Any app in menu bar + shortcut

This is not an question, but an answer to an old question (2012): https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4304841

I suppose that this is a very old "trick" but I want to share it again.

I was looking for a free app to set the Reminders app in my menu bar. Nothing. I've found a way to have the Reminders with the "feeling" of opening a menu bar app:

PART 1: the Automator Service

Launch Automator, create a Service. At the top of the workflow configure the popup menus to read Services receives no input in any application. Select the Utilities library in the left-most pane and from the Actions pane to the right drag the "Run Applescript" item into the workflow area. The put this code inside:

...

if application "Reminders" is running then

tell application "Reminders" to quit

else

tell application "Reminders" to activate

end if

...

Then save it with your favorite name. I've named it first with an emoji of the notepad with a red bar 🗓, then Recordatorios (I'm Spanish) and finally the shortcut code that I will set now ( ^⌘A).

PART 2: The Keyboard Shortcut

Then launch System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts tab > Services. Locate the service you've just created and enter a keyboard shortcut (mine is ^⌘A ).

Now you have a shortcut to open Reminders (or any app you want) with a keyboard command, and you can close it from everywhere with the same keyboard command. This simulates the app to appear and disappear if you set the app window near the menu bar.

PART 3: The Menu Icon

I've discovered a free app to add menu bar icon: aLaunch http://mactips-lib.net/m/software/alaunch/en/main.html

With this app I did a menu bar icon with two options: 1- Open/Close Reminders (launching the action done before, but saved as Application, not Workflow); 2- Create New Reminder (made with Automator; it's easy)

Also, you can create a menu icon with Xcode. Read this: https://nsrover.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/creating-a-os-x-menubar-only-app/ or this https://www.raywenderlich.com/165853/menus-popovers-menu-bar-apps-macos

Assign the Automator Service file to be launched and, voila, you got it: a pseudo-menu app.

Now you can do that with Swift, too. Google it.

Or,

I hope you like it. Best regards.

Guillermo Velasco, from Madrid, Spain.

References:

https://www.macworld.com/article/2139101/create-a-reminder-on-your-mac-in-an-ins tant.html

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16064957/how-to-check-in-applescript-if-an-a pp-is-running-without-launching-it-via-osa