You may notice that these folder behave much the same way as the Apple Menu Items folder in your System Folder. You can create folders inside these folders to create groupings in the popup menu.
You may want to begin by putting an alias to every application you use into the Applications folder. This will allow you to open a document from the Finder into any of your applications with just one click. Put aliases to documents you use often in the Quick Access Items folder to be able to open them at any time, from inside any application. Put aliases to your commonly used folders or network servers in the Target Folders folder to be able to quickly move files to them.
For your convenience, PowerMenu is initially configured to include "Add to Applications", "Add to Quick Access Items" and "Add to Target Folders" commands in the popup menu. When working in the Finder, these commands let you add any selected items to PowerMenu's lists quickly and easily. These commands can be disabled with the control panel.
Remember that by holding down the Control and Command keys and clicking anywhere on your screen, you can obtain the popup menu for quickly launching any of your applications or opening any of your files.
How can I configure PowerMenu further?
The PowerMenu Controls control panel lets you change a great many aspects of PowerMenu's behavior and appearance. The PowerMenu Controls control panel looks like this:
ﾊ
Most of the checkboxes are self-explanatory; they let you turn certain features on and off. Note that the "Finder Commands" option is not available under MacOS 8, since the Finder provides its own such commands already. Under System 7, this option gives you many of the same commands as MacOS 8's Contextual Menu.
Some options that may need explanation include:
PowerMenu commands: When checked, PowerMenu includes "Add to applications list", "Add to Quick Access Items", "Add to Target Folders" and "Open PowerMenu Items folder" commands to the Finder's Contextual Menu to allow you to quickly customize PowerMenu.
Rebuild menus in background: When checked, PowerMenu will monitor the items in your Applications, Quick Access Items and Target Folders folders for any changes and rebuild your menus in the background when necessary, while you work. If this option is off, you may experience a delay in opening a menu if items in the menu have changed since the last time you used it.
Startup Chime: When checked, PowerMenu will play a short sequence of tones when it finishes building the menus for the first time, so you will know when it is ready to use at startup.
The checkboxes under the group titled "To pop up menu" allow you to control what keys will cause the Quick Access popup menu to appear. You may not uncheck all of them. Under System 7, this also controls what keys you use to pop up the Contextual Menu in the Finder.
The checkboxes under the group titled "Popup Menu Commands" determine which items appear on the Quick Access popup menu. If you turn off both options, the popup menu is not available.
What's the catch?
PowerMenu is shareware. That means that although it is freely distributable, it is not free to use indefinately. You may try PowerMenu for one month to decide whether you want to keep it or not. If you decide to keep using it, you must pay the license fee of $15.00US. PowerMenu comes with a "Register" program that lets you pay for your license in any one of a variety of ways, including by credit card. You can even send your payment by email for instant registration.
For even faster turnaround, visit PowerMenu's Web Site for on-line registration! The URL is below.
The shareware system lets users try out software before deciding whether or not to buy it, and offers much lower prices than retail packages. However, abuse makes the system less attractive for developers and drives prices up. I write Macintosh software for pleasure and experience, but I can't justify the investment of time and money without support. Please support shareware and register your copy if you use PowerMenu. You will be doing yourself and the Macintosh community a favor.
How can I get help with PowerMenu?
If you have any questions or are having trouble with PowerMenu, please drop me a line; I'll be happy to answer any of your questions. See the next section for how to reach me.
Where can I get more information?
You can get more information on PowerMenu, and all of my other Macintosh programs, on my Web site. The version of PowerMenu you have may be out of date, especially if you got it from a CD-ROM or a users' group, so you may want to check this site right away for a more recent version. You can access my Web site at:
http://www.kagi.com/authors/marka/
You can reach me by email at
marka@kagi.com
Please drop me a line if you have thoughts or suggestions for PowerMenu, or if you have any questions about how to use it more efficiently!
Where's the legalese?
Here. Enjoy!
Terms of usage
In this document, ﾒsoftwareﾓ refers to all computer programs, codes, or documents included with this document, or any copy of any part of the items mentioned above. ﾒyouﾓ refers to any entity that acquires this software.
The software is ｩ1996 Mark Aiken. Although the software may be freely distributed, ownership of and interest in this software shall remain with the author, Mark Aiken. By retaining the software or making use of it, you are agreeing to the terms in this document. If you do not wish to, or cannot, comply with the terms in this document, you must destroy all copies of the software in your possession. In the event that you violate any part of this agreement, your right to use the software terminates automatically and you must destroy all copies of the software in your possession.
You are licensed to use the software provided you respect the following terms:
You may:
1. Use the software for the purpose of evaluating it for a period of time not exceeding one month, beginning at the date that you begin using the software.
2. Redistribute the software to any person or organization, provided you redistribute a package identical to the one you obtained.
3. Make as many backup copies as you like of the software.
You may NOT:
1. Alter the software in any way.
2. Redistribute the software in an altered form.
3. Redistribute the software as a package that differs in any way from the one you obtained. (i.e., you may not add or remove elements of the package when redistributing it, or distribute any altered versions of the original elements).
You MUST:
Register the software by paying any applicable fees (Registration instructions are given in the documentation) after your evaluation period. When you have registered your copy, you may:
1. Use the software on as many computers as you like as long as you are the sole user of the software (ex: A single person installing the software on both his / her work and home machine, for personal use).
OR
2. In lieu of 1), you may install the software on ONLY one (1) computer for use by several people, as long as not more than one person at a time can use the software (ex: A person installing the software on a lab computer functioning for the benefit of many).
If your needs are not covered by the cases above, contact the author for additional licensing information.
Redistribution
This software may be distributed via any means, physical or electronic. Excluded from this statement are organizations wishing to distribute this software in a commercial compilation, or organizations wishing to redistribute this software for profit. Such organizations must contact the author for written authorization to distribute the software. Permission is hereby granted for organizations wishing to distribute the software in non-commercial compilations (i.e., ones which are made available solely for the cost of materials, shipping, etc.), to do so.
Disclaimer of warranty
Mark Aiken hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Mark Aiken will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if Mark Aiken or an agent of his has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Mark Aiken be liable for any damages, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.
US Government:
Government End Users: If you are acquiring the Software on behalf of any unit or agency of the United States Government, the following provisions apply. The Government agrees:
(i) if the Software is supplied to the Department of Defense (DoD), the Software is classified as ﾒCommercial Computer Softwareﾓ and the Government is acquiring only ﾒrestricted rightsﾓ in the Software and its documentation as that term is defined in Clause 252.227-7013(c)(1) of the DFARS; and
(ii) if the Software is supplied to any unit or agency of the United States Government other than DoD, the Governmentﾕs rights in the Software and its documentation will be as defined in Clause 52.227-19(c)(2) of the FAR or, in the case of NASA, in Clause 18-52.227-86(d) of the NASA Supplement to the FAR.
Complete agreement
This agreement constitutes the entire agreement and supersedes any prior agreements between you and the author concerning this software. This agreement cannot be amended, modified, or waived except in writing.
General
If any provision of this agreement shall be found to be unenforceable, it shall be deemed severed from the remainder of this agreement.
