FruitMenu is another offering from Unsanity, Inc. that brings another missing piece of the Mac OS 9 experience to OS X. FruitMenu is a haxie that allows you to tailor your Apple Menu and Contextual Menus. It also allows you to assign a Hot Key to each menu item.

FruitMenu Settings

The FruitMenu window contains four tabs. The FruitMenu tab, which is displayed when launched, allows the user to enable the haxie, enable the contextual menus and change the textual application label to an icon. Other options include the ability to display submenus in a small font, in-menu picture previews and a clear menu option in the recent item menus. The small font option is particularly useful if you have a large number of items in the list.

FruitMenu - Apple Menu tab

The Apple menu tab provides to add or remove items from the Apple menu. The interface provides a list of system level selections that can be activated in the Apple menu. These items can be activated by selection and use of the add function or by drag and drop. Some of the options include four types of "Recent Items," access to a list of running applications, dock items, and system preferences. The list can be organized in any manner desired. FruitMenu also supports structuring of the menu by providing a "Submenu" function and a "Menu Separator". The ability to assign a hot key to each item is also provided, although a warning of conflicts with hot keys in other applications is given.

FruitMenu - Contextual Menus tab

The third allows you to add or remove items from the contextual menus. Generally, the same options are provided as in the Apple menu tab. "Open with" and "Set Desktop Picture" options have been added to the list of functions. It also provides a "Move To" option that allows you to move the selected item to a predefined folder. Unfortunately, it does not provide the richness of functionality as the Windows "Send To" function, since it does not have the ability to send an item to a device or email.

The fourth tab allows the user to exclude FruitMenu availability from the listed set of applications.

All four of the tabs contain a button that opens the FruitMenu Items folder. Items placed in this folder are displayed in the Apple Menu. Folders or their aliases allow the user to descend down the folder hierarchy by displaying the contents of a folder when the cursor hovers over the item. FruitMenu allows you to define the order that these items are displayed in the menu. There are also provisions to define separators.

FruitMenu is very easy to install and configure. The only problem I had was determining how to change the name of the "Submenu" in the list ("Double click on the item"). The documentation is very clear and comprehensive. Make certain to read the "Tips & Tricks" section.

Summary
In summary, FruitMenu provides much needed customizability to the Apple menu in Mac OS X. It enhances the Recent Items by breaking it down into four different categories. It also allows you to create a hierarchy in the menu list. You can also attach a hot key to each function. The contextual menu can also by tailored to meet your needs. The two functions that I found most useful are the ability to substitute the application icon for the name on the menu bar and the ability to embed folders in the Apple menu to simplify the traversal of the folder hierarchy. These capabilities make FruitMenu well worth the $10.00 license fee.

Pros

• FruitMenu Items Folder with SubMenu Feature
• Dock Support
• SubMenu Feature for System Preferences

Cons

• Does not provide the same functionality as the "Send To" feature

Overall Rating

4 1/2 out of 5 Mice