Inside OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: Share Sheets put AirDrop, Twitter, Vimeo sharing everywhere

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014


Share Sheet icons throughout OS X Mountain Lion make it easy to share documents via AirDrop, Twitter, Mail, Messages, Flickr or Vimeo, and perform other context sensitive shortcut actions, such as setting an account picture



Apple introduced AirDrop in OS X Lion, making it easy to set up a secure, configuration free file sharing session between two Macs on the same network. In Mountain Lion, Apple makes the feature accessible all over through the new Share Sheets feature.



Share Sheets present a "send" icon familiar to iOS users in a variety of places throughout OS X Mountain Lion, from Quick Look panels to Open File dialogs to Contacts, Safari and Photo Booth.



Clicking on a Share Sheet icon opens a menu displaying a variety of contextually relevant sharing options based on the accounts configured in the "Mail Contacts & Calendars" pane of System Preferences.



Quick Look an image, for example, and Share Sheets present options to send via Email, Message, Twitter, AirDrop or Flickr.











Quick Look a video, and the options change to support Vimeo (but not Google's YouTube, a telling example of the crumbling relationship Apple has with the company. Five years ago, YouTube was the primary video sharing service supported on iPhone.)











AirDrop a file and Share Sheets presents a dialog that searches for nearby Macs with an AirDrop window open in the Finder.











Once a local AirDrop user is discovered, the panel presents the ability to send the selected file to the other user, working just like AirDrop from the Finder.











Twitter presents a similar panel, also derived from the tweeting user interface of iOS, showing a character count and allowing you to add your current location to the tweet if desired. (Again, notably absent from Sharing Sheets is Facebook integration).











Special Share Sheet options are presented by other apps. For example, Photo Booth allows you to select a snapshot and perform typical graphic sharing options as well as options to Add to iPhoto, Set Buddy Picture, Set Account Picture, or Change Twitter Profile Picture.











From Safari, the new toolbar Share Sheet icon offers to Add to Reading List or Add Bookmark, as well as Email, Message or share via Twitter.











Developers familiar with Apple's Sharing Sheets feature noted that the feature is based on a new Sharing Service API, which allows apps to create their own custom user interface for sharing content through the available services configured by the user (such as Twitter). Developers reportedly can also create their own custom services, opening the potential for Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others to define links to their own photo, video and document sharing services.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 37
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    I hope that icon expands to other programs (I.e. office, etc). I would prefer clicking the icon, clicking "email" rather than clicking the file menu , going to export, waiting for the arrow- then attach to email.



    Just a little saved step, but those add up.
  • Reply 2 of 37
    x38x38 Posts: 97member
    I can't stand Vimeo, but this would be great with MobileMe galleries. Apple, PLEASE add the gallery function to iCloud!
  • Reply 3 of 37
    No YouTube or Facebook or Instagram or Posterous or Google+ or ?? I hope there will be settings to add plugins.
  • Reply 4 of 37
    The "share sheet" button should be implemented on almost all desktop apps.
  • Reply 5 of 37
    elrothelroth Posts: 1,201member
    I sure hope you can turn it off, and never see it. Even better would be if you could uninstall it. I don't want anything that says "Twitter" in my computer.
  • Reply 6 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by elroth View Post


    I sure hope you can turn it off, and never see it. Even better would be if you could uninstall it. I don't want anything that says "Twitter" in my computer.



    So long as some manageability of what shows up in the Share Sheets menu is given I'm totally happy with it.



    Glad to know there's an API as well. I eagerly await my Instapaper option for the Share Sheets menu and perhaps Cloud App if I decide to go with them.



    Sky's the limit...just give me options to manage please.
  • Reply 7 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by elroth View Post


    I sure hope you can turn it off, and never see it. Even better would be if you could uninstall it. I don't want anything that says "Twitter" in my computer.



    Twitter doesn't show up unless you've configured an account. But based on your comment, it looks like you are all in favor of being able to share worthless little bits of personal information that nobody cares about. That's what Twitter is for buddy.
  • Reply 8 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by elroth View Post


    I sure hope you can turn it off, and never see it. Even better would be if you could uninstall it. I don't want anything that says "Twitter" in my computer.



    I feel the same way, especially in terms of iOS 5 on my iPhone.



    Every time I select a photo and tap sharing option, it shows a "Twitter" row.



    I don't tweet, so I don't need that option shown to me every single time.



  • Reply 9 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by X38 View Post


    Apple, PLEASE add the gallery function to iCloud!



    I guess you missed the Flickr option in the article.
  • Reply 10 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OriginalMacRat View Post


    I guess you missed the Flickr option in the article.



    One might prefer Apple's gallery service over Flickr.
  • Reply 11 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Netimoon View Post


    One might prefer Apple's gallery service over Flickr.



    MobileME is EOL, Flickr exists.
  • Reply 12 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OriginalMacRat View Post


    MobileME is EOL, Flickr exists.



    iKnow. And that is why some people want Apple to bring the feature into iCloud.
  • Reply 13 of 37
    This is pretty neat and useful. I don't get why "power users" complain about these kind of UI features. I've been using a Mac for 8+ years, but that the ability to upload things so quickly and ubiquitously is just neat and a little bit fun.



    Although, I'd really prefer Facebook integration to Twitter. Maybe by the summer...
  • Reply 14 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by X38 View Post


    I can't stand Vimeo, but this would be great with MobileMe galleries. Apple, PLEASE add the gallery function to iCloud!



    I can't say now Vimeo compares to YouTube, but I'm ready for a video site other then what I currently experience on YouTube; Before I can see the YouTube clip, I have to sit through a commercial as long as the clip, then have the lower third or quarter of the screen blocked by a pop-up ad for Google+ that I have to click a small box to get rid of. Google has ruined what was once a great site.
  • Reply 15 of 37
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    It's a good idea to make a GUI control that encompasses all the sharing options. A nod to the world we live in.
  • Reply 16 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post


    I can't say now Vimeo compares to YouTube, but I'm ready for a video site other then what I currently experience on YouTube; Before I can see the YouTube clip, I have to sit through a commercial as long as the clip, then have the lower third or quarter of the screen blocked by a pop-up ad for Google+ that I have to click a small box to get rid of. Google has ruined what was once a great site.



    I would argue that Google actually saved YouTube. YouTube has huge operating costs and it would have gone out of business without all of those ads.
  • Reply 17 of 37
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    The Share button works well for quickly sending a link of an webpage but one thing it doesn't do is also include the title. For instance, when you send an email in should include the the subject, when you send a tweet it should include the title in the tweet, and when you send as an iMessage it should use the title in the hyperlink. Now this has worked and still works when choosing File » Mail Link to Page so I assume it just hasn't been done yet.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bolskevite View Post


    I would argue that Google actually saved YouTube. YouTube has huge operating costs and it would have gone out of business without all of those ads.



    But Google bought YouTube because it was popular and their Google Video was not. They didn't buy it to save it, they bought it because it was liked by users.
  • Reply 18 of 37
    Quote:

    But Google bought YouTube because it was popular and their Google Video was not. They didn't buy it to save it, they bought it because it was liked by users.



    Yeah of course. My point is just that YouTube is incredibly expensive to operate and it couldn't exist without ads, and it only became profitable about a year ago. Google saved it in the sense that they had enough money to run it for many years at a big loss while they figured out how to monetize it. For a long time people thought Google had made a mistake in buying it because its daily costs are so high.
  • Reply 19 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post


    I can't say now Vimeo compares to YouTube, but I'm ready for a video site other then what I currently experience on YouTube; Before I can see the YouTube clip, I have to sit through a commercial as long as the clip, then have the lower third or quarter of the screen blocked by a pop-up ad for Google+ that I have to click a small box to get rid of. Google has ruined what was once a great site.



    That is one of the reasons why I'd rather download a Youtube clip and watch it off-line than view it on the website. A lot of options to download the clips and I don't run into any of the ads.
  • Reply 20 of 37
    No YouTube? No Facebook! Yeah, no one use that. Damn, I hate Apple! And I love them!
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