Share menus in macOS make it easy to send content to other people – or other apps. For example, Safari’s Share menu lets you send a URL via Messages or Mail, add it as a bookmark, deliver it via AirDrop and more.

Here’s how to get more out of Share menus, including customising exactly what appears in them.

To choose which apps and actions show up in your Share menus, go to System Preferences > Extensions and click Share Menu in the sidebar.

Installing your favourite apps will give you even more options. Here are some ideas:

Shareful lets you add a number of helpful commands to every Share menu: Copy and Save As do exactly what they say; Open In lets you open the current file or content in whatever app you prefer. One of the most useful cases for Open In is switching a web page to a different browser.

Control-click a photo in the Finder or an email and choose Share > Add to Photos to save the image to your Photos library. Want to tweak the pic in your favourite image editor or blog about a great shot you took? Many photo apps like Acorn and blogging apps like MarsEdit include extensions that put the apps right in the Share menu.

Sometimes you just have to post about an article you’re reading online or a track you’re listening to in Music. The Twitter clients Twitterrific, Tweetbot and Twitter all provide Share menu items that create a new post with the link pre-pasted – simply add your commentary.

The excellent recipe management apps Paprika and Mela let you save and organise recipes, create grocery lists and view instructions in large type while cooking. Choose either app in your browser’s Share menu to instantly download a recipe you’re viewing.

Parcel and Deliveries track the shipping status of packages you’ve sent and online orders, so you always know when each will be delivered. On any shipping carrier status page, choose Parcel or Deliveries from your browser’s Share menu. Or Control-click any tracking URL or number – say, in a confirmation email – and choose the app in the Share submenu.

The Share menu lets you save text and even entire web pages to data-storage and note-taking apps like Evernote, Microsoft OneNote and Drafts – handy when you’re doing research for a paper, report or presentation.

Need to add a web page to your to-do list so you remember to check it out later? Forget copy-and-paste; use the Share menu to send the URL – and any notes you want to add – directly to your Things or OmniFocus inbox.