How To Add The AppleScript Menu To The Menu Bar

The AppleScript menu is located in the menu bar and will allow you to run a script from any application. The AppleScript menu has to be turned on before you can start using it. The following instructions are for Mac OS 10.6 or later. If you are using Mac OS 10.4 through 10.5 please see the note at the bottom of the post, as the instructions are slightly different.


Launch the Script Editor, which can be found at: /Applications/Utilities/AppleScript Editor.app
(The path above means navigate to the "Applications" folder, then within it you will find another folder named "Utilities". Within the Utilities folder you will find the "Script Editor".)
After the Script Editor has finished launching, click on the "Script Editor" menu, and select "Preferences".

Look for the checkbox that says "Show script menu in menu bar" and make sure it is checked. A black AppleScript icon should now appear in the menu bar, next to the date and time.

Adding And Running Scripts From The AppleScript Menu

To add scripts to the menu, navigate to the following folder: /Library/Scripts. Copy your scripts to this folder and they should then appear in the menu. To run a script, simply select it from this menu. Another way to get to this folder is to use the shortcut in the script menu. Click on the AppleScript menu and select, "Open Scripts Folder" and then select "Open Computer Scripts Folder".

This is all that you need to get started but there are more tips on using the AppleScript menu below:

Restricting access to scripts to specific users

Scripts stored in the Computer Scripts Folder can be run by any user on that computer. If you don't want any other user on the computer to access your scripts, store them in your Users Scripts folder located at: /Users/YourUserName/Library/Scripts. The script menu has a short cut for this folder too. From the "Open Scripts Folder", select  "Open User Scripts Folder".

Make The Scripts Appear In The AppleScript Menu Only When A Specific Application Is Active

It's possible to have scripts to only show up in the menu when a specific program is the active application. Navigate to the User scripts folder as described above and you should find a folder named "Applications". Within the "Applications" folder, create a folder with the name of the application that you want your scripts to show up in.

For example, If you wanted your Illustrator scripts to show up in the menu only when Illustrator is the active application, then you would create a folder called "Adobe Illustrator" within the "Applications" folder and store your Illustrator scripts in there. When you're working in Illustrator, the scripts will show up in the menu. When you're working in any other application, these scripts will be hidden. You can also create folders within the "Adobe Illustrator" folder so that you can organize them. This is a nice feature when you have scripts for a variety of applications.

There's also an option to show the applications at the top or bottom of the script menu. I like to show them at the top of the menu so that they're easier find. This can be changed in the preferences panel in the Script Editor, where you originally turned on the menu (Refer to the screenshot of the preferences above).

Storing Shortcuts In AppleScript Menu

Aside from running scripts, the script menu can also be used to store shortcuts to applications or even files. Place an alias in the Computer Scripts folder and then you can launch the application just by selecting it from the menu!  This is a convenient place to store shortcuts to script related files and apps, but I wouldn't recommend using the AppleScript menu for launching all of your applications, that's what the Dock and Launchpad are for.

TIP: You can open a script in the Script Editor by holding down the Option key when you select a script from the menu. This is easier than locating the script and then double clicking it. 

How To Make A Shortcut On A Mac (Also Known As An Alias)

From within the Finder, select the file or application that you want to make a shortcut to. Choose File- Make Alias, or command-L.

 Or right click on the file and select "Make Alias" from the contextual menu.

(Control click works too)

 

A second icon should appear that will look the same as the original except for a small black arrow at the bottom left. The black arrow indicates that it's an alias and not the actual file. You can store this alias anywhere and click on it to get to the original item.

If you rename the alias you can still tell it's an alias by the black arrow on the bottom left.

Turn On The AppleScript Menu In Older Versions of OSX

In earlier versions of OSX, the Script Editor was stored in a folder called "Applescript" within the "Applications" folder. Within this folder there is an Applescript Utility. Open it and then check the "Show script menu in menu bar" check box. I believe this was in effect from 10.4 through 10.5.