MacOS – Create Custom Drop Down Menus in the Finder Toolbar

applescriptfindermacosmenu bar

Any Dropbox users out there will recognize the drop down menu that one can add to their Finder toolbar.

Finder toolbar with Dropbox drop down menu on it

Upon discovering that this existed, I immediately wondered if/how I could create my own sort of drop down menu (just as Dropbox did; Finder comes with plenty of native ones as it is). You'll notice a variety of icons beside the Get Info button; these are applications. Given how much clutter they create for me (it gets somewhat annoying to have to expand the Finder window every time I create one), it would be really convenient to be able to create my own drop down menu button, which would contain any applications or files I want to store in my toolbar.

I currently don't know how to code for Mac, so any extremely involved solutions would be a bit difficult. I can work with Applescript and C#, though. Essentially what I'm looking for is an application that allows one to create these drop down menus, or some other (fairly simple) way to create plugins for Finder.

Some quick tech specs:

  • OS X Yosemite 10.10.1

Side note:

This might be something of interest as far as my question goes. I'm not necessarily looking to create a button (although a drop down menu is technically activated by a button), but I think this explains fairly nicely how I'd like to go about creating the drop down menu.

Best Answer

That button is added to Finder using the FinderSync Extension APIs:

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Conceptual/ExtensibilityPG/Finder.html

Finder Sync supports apps that synchronize the contents of a local folder with a remote data source. It improves user experience by providing immediate visual feedback directly in the Finder. Badges display the sync state of each item, and contextual menus let users manage folder contents. Custom toolbar buttons can invoke global actions, such as opening a monitored folder or forcing a sync operation.

Toolbar Button