SPFX Custom Action not showing in context menu

Question

I am trying to create a custom action in SharePoint, and get it appear in the context menu (the 3 dots next to the item in the list).

I have tried all different combinations of location in elements.xml and ClientSideInstance.xml, however I can only get it to show in the tool bar above.

this is my elements.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
    <CustomAction
        Title="HelloWorld"
        RegistrationId="100"
        RegistrationType="List"
        Location="ClientSideExtension.ListViewCommandSet"
        ClientSideComponentId="02d95d92-fde1-45a1-a428-941e8744d453"
        ClientSideComponentProperties="{&quot;sampleTextOne&quot;:&quot;One item is selected in the list.&quot;, &quot;sampleTextTwo&quot;:&quot;This command is always visible.&quot;}">
    </CustomAction>
</Elements>

According to this webpage: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/extensions/guidance/migrate-from-ecb-to-spfx-extensions

it says:

ClientSideExtension.ListViewCommandSet.ContextMenu: The context menu of the item(s).

ClientSideExtension.ListViewCommandSet.CommandBar: The top command set menu in a list or library.

ClientSideExtension.ListViewCommandSet: Both the context menu and the command bar (corresponds to SPUserCustomAction.Location="CommandUI.Ribbon").

but it doesn't seem to work.

The SharePoint site is a Communication site.

Answer 1

There are three places where you may need to set the Location property to get the commands to show in the list item context menu.

1. Debugging: If you are debugging the extension (using gulp serve), you need to set the location in ./config/serve.json.

2. Tenant-wide deployment: If you choose to automatically add the extension to all sites when you deploy the package containing the extension to the app catalog, then you need to set the location in ./sharepoint/assets/ClientSideInstance.xml.

This will ensure the appropriate item will be added to the Tenant Wide Extensions list in the app catalog site.

Please note that changes to ./sharepoint/assets/ClientSideInstance.xml may not update the item in the Tenant Wide Extensions list when you redeploy the package to the app catalog. You may need to manually edit the item in the Tenant Wide Extensions list so it reflects the changes you made to ./sharepoint/assets/ClientSideInstance.xml.

Please also note that it may take several minutes before the commands appear when you use tenant-wide deployment.

3. "Traditional" deployment (i.e. not using tenant-wide deployment): If you choose not to automatically add the extension to all sites when you deploy the package containing the extension to the app catalog, then you need to set the location in ./sharepoint/assets/elements.xml.

When everything is configured properly, you should see the commands appear in both the command bar and the list item context menu.