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
Properties
ACTION_MENU_TOP_LEVEL_LIMIT
Methods
create
contextMenus.create(createProperties: object, callback: function): enum
remove
contextMenus.remove(menuItemId: enum, callback: function)
removeAll
contextMenus.removeAll(callback: function)
update
contextMenus.update(id: enum, updateProperties: object, callback: function)
Events
onClicked

Types

ContextType

Since 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.

Enum

"all", "page", "frame", "selection", "link", "editable", "image", "video", "audio", "launcher", "browser_action", "page_action", or "action"

ItemType

Since Chrome 44.

The type of menu item.

Enum

"normal", "checkbox", "radio", or "separator"

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

number 6

Methods

create

contextMenus.create(createProperties: object, callback: function): enum

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[] 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.
- 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 onClicked.
  The onclick function looks like this:
  onclick(info: object, tab: tabs.Tab) => {...}
  info
  object
  tab
  tabs.Tab
- parentId
  enum 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
  Since Chrome 62.
  Whether the item is visible in the menu.
callback
function
Called when the item has been created in the browser. If an error occurs during creation, details will be available in runtime.lastError.
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

Returns

returns
enum
The ID of the newly created item.

remove

contextMenus.remove(menuItemId: enum, callback: function)

Removes a context menu item.

Parameters

menuItemId
enum
The ID of the context menu item to remove.
callback
function
Called when the context menu has been removed.
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

removeAll

contextMenus.removeAll(callback: function)

Removes all context menu items added by this extension.

Parameters

callback
function
Called when removal is complete.
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

update

contextMenus.update(id: enum, updateProperties: object, callback: function)

Updates a previously created context menu item.

Parameters

id
enum
The ID of the item to update.
updateProperties
object
The properties to update. Accepts the same values as the create function.
- checked
  boolean optional
- contexts
  ContextType[] optional
- documentUrlPatterns
  string[] optional
- enabled
  boolean optional
- onclick
  function optional
  The onclick function looks like this:
  onclick(info: object, tab: tabs.Tab) => {...}
  info
  object
  Since Chrome 44.
  tab
  tabs.Tab
  Since Chrome 44.
- parentId
  enum 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
  Since Chrome 62.
  Whether the item is visible in the menu.
callback
function
Called when the context menu has been updated.
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

Events

onClicked

contextMenus.onClicked.addListener(listener: function)

Event

listener
function
The listener parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}