| [11:30 AM] Now Utilities' "Now Menus" Resurfaces As ACTION Menus At Last
Power On Software has released the next piece of Now Utilities in the form of ACTION Menus. Action MENUS is based on Now Menus from the Now Utilities Package. Like Power On's other offerings from the Now Utilities acquisition, they have taken the original app and made it much better. According to Power On Software:
Power On Software announced today the release of ACTION Menus™, its eagerly awaited successor to Now Menus™, the best selling menu utility of all time. The completely new utility offers a degree of customization and configurability that elevates Macintosh power to a new level. By enabling users to create and customize menus that can be configured for their most frequently used files, folders, applications, and volumes, Mac users can work the way they want to, not the way someone else thinks is best. ACTION Menus is the latest in the ACTION Utility suite and offers seamless integration with its award-winning siblings: ACTION Files, ACTION GoMac, and ACTION WYSIWYG.
Features of ACTION Menus include the following:
- Addition of custom menus that include a Recent Applications Menu, a Windows Menu, a Documents Menu, a Server Menu, a Volume Menu, and a Recent Documents and Folders Menu. Enhanced functionality is also provided to the Apple Menu and the Applications Menu.
- Recent Applications Menu: Keeps track of the most recently used applications. Provides the ability to permanently add any application to the menu with a single keystroke.
- Enhanced Apple Menu: Provides drag and drop functionality in the Apple menu so that items can be dragged from anywhere and dropped onto the Apple menu.
- Open Windows Menu: Keeps track of all open windows in an application.
- Recent Documents and Folders Menu: Application specific menus provide immediate access to current application's most recently used files and folders. These menus are instantly updated every time the user switches into or out of the application.
- Server Menu: Provides five folders deep access to recently mounted servers.
- Mounted Volume Menu: Provides five folder deep access to recent volumes.
- Applications menu: Adds hierarchical menus listing all open windows in every running application.
- Finder Commands added to the Applications menu and offer option to Show Finder Only and Quit All.
- Custom Menus: Users can add up to four custom Application menus and four custom System menus.
- Customizable Smart Items and Separators: Automate the order in which the menus display information and add user definable category separators for faster access to specific types of information.
- User-definable keyboard commands: Assign keystrokes to instantly access favorite items or permanently remove an item or group of items. Even replace an application's keyboard commands with ones you prefer.
- Full Drag and Drop Support: Drag files and folders into menus and eliminate the need to tediously dig through piles of folders buried deep on a drive. Also open files by dragging to the application in the menu.
- Multi-Action Commands: Permits the creation of automated sequences for opening, quitting, getting file information, or deleting an entire category of items.
- Mac OS 9 compatible: Compatible with Mac OS 7.5.3 and later
John Wallace, President of Power On Software, noted, "If the reception given ACTION Menus by our beta testers is anything like the response we get from the Macintosh community at large, this product is a candidate for the Macintosh Utility Hall of Fame." As one beta tester stated, "ACTION Menus is the most useful, versatile, and robust menu customizer ever created for the Macintosh." "I LOVE it... you couldn't pry Menus off my system with a crowbar," wrote another tester.
ACTION Menus is priced at US$49.95, but Power On is offering a special offer of US$29.95 as an introductory price. The company also expects shrink-wrapped versions to be available in retail outlets for an ESP of US$39.95. Power On is also offering a demo version of the product. You can find more information on and screenshots of the product at the company's web site.
The Mac Observer Spin: Now Utilites were a godsend in their day and many users lamented their passing. Hope sprung anew when Qualcomm acquired the package only to squashed as time went on. Since Power On bought the package, they have turned the basic utilities into very useful individual pacakages. We think that ACTION Menus will prove to be the most popular yet.
Power On Software
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