Customize the Apple Menu

Question

How to customize the Apple menu? What SDKs should I study, etc.? I want to insert a menu item:

Answer 1

It is simply a folder named "Apple Menu Items" in the System Folder which you can manipulate in many ways. But don't rename it or move it out of the System Folder.

http://www.macoptions.com/os85/applemenu.html

Answer 2

Apple Menu Specific

This AskDifferent question addresses removing an item from the Apple menu. Seems you could use the same technique to add an item. Just be sure to make a backup of any system files you edit.

The following posts recommend similar solutions but are a bit dated. The system file path appears to be the same, however.

• Hide unwanted Apple menu items
• Remove the 'Get Mac OS X Software' menu item

Also mentioned in the AskDifferent quesiton, FruitMenu allows for menu customization. However, there's no support for the more current versions of OS X.

Version 3.8.4 released Mar 3, 2011
Requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or Mac OS X 10.6.x; Rosetta
Compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

OS X Menu Item Tutorials

• Creating a Standalone StatusItem Menu ¹

  This tutorial will show you how to create a StatusItem menu that will be available to all applications in the menu bar.

  When you are done, you will have a simple menu that will appear on its own in the menubar as a "universal" background application, and will contain two menu items that let you enter a string into the Console and Quit itself. Note that you will need to code the functionality yourself for any menu item(s) you add or modify, but this will get you started.

  

• Creating a Status Bar Application

  This tutorial assumes you have a basic knowledge of Objective-C. In this tutorial, we will walk-through on how to create a status bar only application for the Mac OS X.

  

¹ Mac Menu Bar Tutorial?