Enhance the Apple Menu

The Apple Menu Options control panel has a couple of hidden features you can enable through ResEdit. With these modifications, you can add recently used folders to your Apple menu as well as consolidate all recently used items--such as files, servers, and folders--in one hierarchical menu. Follow these steps: 

1. From within ResEdit, open the Apple Menu Options Prefs file in the System Folders' Preference folder.

2. Locate the TMPL resource numbered -4048. Using the Get Resource Info command ([command]I), enter [COMMAND]&Jp into the Name field. 

3. Open -4048 of the resource named [COMMAND]&Jp. To add a recent folder to your Apple menu, enter the number of items you'd like to keep track of (10, for instance) in the Folder Count field.

4. To consolidate all recent items into one Apple menu item, enter recent items into the field labeled Recent Folder. Add a space to the beginning of the name to force the item to appear near the top of the Apple menu. 

5. Save your changes, and restart your Mac. A little cleaning up is necessary after this change. Just open the Apple Menu Items folder in your System Folder, and trash the Recent Applications, Recent Documents, and Recent Servers folders. The new Recent Items folder will appear when you first open a new application. 

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