Part of the power of JABMenu is that you can customize what data is shown, the order it is presented, and several other options for how the data is displayed including sort order and images.
Note: With the data cache enabled in the contact source section, changes you make in the display options will not be reflected in the actual menus until you clear the cache or relaunch JABMenu. With the cache disabled, changes to the display options will take effect immediately.
Menu Icon. To change the icon used to designate JABMenu in the menu bar, choose an image from this pop-up menu.
Sort Order. Use this pop-up menu to specify whether contacts should be sorted and classified by last name or first name. This option effects not only sort order but also hierarchical classification. For example, in the Alphabetical submenu of the Address Book menu, if you sort by Last Name, John Smith appears under “S”, but if you sort by First Name, John Smith appears under “J”.
Display Order. Use this pop-up menu to specify whether contact names appear with first name first (“First Last”) or last name first (“Last, First”). This choice does not effect the sort order.
Ignore Article Prefixes when Sorting. With this option enabled, article prefixes (e.g., “The”, etc.) will be ignored when determining the sort order of your contacts. For example, ignoring article prefixes will cause “The ACME Company” to be sorted as “ACME Company” and placed in the “A” alphabetical submenu. If this option is disabled, article prefixes will be considered and this contact will be sorted as “The ACME Company” and placed in the “T” alphabetical submenu.
Include Icons. Enable this checkbox to specify whether menu items should include icons depending on what type of object the menu item corresponds to (i.e., individual or company). If you have used a custom image for the contact in Contacts, this image will be used instead of the generic icon. This option also applies to smaller icons to differentiate data items such as email or postal addresses. Eliminating the icons gives the menu a barer appearance, but can speed up menu display.
Include Prefixes and Suffixes in Contact Names. This checkbox specifies whether the display of contact names in the menu should include prefixes and suffixes from the database. For example, in the Contacts application, when editing a contact, you can ask to include a prefix (Card > Add Field > Prefix) such as “Dr.”, and a suffix (Card > Add Field > Suffix) such as “Jr.” If this checkbox is checked, Dr. John Smith, Jr.’s name will be displayed in the Address Book menu as “Dr. John Smith, Jr.”. If this checkbox is unchecked, his name will be displayed as “John Smith”.
Include Company Name in Menu Items. This option specifies whether a contact’s company or organization name, if any, should appear along with his name (separated by a dash). For example, John Smith might appear as “John Smith — Acme, Inc.” if his company field is specified as “Acme, Inc.” and this checkbox is enabled.
Normalize Company Names. This option specifies whether JABMenu should try to compensate for differences in capitalization and standard punctuation to determine that slightly different company names are actually the same company — for example, that “Widgetland” and “widgetland” are the same company. This can have an unexpected effect, for example, on how JABMenu groups contacts under the Companies submenu (see below).
Highlight on Launch. When JABMenu is registered, at launch it simply adds its icon to the menubar. To help highlight this menu, when JABMenu is first launched it can use an animated balloon callout & audio cue that briefly pinpoints the added icon.
Submenus. Use the Submenus checkboxes to determine which submenus appear at the first level of the menu, and their order. To specify that a submenu should or should not appear, check or uncheck its checkbox accordingly. To specify the order in which submenus should appear, drag and drop the checkboxes up or down the list. The submenus operate as follows:
All. The items of this submenu are a list of all your contacts, in your preferred sort order.
Alphabetical. The items of this submenu are letters of the alphabet. These are the first letters of your contacts’ last or first names (depending on your preferred sort order). These letters are themselves submenus, and their items are the contacts whose sort ordered names begin with that letter.
Companies. The items of this submenu are (a) the companies listed for your contacts that have companies, and (b) for your contacts that are themselves companies. These company names are submenus, and their items are the contacts belonging to those companies.
Geographical. The items of this submenu are City, State/Province, and Country. These are themselves submenus, and their items are the contacts whose addresses associate them with a particular city, state, province, or country. (These address associations are specified within the Contacts database; JABMenu is merely using whatever information the Contacts database provides.)
Groups. The items of this submenu are the names of all Groups in your Contacts (including Smart Groups), followed by a Not Grouped item (if necessary). These group names are themselves submenus, and their items are the contacts belonging to each Group.
Recently Used. The items of this submenu are the contacts you’ve chosen recently from the JABMenu submenus. This doesn’t mean you’ve necessarily dialed their phone number; for example, choosing a contact to open the corresponding entry in the Contacts application, or choosing a contact’s postal address in order to copy it to the clipboard, counts as “using” the contact and causes the contact to be added to this submenu. The maximum number of items in this submenu is determined by the “Number of Recent Contacts” pop-up menu below. There is also a “Clear Recently Used Contacts” menu item in this submenu, allowing you to clear the list (note: there is no undo for this action).
Data Items. Use the Data Items checkboxes to specify what information appears in the actual contact menu item, and the order in which the data items are shown. (This information doesn’t just appear: it can respond when you choose it. The actions executed when a data item is chosen is determined by your settings in the Selection Actions section.) To specify that a piece of information should or should not appear, check or uncheck its checkbox accordingly. To specify the order in which pieces of information should appear, drag the items up or down the list. Information types correspond to field types in Contacts. For Phone, Instant Messaging, Email, Address, and URL, each entry in Contacts can have a label (“Home”, “Work”, “Mobile”, and so forth); these labels are also displayed in the contact menu item in JABMenu.
Number of Recent Contacts. Use this pop-up menu to specify how many items should appear in the Recently Used submenu. (It is also possible to suppress the Recently Used submenu altogether; see above.)
