How to Edit Share Menu on Mac

A share menu plays a vital role in any operating system. If it’s broken or inconsistent (Hey Android, looking at you), then it takes away the experience of using the device. After all, the Share menu is one of your most used interfaces on mobile and desktop. As for macOS, Apple provides a standard Share menu for posting things. It also allows you to customize the share menu according to your preferences and needs.

Some may wonder why they need to edit the Share menu on Mac? By using a dedicated sharing menu across the OS, you can be sure to enjoy a consistent sharing experience. And unlike iOS, Apple is flexible in letting you change such details on Mac.

In this post, we’ll explain how to edit the share menu on Mac, how it works in different apps, and how to add third-party apps to the share menu on Mac. Lets start.

Edit Sharing Menu on Mac

The standard sharing menu on Mac comes with first-party app integration like Reminders, Apple Notes, Mail, and Airdrop. But if you are like me and use Mail, Reminders, Apple Notes alternatives on Mac, the default options will not work for you.

In such cases, you need to bring down the default options from the share menu and put your preferred options at the top. Follow the steps below to make changes.

Stage 1: Tap the Apple logo in the upper left corner.

Step 2: Go to System Preferences.

Stage 3: Go to Extensions.

Step 4: Scroll down to the Sharing Menu and on the right you will see all the relevant options.

Step 5: Disable the ones you no longer need. You can also use the drag and drop feature to move your preferred share extensions to the top.

From now on, when you try to share a file on Mac, you will see your private sharing menu.

Any changes you make in this menu are applied immediately and apply to all files. Normally, the share menu will only show you the relevant options that apply to a file. For example, when you right-click an image, the Add to Reading List option will not appear, so you don’t have to worry about the share menu getting crowded.

The options that appear in the Extensions preference are for apps that support the share menu on macOS. If an application does not support the share menu, you cannot force it to appear in this list. You’ll have to ask the developer to consider adding macOS share menu support in a future update.

As for stock apps and sharing options, there’s no way to force them either. These are all mostly apps that you can’t uninstall from macOS, like the Messages app, so they show up in the share menu whether you like it or not.

Quick Access to Share Menu

If you don’t want to go through the long process of editing the share menu on Mac, you can always take a shortcut and access the menu quickly.

Open Finder and select any file. Right click on it and choose Share. Scroll down to Other and it will open the Share extension menu directly in system preferences.

I Don’t See Third Party App in Share Menu

You cannot access social media apps from the share menu on Mac. However, you can easily place note-taking apps in the share menu. If you don’t see them on the Share extension screen, follow the trick below to add the likes of OneNote and Evernote to the share list.

Stage 1: Tap the Apple logo in the upper left corner.

Step 2: Go to System Preferences.

Stage 3: Go to Extensions > Added Extensions.

Step 4: Enable the Share Menu extension for third-party apps.

You will now see them in the Share Extension menu and easily access your Preferred application from the Share menu.

Limitations on Current Sharing Menu

The macOS share menu was a flexible solution and central hub for all social networking needs like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. However, starting with macOS Mojave, Apple put the brakes on social integration in the share menu.

The company cites the security reasons behind its decision to limit social apps from the macOS sharing menu. Starting with macOS Mojave and newer operating systems, Apple has completely removed Facebook and Twitter integration. Even if you install Tweetbot or Tweetdeck (from the App Store), you still won’t find entries for these official apps. So how do you easily share with your social networks?

You will have to go the usual route to share stuff from Mac File manager to social media. Open the app and go to create. Add media from the menu below.

Share Files on the Go

Using the above trick, you can easily customize the Share on Mac menu according to your preference. But note that it will not work with Facebook, Twitter or other third-party social media apps. We hope Apple revises the decision soon. Which applications do you often use from the Share menu? Share your usage in the comments section below.

Next: Mac’s Dock is more than a standard menu bar at the bottom on macOS. Read the post to learn how to customize the Dock on Mac.