Users who have installed your add-on can access it through the overflow menu in Google Workspace document editors. However, some actions pertain to a particular context in the app; these actions are easier to access when they appear in the context menu for that context.
For example, an action in your Sheets add-on might be appropriate when columns are selected in the Sheets editor. Adding this action to the Sheets column selection context menu makes it quick and easy to access.
This page describes how you can add context menu items for your add-on.
Link a context to an activity
You use meta-data elements in your Android manifest to specify the contexts in which your add-on should appear:
<meta-data android:name=context android:value=activity />
This name-value pair associates one of the defined context names with an activity in your Android add-on.
If you associate a context with an activity, that activity (by default) no
longer appears in the editor's main menu under Add-ons. It only appears in
the associated context menu. If you need the activity to appear in both the
context menu and the main menu, define an <activity-alias> in your manifest
and associate either the activity or the alias with the context. You should only
do this, however, if the activity presents a good experience with and without
a linked context.
Available contexts
The following tables show the contexts that you can use to associate actions from your add-on.
Docs
Docs contexts are specified as
com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs.context-name,
where context-name is one of the following:
| Context name | Description |
|---|---|
| IMAGE_SELECTION | The context of a selected image |
| TEXT_SELECTION | The context of a range of selected text |
Sheets
Sheets contexts are specified as
com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets.context-name,
where context-name is one of the following:
| Context name | Description |
|---|---|
| COLUMN_SELECTION | The context of one or more selected columns |
| ROW_SELECTION | The context of one or more selected rows |
| RANGE_SELECTION | The context of a selected range |
Example Manifest
The following sample manifest shows how to add add-on activities to context
menus. In this case, the add-on has two activities and associates each of
them with different contexts. The MainActivity also has an alias defined so
that it can be accessed through the Docs and Sheets main menu. MainActivity
is also the
Launcher Activity,
and will be used as the entry point if the add-on is launched directly.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.demo.addon"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" >
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_CREDENTIALS" />
<uses-sdk
android:minSdkVersion="17"
android:targetSdkVersion="22" />
<application
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/DemoTheme" >
<meta-data
android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets.RANGE_SELECTION"
android:value="com.example.demo.addon.TextActivity" />
<meta-data
android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets.ROW_SELECTION"
android:value="com.example.demo.addon.MainActivity" />
<meta-data
android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets.COLUMN_SELECTION"
android:value="com.example.demo.addon.MainActivity" />
<meta-data
android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs.TEXT_SELECTION"
android:value="com.example.demo.addon.TextActivity" />
<meta-data
android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs.IMAGE_SELECTION"
android:value="com.example.demo.addon.MainActivity" />
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name" >
<intent-filter
android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" >
<!-- This intent filter is what allows the app to be called
as an add-on from the Sheets and Docs editors. -->
<action android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets.ADDON" />
<action android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs.ADDON" />
</intent-filter>
<intent-filter>
<!-- This intent filter sets MainActivity as the entry
point when the add-on is launched directly. -->
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<activity
android:name=".TextActivity"
android:label="@string/text_activity_label" >
<intent-filter
android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher2" >
<action android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets.ADDON" />
<action android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs.ADDON" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<!-- This alias allows the MainActivity to appear in the main Add-on
menus in the Docs and Sheets editors as well as the context
menu. -->
<activity-alias
android:name=".MainActivityAlias"
android:targetActivity=".MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:exported="true" >
<intent-filter
android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" >
<action android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets.ADDON" />
<action android:name="com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs.ADDON" />
</intent-filter>
</activity-alias>
</application>
</manifest>