chrome.contextMenus

Description
Use the chrome.contextMenus API to add items to Google Chrome's context menu. You can choose what types of objects your context menu additions apply to, such as images, hyperlinks, and pages.
Permissions
contextMenus

Usage

Context menu items can appear in any document (or frame within a document), even those with file:// or chrome:// URLs. To control which documents your items can appear in, specify the documentUrlPatterns field when you call the create() or update() method.

You can create as many context menu items as you need, but if more than one from your extension is visible at once, Google Chrome automatically collapses them into a single parent menu.

Manifest

You must declare the "contextMenus" permission in your extension's manifest to use the API. Also, you should specify a 16x16-pixel icon for display next to your menu item. For example:

{
  "name": "My extension",
  ...
  "permissions": [
    "contextMenus"
  ],
  "icons": {
    "16": "icon-bitty.png",
    "48": "icon-small.png",
    "128": "icon-large.png"
  },
  ...
}

Examples

You can find samples of this API on the sample page.

Summary

Types
ContextType
ItemType
OnClickData
Properties
ACTION_MENU_TOP_LEVEL_LIMIT
Methods
create
remove
removeAll
update
Events
onClicked

Types

ContextType

Chrome 44+

The different contexts a menu can appear in. Specifying 'all' is equivalent to the combination of all other contexts except for 'launcher'. The 'launcher' context is only supported by apps and is used to add menu items to the context menu that appears when clicking the app icon in the launcher/taskbar/dock/etc. Different platforms might put limitations on what is actually supported in a launcher context menu.

Type

"all"

"page"

"frame"

"selection"

"link"

"editable"

"image"

"video"

"audio"

"launcher"

"browser_action"

"page_action"

, or

"action"

ItemType

Chrome 44+

The type of menu item.

Type

"normal"

"checkbox"

"radio"

, or

"separator"

OnClickData

Information sent when a context menu item is clicked.

Properties

checked
boolean optional
A flag indicating the state of a checkbox or radio item after it is clicked.
editable
boolean
A flag indicating whether the element is editable (text input, textarea, etc.).
frameId
number optional
Chrome 51+
The ID of the frame of the element where the context menu was clicked, if it was in a frame.
frameUrl
string optional
The URL of the frame of the element where the context menu was clicked, if it was in a frame.
linkUrl
string optional
If the element is a link, the URL it points to.
mediaType
string optional
One of 'image', 'video', or 'audio' if the context menu was activated on one of these types of elements.
menuItemId
string | number
The ID of the menu item that was clicked.
pageUrl
string optional
The URL of the page where the menu item was clicked. This property is not set if the click occured in a context where there is no current page, such as in a launcher context menu.
parentMenuItemId
string | number optional
The parent ID, if any, for the item clicked.
selectionText
string optional
The text for the context selection, if any.
srcUrl
string optional
Will be present for elements with a 'src' URL.
wasChecked
boolean optional
A flag indicating the state of a checkbox or radio item before it was clicked.

Properties

ACTION_MENU_TOP_LEVEL_LIMIT

The maximum number of top level extension items that can be added to an extension action context menu. Any items beyond this limit will be ignored.

Value

Methods

create

chrome.contextMenus.create(
  createProperties: object,
  callback?: function,
)

Creates a new context menu item. If an error occurs during creation, it may not be detected until the creation callback fires; details will be in runtime.lastError.

Parameters

createProperties
object
- checked
  boolean optional
  The initial state of a checkbox or radio button: true for selected, false for unselected. Only one radio button can be selected at a time in a given group.
- contexts
  [ContextType, ...ContextType[]] optional
  List of contexts this menu item will appear in. Defaults to ['page'].
- documentUrlPatterns
  string[] optional
  Restricts the item to apply only to documents or frames whose URL matches one of the given patterns. For details on pattern formats, see Match Patterns.
- enabled
  boolean optional
  Whether this context menu item is enabled or disabled. Defaults to true.
- id
  string optional
  The unique ID to assign to this item. Mandatory for event pages. Cannot be the same as another ID for this extension.
- parentId
  string | number optional
  The ID of a parent menu item; this makes the item a child of a previously added item.
- targetUrlPatterns
  string[] optional
  Similar to documentUrlPatterns, filters based on the src attribute of img, audio, and video tags and the href attribute of a tags.
- title
  string optional
  The text to display in the item; this is required unless type is separator. When the context is selection, use %s within the string to show the selected text. For example, if this parameter's value is "Translate '%s' to Pig Latin" and the user selects the word "cool", the context menu item for the selection is "Translate 'cool' to Pig Latin".
- type
  ItemType optional
  The type of menu item. Defaults to normal.
- visible
  boolean optional
  Chrome 62+
  Whether the item is visible in the menu.
- onclick
  function optional
  A function that is called back when the menu item is clicked. Event pages cannot use this; instead, they should register a listener for contextMenus.onClicked.
  The onclick function looks like: (info: OnClickData, tab: Tab) => {...}
  - info
    OnClickData
    Information about the item clicked and the context where the click happened.
  - tab
    Tab
    The details of the tab where the click took place. This parameter is not present for platform apps.
callback
function optional
The callback parameter looks like: () => void

Returns

number | string
The ID of the newly created item.

remove

chrome.contextMenus.remove(
  menuItemId: string | number,
  callback?: function,
)

Removes a context menu item.

Parameters

menuItemId
string | number
The ID of the context menu item to remove.
callback
function optional
The callback parameter looks like: () => void

removeAll

chrome.contextMenus.removeAll(
  callback?: function,
)

Removes all context menu items added by this extension.

Parameters

callback
function optional
The callback parameter looks like: () => void

update

chrome.contextMenus.update(
  id: string | number,
  updateProperties: object,
  callback?: function,
)

Updates a previously created context menu item.

Parameters

id
string | number
The ID of the item to update.
updateProperties
object
The properties to update. Accepts the same values as the contextMenus.create function.
- checked
  boolean optional
- contexts
  [ContextType, ...ContextType[]] optional
- documentUrlPatterns
  string[] optional
- enabled
  boolean optional
- parentId
  string | number optional
  The ID of the item to be made this item's parent. Note: You cannot set an item to become a child of its own descendant.
- targetUrlPatterns
  string[] optional
- title
  string optional
- type
  ItemType optional
- visible
  boolean optional
  Chrome 62+
  Whether the item is visible in the menu.
- onclick
  function optional
  The onclick function looks like: (info: OnClickData, tab: Tab) => {...}
  - info
    OnClickData
    Chrome 44+
  - tab
    Tab
    Chrome 44+
    The details of the tab where the click took place. This parameter is not present for platform apps.
callback
function optional
The callback parameter looks like: () => void

Events

onClicked

chrome.contextMenus.onClicked.addListener(
  callback: function,
)

Fired when a context menu item is clicked.

Parameters

callback
function
The callback parameter looks like: (info: OnClickData, tab?: tabs.Tab) => void
- info
  OnClickData
- tab
  tabs.Tab optional

chrome.contextMenus

# Usage

# Manifest

# Examples

Summary

Types

ContextType

Type

ItemType

Type

OnClickData

Properties

Properties

ACTION_MENU_TOP_LEVEL_LIMIT

Value

Methods

create

Parameters

Returns

remove

Parameters

removeAll

Parameters

update

Parameters

Events

onClicked

Parameters

Usage

Manifest

Examples