| If you manage lots of Macs and have tried to make things easier for your users by adding commonly-used aliases to the Apple Menu, then you've probably encountered the same problems I have. It seems that Classic Mac OS aliases (not OS X) are based on the creation date of the hard disk they're made on. I much prefer Microsoft's less sophisticated implementation of shortcuts, simply based on a target path, because they don't break when you move them to another hard disk. The problem in more detail: Let's say you put aliases in the Apple Menu of each computer. If you set up a disk image and clone every computer off of it, you will eventually get broken aliases, unable to find their target. Without Mac Manager, Apple Menu Aliases work fine, so long as you create the aliases on each machine. I wrote a basic little script, which you'll want to edit in the Script Editor, that does this for you. It adds carriage returns in front of alias names to sort them in the Apple Menu (a carriage return character makes an item show up at the top of the list, and the only way to put it into a name is to copy and paste it {e.g. from Stickies}, or create it in AppleScript).
If you use Mac Manager, it will create aliases of everything in the Apple Menu at first logon in the Users/username/Library/'Apple Menu Items' folder (for version 2 w/ Mac OS X Server), and those aliases too will break eventually. So you can't use my "Apple Menu Items Script" because the Mac Manager users will be bringing their Apple Menu aliases with them in their home folders to every computer they log onto. The solution was to write another basic AppleScript that simply opens a specified file from the startup disk:
The timeout, try and display dialog are all optional. I just add them to scripts to make them work more smoothly in case of errors. Save this script as "Microsoft Word" in the Apple Menu Items folder, copy the icon from Microsoft Word, paste it onto this script, test it out... Make a new script for each application you want in the Apple Menu. Continue and you can download my Apple Menu Items folder below, complete with a bunch o' scripts. I disable Recent Items, but Mac Manager adds folders for those anyways in each user's folder. The trick is to use ResEdit to make those folders invisible, then copy them into the users' Apple Menu Items folder on the server. You may also have to change priviliges to make them work. So click here to download my Apple Menu Items folder that is copied into each user's Library folder. I haven't figured out how to copy with Terminal without losing custom icons, so I do it by drag and drop. I only have about 150 users, but I'd still love it if someone could suggest a better way. FileBlaster may also work, but it's a Classic App & my OS X Server is Classic-Free. Detailed instructions on how to customize your own Mac Management users Apple Menu Items folder are included. That's all for now. Email me with questions or suggestions.
Click on a link below to download:
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