Replacement for Classic Apple Menu File Launcher

You can set up a similar folder of aliases and drag it to the right side of the Dock. Instead of going to the Apple Menu you go to the Dock.

Also worth considering: Default Folder X

As well as adding fast navigation features to your open dn save dialogues, it puts an icon on the menu bar that allows you to navigate the whole disk, and to create select Folders.

https://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/index.html

I've got a strange thing going on with XMenu and hope someone can suss it out. I used to use Himmelbar and loved it, until Big Sur rendered it obsolete. XMenu feels most like Himmelbar, so I tried that. In XMenu preferences, I want to create a User-Defined entry for the Utilities folder, to work as does the Applications entry for the Applications folder. I made an alias of the Utilities folder and dragged it into user(me)/Library/Application Support/XMenu/Custom according to XMenu's instructions. I checked the "User-Defined" box in prefs, and a star icon appeared in my menu bar. So far, so good. Here's where it gets weird. When I click on the star (user-defined, now "Utilities") menu bar icon, it drops down but only shows about 1/3 of the items in the Utilities folder. Yet in the Finder window (for Library ... Custom, etc) all items are in fact showing in the Utilities alias folder. Somehow, it seems, XMenu isn't seeing everything in the Utilities folder alias. However, if I click on the XMenu "Apps" icon in the menu bar (the circle with a stylized A) and scroll down to the Utilities folder (which lives within the Applications folder), all the enclosed items show up just fine. It seems somehow XMenu isn't seeing the alias correctly. (I tried looking for help on the Devon web site, but couldn't find an answer to this particular strangeness.)

(I don't know why it's showing an iPhone for my account - I'm using a MacBook Pro 2019, running Big Sur.)

FWIW, I see the same behavior although I don't know why I would bother setting up a Utilities Menu when it already exists.

However, it's clear none of the Apple utilities show up in the user-defined menu. You would have to ask Devon about that.

feedback@devontechnologies.com

As someone said earlier, different people have different habits. I just like being able to go directly either to Applications or Utilities. Interesting that it's none of the Apple utilities that show up; I hadn't made that connections. I'll see what Devon has to say about that, thanks.

XMenu (free) is another option.

https://www.devontechnologies.com/apps/freeware

I understand that different people have different habits. For me nothing beats Spotlight. I just type the first letters of whatever app I want and press enter 😎

Free is always good. 😎

You're welcome.