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

To try this API, install the contextMenus API example from the chrome-extension-samples repository.

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.

Enum

"all"

"page"

"frame"

"selection"

"link"

"editable"

"image"

"video"

"audio"

"launcher"

"browser_action"

"page_action"

"action"

CreateProperties

Chrome 123+

Properties of the new context menu item.

Properties

  • 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

    Whether the item is visible in the menu.

  • onclick

    void optional

    A function that is called back when the menu item is clicked. This is not available inside of a service worker; instead, you should register a listener for contextMenus.onClicked.

    The onclick function looks like: 

    (info: OnClickData, tab: Tab) => {...}

    • 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.

ItemType

Chrome 44+

The type of menu item.

Enum

"normal"

"checkbox"

"radio"

"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

6

Methods

create()

chrome.contextMenus.create(
  createProperties: CreateProperties,
  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

    CreateProperties

  • callback

    function optional

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    () => void

Returns

  • number | string

    The ID of the newly created item.

remove()

Promise 
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

Returns

  • Promise<void>

    Chrome 123+

    Promises are only supported for Manifest V3 and later, other platforms need to use callbacks.

removeAll()

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

Removes all context menu items added by this extension.

Parameters

  • callback

    function optional

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    () => void

Returns

  • Promise<void>

    Chrome 123+

    Promises are only supported for Manifest V3 and later, other platforms need to use callbacks.

update()

Promise 
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

      void optional

      The onclick function looks like: 

      (info: OnClickData, tab: Tab) => {...}

      • 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

Returns

  • Promise<void>

    Chrome 123+

    Promises are only supported for Manifest V3 and later, other platforms need to use callbacks.

Events

onClicked

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

Fired when a context menu item is clicked.

Parameters