SharePoint CustomAction Features can be used for 3 things

Well I have a very short post because I want to note this simple fact in SharePoint customization.

Custom Action features (CustomAction XML element) is used with for both ribbon actions, site settings page section and I think list item context menus. The naming matches directly for ribbon buttons and context menus but not as much for site settings section.

And all you need to do is set the attribute Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings" in the CustomAction element, to have it as a site settings action. To create an item for the ribbon set Location="CommandUI.Ribbon"

Example Elements.xml of a feature:

       Id="GroupName1"
     Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings"
     Title="Configuration Section Title"
     Sequence="1"
     Description="blah blah"
     ImageUrl="/_layouts/Images/STSICON.GIF"
    />

      Id="customActionID1"
    GroupId="GroupName1"
    Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings"
    Description="LinkName"
    Title="SharePoint custom configuration page (application page)"
    Rights="MangeWeb"
    ImageUrl="/_layouts/Images/STSICON.GIF">