Contact Menu Tips & Tricks

The following are Tips and Tricks for getting the most out of your customizable Support Menu. The Contact Menu supports URI/URL, macOS Application Names, Apple Bundle Identifiers, Windows Absolute Paths and Windows Relative Paths.

Note

The following document uses the identifiers of URL, URI, Apple Bundle ID, and Windows Relative Path to differentiate the item type you should choose. Learn more about the Contact Menu Item Configuration here.

Warning

If a URI is configured, but does not appear in the contact menu, this may indicate that no application is configured to accept that URI. Attempt the URI in Safari, or at the command line with open <uri://your-uri>

Tips & Tricks

Be sure to use the Testing mode to get started. You can make any group the Testing group, and all changes are saved. You can also use the Preview tab to setup.
Hold down the Option or Control key when you click on the first menu item to open that computer’s Watchman Monitoring record in the default Web Browser. Login will be required, so skip the “Keep me signed in…” when on your end-users’ computers.
The menu can be disabled for any single computer (the persnickety boss, or the conference room computer.) Look in the Action menu for the toggle.

Text

Use Gray Text on the menu to display:

Your Phone Number / Support Phone Number
Title Sections of links (File Sharing, Social Media, FileMaker Databases, Training Resources, etc.)

Mailto URI

If you’d like your end-user’s email client to create an email to support, the entry would be:

URI: mailto:[email protected]?Subject=Support Request&Body=Enter Your Request Below

mailto: elements start with the to, optionally followed with a ? before other components, such as:

mailto:[email protected]
CC=
BCC=
Subject=
Body=

Warning

An ampsersand `&` is required between components, as shown in the example above.

Note

Spaces are automatically html encoded for you.

Support Resources

Diagnostic Web Sites

iCloud Status / Apple System Status

URL: https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

Determine Apple’s current System Status for the AppStore, iCloud, AppleID and more.

WAN IP Address

URL: http://IPChicken.com
URL: http://whatsmyip.org
URL: https://www.google.com/?ion=1&espv=2#q=what+is+my+ip

Use one of the above URLs to help you determine the WAN IP Address of the machine.

Diagnostic Tools

The following built-in tools and utilities can be put within easy reach through the contact menu.

Activity Monitor

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.ActivityMonitor

Network Diagnostics

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.NetworkDiagnostics

Wireless Diagnostics

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.wifi.diagnostics

Console (Logs)

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.Console

Disk Utility

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.DiskUtility

System Information (System Profiler)

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.SystemProfiler

Windows Task Manager

Windows Relative Path: %windir%\system32\taskmgr.exe

System Preferences

System Preferences can be used in the menu by using the Application Specific URL option. To link to an anchor (a specific tab within a Preference Pane) is generally the URL followed by ?TabName (See Keyboard PrefPane example below).

Network Preference Pane

URI: x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.network

Software Update Preference Pane

URI: x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate

Keyboard Preference Pane: Text Tab

URI: x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.keyboard?Text

The following AppleScript will help you determine the Preference Pane ID:

tell application "System Preferences"
	set myId to the id of current pane
end tell

The following AppleScript will help you determine the Anchor of the current Preference Pane:

tell application "System Preferences"
	set myAnchor to anchors of current pane
end tell

Note

Open System Preferences and select a Preference Pane before running these scripts.

Windows Control Panel

Windows Relative Path: %WINDIR%\System32\control.exe

Training Resources

The following are resources to direct clients or customers for information and training.

Apple.com

Mac Basics Self-paced Learning

URI: http://www.apple.com/support/macbasics/

Keyboard Shortcuts

URI: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

iPhone User Guide

URI: http://help.apple.com/iphone

iPad User Guide

URI: http://help.apple.com/ipad

Mac User Guide

URI: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/welcome/mac (Big Sur)
URI: http://help.apple.com/machelp/mac/10.12/ (Sierra)
URI: http://help.apple.com/machelp/mac/10.11/ (El Capitan)
URI: http://help.apple.com/machelp/mac/10.10/ (Yosemite)

YouTube

Post your own screencast training videos and link to them in the Contact menu.

Video Link

URI: http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_IDENTIFIER

YouTube Channel

URI: https://www.youtube.com/user/USERNAME

Vimeo

Post your own screencast training videos and link to them in the Contact menu.

Video Link

URI: https://vimeo.com/VIDEO_IDENTIFIER

Vimeo Channel

URI: https://vimeo.com/USERNAME

Zendesk

Help Center

URI: https://[subdomain].zendesk.com/hc/

Link to your Zendesk Help Center to access your support documents.

Submit Request

URI: https://[subdomain].zendesk.com/hc/requests/new

Link to your Zendesk Request form for submitting tickets. Helpful if email is not configured on the machine.

See All Requests

URI: https://[subdomain].zendesk.com/hc/requests/

Computer Management

Direct Users to self-service tools for software installation and updates.

Addigy

Launch MacManage

Apple Bundle ID: com.electron.macmanage

Apple Mac AppStore

Mac AppStore

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.appstore
URI: macappstore://
URI: macappstore://showUpdatesPage (Open directly to MAS Updates Page)

Munki

Managed Software Center

Apple Bundle ID: com.googlecode.munki.ManagedSoftwareCenter
URI: munki://category-all (Open MSC to display all Apps)
URI: munki://developer-google (Open MSC and search for Apps from Google)
URI: munki://updates (Open MSC to Updates section)

Mac-MSP Gruntwork

Run Maintenance Manually

Apple Bundle ID: com.mac-msp.gruntwork.manualstart

HEAT LANrev (formerly Absolute Manage)

OnDemand Software

URI: lanrevagent://ShowOnDemandPackages

Filewave

Filewave Admin

Apple Bundle ID: com.filewave.admin
macOS Application Name: FileWave Admin.app
Windows Relative Path: %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\FileWave\FileWaveAdmin.exe

Self-Service Kiosk

Apple Bundle ID: com.filewave.fwGUI
Windows Relative Path: %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\FileWave\fwGUI.exe

JAMF Pro / Casper

Self Service

Apple Bundle ID: com.jamfsoftware.selfservice.mac

JAMF Item URLs

Allow your users to simply click the link to install the item or view the item description without having to search for it in Self Service. When you make an item (excluding patch policies) available in Self Service, the following two URLs are available in Jamf Pro:

Installation URL—URL you can provide to users so they can install the item.

URI: jamfselfservice://content?entity=policy&id=<idofyourpolicy>&action=execute

Description URL—URL you can provide to users so they can view the item description in Self Service.

URI: jamfselfservice://content?entity=policy&id=<idofyourpolicy>&action=view

Note

You can copy an item URL from Jamf Pro by clicking the Clipboard button after configuring the item.

Tip

Use as an alternative link for an application, such as Share My Screen or link to an optional upgrade such as the latest macOS.

Communication

Chat

iChat / SMS / iMessage

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.iChat
URI: imessage://[email protected]
URI: imessage://1-408-555-1212
URI: ichat://[email protected]
URI: sms://1-408-555-1212

Note

sms:// is supported by some VoIP desktop clients, otherwise is directed at iOS and mobile web applications.

Warning

ichat:// may be deprecated on newer Mac Operating Systems in favor of imessage://.

XMPP (Jabber)

URI: xmpp://[email protected]

Slack

Apple Bundle ID: com.tinyspeck.slackmacgap
URI: http://TEAM-ID.slack.com
URI: slack:channel?id=<CHANNEL-ID>&team=<TEAM-ID>

HipChat

Apple Bundle ID: com.hipchat.HipChat

Skype

URI: skype:live:skypeusername?chat

Voice

Skype

URI: skype:live:skypeusername?call

Facetime Audio

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.FaceTime
URI: facetime-audio://[email protected] (OS X 10.10 or greater)
URI: callto:+18005551212
URI: tel:+18005551212

Facetime

Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.FaceTime
URI: facetime://[email protected]

Zoom

Start a Meeting

URI: zoommtg://zoom.us/start?browser=chrome&confno=123456789&zc=0&stype=100&sid=lBGPGzGdT8–2Yf3kjDY5gg&uid=lBGPGzGdT8–2Yf3kjDY5gg&token=xxxxxx&uname=Betty

Join a Meeting

URI: zoommtg://zoom.us/join?confno=123456789&pwd=xxxx&zc=0&browser=chrome&uname=Betty

Additional details on Zoom’s URI Schema.

Splashtop

Splashtop Business

URI: st-business://[email protected]&mac=C04A001C72EC

More about Splashtop Business URI.

Splashtop Streamer

URI: st-streamer://com.splashtop.streamer

More about Splashtop Streamer URI Commands.

GoToMeeting

Apple Bundle ID: com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting
URI: http://www.joingotomeeting.com/

TeamViewer

URI: https://start.teamviewer.com/123456789 (Requires TeamViewer 10 or greater)
Apple Bundle ID: com.teamviewer.TeamViewerQS
Apple Bundle ID: com.teamviewer.TeamViewer
Apple Bundle ID: com.teamviewer.TeamViewerHost

Note

When using the Apple Bundle Identifier, the Contact Menu will try the following, in order:

com.teamviewer.TeamViewerQS QuickSupport, TeamViewer (Full), then Host

com.teamviewer.TeamViewer TeamViewer (Full), QuickSupport, then Host

com.teamviewer.TeamViewerHost Host, QuickStart, then Teamviewer (Full)

ScreenConnect

Apple Bundle ID: com.elsitech.screenconnect.client

LogMeIn

Apple Bundle ID: com.logmein.join.me

VNC / ScreenSharing

URI: vnc://hostname[:port]
Apple Bundle ID: com.apple.ScreenSharing

RDP / Remote Desktop Client

Launch a specific Remote Desktop Client session. Learn more about the RDP URI here.

URI: rdp://hostname[:port]
Apple Bundle ID: com.microsoft.rdc.mac

Location

To Your Location

URI: http://maps.apple.com/?daddr=1,Infinite+Loop,Cupertino,California

Open Maps.app with your destination pre-filled. Useful for directing clients to your retail location or office.

From Your Location

URI: http://maps.apple.com/?saddr=1,Infinite+Loop,Cupertino,California

Open Maps.app with your address as the starting location. Useful for mapping a route to a client or customer.

FileMaker

Link directly to FileMaker databases and skip the starter file.

Open a hosted FileMaker Database

URI: fmp://hostname/FMServer_Sample

Full FileMaker URI Syntax

URI: fmp://[[account:password@]netaddress]/databasename[?script=scriptname[&param=scriptparameter][&$variablename=value]]

Customize your Contact menu with direct link to client/customer file shares.

AFP (Apple File Protocol)

URI: afp://hostname[/path]
URI: afp://username@hostname[/path] (default the username)

SMB (Samba)/CIFS (Common Internet File System)

URI: smb://hostname[/path]
URI: smb://username@hostname[/path] (default the username)
URI: smb://other_username:*@hostname[/path] (default username, request password)
URI: cifs://hostname[/path]
URI: cifs://username@hostname[/path] (default the username)
URI: cifs://username:*@hostname[/path] (default username, request password)

SFTP (Secure FTP)

URI: sftp://hostname[/path]
URI: sftp://username@hostname[/path] (default the username)

WebDAV

URI: https://hostname[/path]
URI: https://username@hostname[/path] (default the username)

Windows

URI: \\hostname\share
URI: file:////hostname\share

Service Bench

Link your technicians to useful tools.

MacTracker

Apple Bundle ID: com.mactrackerapp.Mactracker

Alternative Download Link:

URI: http://mactracker.ca

Permalink: https://watchmanmonitoring.com/contact-menu-tips-tricks

Contact Menu Tips & Tricks

Tips & Tricks

Menu Ideas

Text

Links

WebMail

Your Website

Mailto URI

Support Resources

Diagnostic Web Sites

iCloud Status / Apple System Status

WAN IP Address

Diagnostic Tools

Activity Monitor

Network Diagnostics

Wireless Diagnostics

Console (Logs)

Disk Utility

System Information (System Profiler)

Windows Task Manager

System Preferences

Network Preference Pane

Software Update Preference Pane

Keyboard Preference Pane: Text Tab

Windows Control Panel

Training Resources

Apple.com

Mac Basics Self-paced Learning

Keyboard Shortcuts

iPhone User Guide

iPad User Guide

Mac User Guide

YouTube

Video Link

YouTube Channel

Vimeo

Video Link

Vimeo Channel

Zendesk

Help Center

Submit Request

See All Requests

Computer Management

Addigy

Launch MacManage

Apple Mac AppStore

Mac AppStore

Munki

Managed Software Center

Mac-MSP Gruntwork

Run Maintenance Manually

HEAT LANrev (formerly Absolute Manage)

OnDemand Software

Filewave

Filewave Admin

Self-Service Kiosk

JAMF Pro / Casper

Self Service

JAMF Item URLs

Communication

Chat

iChat / SMS / iMessage

XMPP (Jabber)

Slack

HipChat

Skype

Voice

Skype

Facetime Audio

Facetime

Screen Sharing / Remote Support

Zoom

Splashtop

GoToMeeting

TeamViewer

ScreenConnect

LogMeIn

VNC / ScreenSharing

RDP / Remote Desktop Client

Location