Trivial but annoying Ventura Services issue

TidBITS Talk
1

Two years ago, I added an Automator workflow to /Users/Me/Library/Services. The workflow was selected by holding the mouse down on a file, which brought up the contextual menu that lists the services.

Now with Ventura, the service does not appear in the contextual menu (every other service does appear). However, the service appears when I highlight a file and select Action at the top of the Finder window. The change is trivial, but annoying after having performed the action a zillion times differently.

Does anyone have an idea why one service would appear in the Action menu but not the contextual menu?

Many thanks.

2

Because of it’s turned off in System Settings > Extensions? Just a guess.

3

Thank you Gordon. You put me on the track to the answer, but for a slightly different reason.

  1. As I mentioned, selecting Services at the bottom of the contextual menu reveals all my items except one. Note: all but one of the items in the Services folder are *.workflow files.

  2. When I highlight a file in the Finder and select Action from the top of its window, the Services menu at the bottom shows all the items.

  3. As suggested, I consulted Extensions in System Settings, particularly, Finder Extensions–Finder Quick Actions. Voila! There is the missing workflow, checked. But where is it in the Finder? It’s in Quick Actions in the contextual menu immediately above Services. Has Quick Actions always been there? I updated from Catalina directly to Ventura, and I do not recall Quick Actions in the Catalina contextual menu.

Well, this discovery is dandy. I can still use the contextual menu but, instead of selecting Services, select Quick Actions.

In sum, one of many items in the Services folder is absent from the Services contextual menu, it is present in the Services menu under Action, and it is (the only workflow) present in the Quick Actions contextual menu. Logical?

1 Like
4

Perhaps only Apple’s built in items can now be under “Services”; others have to be under “Quick Actions”?

5

Thank you Dennis. You may be correct, but I believe that at least one other item in my Services folder is a workflow that I created because it is specific for my printer. That one shows, and functions properly, in the Services contextual menu, not in Quick Actions. Get Info on some others does not show any connection to Apple. Still, I cannot completely rule out that all of the items which appear in Services are derived from Apple. I’ve had them for years and years, and I don’t know where they came from!

Cheers.