AliasMenu

AliasMenu was a control panel by Benoît Widemann which enabled quick access to applications and documents by adding a menu (or multiple menus) to the Apple menu in classic Mac OS. It was updated in 2003 for Mac OS X. However, it does not support Intel processors and was discontinued after the release of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).

Classic Mac OS versions
Versions 1 to 2.2 supported System 7 and later. It allowed users to create a folder which is functionality similar to the Apple Menu Items folder in the System Folder. The concept behind this is to let users add any item into the folder, which is then available in a new menu on the menu bar. Think of this as the Apple menu -- without the About This Macintosh... command. Supported languages included English, French, Japanese, and German.

New menus
AliasMenu can accommodate up to nine new menus, which can exist before or after the Finder's Special menu. The folders are named n.Menu name, where n. is a number between 1 and 9, and the menu name is placed immediately after the dot (no whitespace!).

These folders are located inside the AliasMenu Items folder on the root level of the System Folder. Inside this folder are the individual menu folders.

Startup delay
When AliasMenu launches, it first permits the Finder to complete loading. This way, any alias files the user has created can be resolved. This is only relevant if the Finder is launching additional volumes, such as networked volumes. Increasing the number in the Startup Delay option field creates a more complete menu, but can increase startup time. If the Finder launches relatively quickly, the number can be shrunk all the way down to the minimal setting (4 cycles).

Icons in the menu bar
Should a folder have a custom icon, the custom icon is shown in the menu bar instead of the folder name. In fact, a combination of the two -- icons and text -- can perfectly well exist.

Command-key shortcuts
For any item inside the individual AliasMenu menu folders, a command-key combination can be created by adding a slash and a letter to the end of the name.

Note: AliasMenu does not check for duplicates or for conflicts with other keyboard commands (e.g. command-I for Get Info).

Mac OS X versions
Version 3 was rewritten in Cocoa and Carbon to support Mac OS X 10.1 and later. Supported languages included English, French, and Japanese. Version 3.1.2 was the final release, but was PowerPC-only and supported up to Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger). An Intel version was announced, but never released as Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) had replicated AliasMenu's functionality by allowing users to navigate folders in the Dock through pop-up "Stacks".