MASTER YOUR MAC

Be a Better Sharer

Make the most of macOS Share menus.

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.

Many apps have a Share button in the toolbar (left), but you can also access sharing options in the shortcut menu (aka contextual menu) that appears when you Control-click items in macOS.

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

Do your share

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

Checked items appear in Share menus; drag items up or down the list to change their order in menus.

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

Add useful commands

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.

    Shareful

    Supercharge system share menu

    VIEW

Work with photos

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 favorite 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.

    Acorn 7

    Image editing for humans

    VIEW

Get social

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.

    Twitter

    Chat about what’s happening

    VIEW

Save tasty recipes

The excellent recipe management apps Paprika and Mela let you save and organize 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.

    Paprika Recipe Manager 3

    Lifestyle

    VIEW

    Mela – Recipe Manager

    Your personal cookbook.

    VIEW

Check your orders

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.

    Parcel - Delivery Tracking

    Package Tracker

    VIEW

    Deliveries: a package tracker

    Track your packages

    VIEW

Save research

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.

    Evernote

    Notes Organizer & Planner

    VIEW

    Microsoft OneNote

    Capture Notes, Ideas and Memos

    VIEW

    Drafts

    Where text starts

    VIEW

Get reminded about web pages

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.

    Things 3

    Organize your life

    VIEW

    OmniFocus 3

    Accomplish More Every Day

    VIEW