System 7.5: Menus Disappear to the Left (5/95)



I recently upgraded to System 7.5 and now some of the left-most application menus disappear from time to time. These are usually the Apple, File and Edit menus and sometimes a few Application-specific menus.

This has occurred with several applications (Microsoft Excel, AppleLink, and others) on three different machines which are all running System 7.5 (A Quadra 950, a Centris 650, and a Quadra 800).

Because the file menu is no longer available, there is no way to quit the application, and you need to "force quit" (Command-Option-Esc) to get out of the application.

Is this a known issue? If so, how do I workaround it?

Symptoms
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As you may have noticed, the menus disappear under two different circumstances. The first is by clicking in the menu bar before the application has finished loading. The second is by clicking in a part of the menu bar that does not have any menus.

Cause
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A problem has been identified in the Apple Menu Options (AMO) control panel that causes menus to disappear. The problem has been identified and is scheduled to be corrected in a new version of Apple Menu Options.

**Issue Resolution**
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Apple Menu Options version 1.0.2 has corrected this issue. It is posted online to Apple SW Updates. When installed with System 7.5 or with the System 7.5 Update 1.0 (7.5.1), this update to Apple Menu Options provides enhancements for problems encountered by some Macintosh computer users. System 7.5 or System 7.5.1 must be installed on your computer before Apple Menu Options 1.0.2 is installed.

These articles can help you locate the software update mentioned here:

* Where To Find Apple Software Updates
Lists online services for "free" Apple software updates.

* Obtaining Apple Product Support in the USA
Lists 800 numbers and online services for software updates, Apple
support information, and a subset of the Apple Tech. Info. Library.

Workaround
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If you cannot download the update right away, try this workaround:
To avoid the disappearing menus, either do not do any of the above or simply, remove the AMO control panel from the Control Panels folder.

Technical Explanation
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AMO installs four menus when you click in the menubar and deletes the four menus when you release the mouse button. Some applications cause AMO to change the ID numbers for its menus. When this happens, clicking in the menubar at the wrong time will cause AMO to delete the application's menu.

This problem appears every time you click in the menubar while the application is still loading. For example, click in the menubar while Microsoft Word's splash screen is still on the monitor and Microsoft Word's menus disappear. One of the most bizarre aspects of this problem is that the application that causes AMO to renumber its menus, is not necessarily the application that has its menus disappear.

You may have noticed that when the menus are deleted, clicking in the menubar causes the wrong menu to be pulled down. For example, clicking the Apple menu will cause the Edit menu to display. When the problem application is moved to the background and brought back to the foreground the menubar is updated to reflect the missing menus.


Article Change History:
24 May 1995 - Reviewed for technical accuracy.
19 May 1995 - Added Issue Resolution information .
04 Apr 1995 - Added more details and reviewed for technical accuracy.

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Published Date: Feb 19, 2012