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Snow Leopard: Services menu not working?

Several users are experiencing issues with the Services menu in Snow Leopard not functioning properly.

Joe Aimonetti MacFixIt Editor
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Joe Aimonetti
2 min read

Several users are experiencing issues with the Services menu in Snow Leopard not functioning properly. When the Services menu is accessed (via the Finder menu bar > Services) the menu reports that it is "Building..." but never completes the build.

Apple Support Discussions user "Christopher All..." reports:

So, my services have all disappeared. When I try to access them via the Apple menu, it says "Building..." and never builds. Then, when I go to Keyboard under System Preferences and click the Services submenu, there's nothing there.

In another ASD thread, user "xy22y" has this suggestion for a fix:

I had the exact same problem. I think I figured out what the culprit was, at least for me.

There was a service "ChineseTextConverterService.app" in /System/Library/Services. Once I moved that somewhere else, the symptoms went away, and Finder services and context menus started behaving as expected.

I don't where the ChineseTextConvertService came from, but I don't need it, so deleting it was fine by me.

This suggestion may be part of a bigger suggestion mentioned later in the thread. Users will want to check their entire Services library (username > Library > Services) and also (Macintosh HD > System > Library > Services) for any old Services that may be incompatible with Snow Leopard.

If you are not sure, move all the services to a location on your Desktop. Add each one back to its appropriate folder and check the Services menu to see if it is functioning properly. This issue may also relate to third-party programs such as Growl that have not been updated to be compatible with Snow Leopard. Users should check all such applications.


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