contextMenus

Add items to the browser's context menu, to be displayed in the contexts you specify. For example, you can show the item only when the user clicks on an image, or on an editable element, or when part of a page is selected.

Create a context menu item using the contextMenus.create() method. You pass this method an object containing options for the item, including the item ID, item type, and the contexts in which it should be shown.

Listen for clicks on your context menu item by adding a listener to the contextMenus.onClicked event. This listener will be passed a contextMenus.OnClickData object containing the event's details.

You can create four different types of context menu item, based on the value of the type property you supply in the options to create():

• "normal": a context menu item that just displays a label
• "checkbox": a context menu item that represents a binary state. It displays a checkmark next to the label. Clicking the item toggles the checkmark. The click listener will be passed two extra properties: "checked", indicating whether the item is checked now, and "wasChecked", indicating whether the item was checked before the click event.
• "radio": a context menu item that represents one of a group of choices. Just like a checkbox, this also displays a checkmark next to the label, and its click listener is passed "checked" and "wasChecked". However, if you create more than one radio item, then the items function as a group of radio items: only one item in the group can be checked, and clicking an item makes it the checked item.
• "separator": a line separating a group of items.

If you've specified icons for your extension using the "icons" manifest key, your context menu item will display the specified icon next to its label. The browser will try to choose a 16x16 pixel icon for a normal display or a 32x32 pixel icon for a high-density display.

If you have created more than one context menu item, then the items will be placed in a submenu. The submenu's parent will be labeled with the name of the extension. In this case, if you have also specified an icon, then the submenu's parent will get the icon, and the items themselves will not get any icon.

Here's a context menu containing 5 items: a normal item, two radio items with separators on each side, and a checkbox:

You could create a submenu like this using code like:

chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "clickme",
  title: "Click me!",
  contexts: ["all"]
});
chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "clickme-separator-1",
  type: "separator",
  contexts: ["all"]
});
chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "clickme-radio-1",
  type: "radio",
  title: "Choose me - radio 1!",
  contexts: ["all"],
  checked: true
});
chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "clickme-radio-2",
  type: "radio",
  title: "Choose me - radio 2!",
  contexts: ["all"],
  checked: false
});
chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "clickme-separator-2",
  type: "separator",
  contexts: ["all"]
});
chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "clickme-checkbox",
  type: "checkbox",
  title: "Uncheck me: checkbox!",
  contexts: ["all"],
  checked: true
});

To use this API you need to have the "contextMenus" permission.

Types

contextMenus.ContextType

The different contexts a menu can appear in. Possible values are: "all", "audio", "browser_action", "editable", "frame", "image", "link", "page", "page_action", "password", "selection", "tab", "video".

contextMenus.ItemType

The type of menu item: "normal", "checkbox", "radio", "separator".

contextMenus.OnClickData

Information sent when a context menu item is clicked.

Properties

contextMenus.ACTION_MENU_TOP_LEVEL_LIMIT

The maximum number of top level extension items that can be added to a context menu item whose ContextType is "browser_action" or "page_action".

Functions

contextMenus.create()

Creates a new context menu item.

contextMenus.update()

Updates a previously created context menu item.

contextMenus.remove()

Removes a context menu item.

contextMenus.removeAll()

Removes all context menu items added by this extension.

Events

contextMenus.onClicked

Fired when a context menu item is clicked.

Browser compatibility

Edge incompatibilities

Promises are not supported in Edge. Use callbacks instead.

Chrome incompatibilities

None.

Example extensions

• context-menu-copy-link-with-types
• context-menu-demo

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