How can I align Android Toolbar menu/icons to the left like in Google Maps app?

After some struggling and digging in Android Toolbar code I managed to make it work. Basically, the idea is to add a new android.support.v7.widget.ActionMenuView as child of the Toolbar, set its gravity to top|start, and then add the menu to that action menu view in your Activity. Here is the code:

my_toolbar.xml

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"    android:id="@+id/tToolbar"    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"    android:layout_width="match_parent"    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"    android:gravity="center_vertical|start"    app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"    app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light">    <android.support.v7.widget.ActionMenuView        android:id="@+id/amvMenu"        android:layout_width="match_parent"        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"/></android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

my_activity.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"    android:layout_width="match_parent"    android:layout_height="match_parent">    <!--Toolbar-->    <include        android:id="@+id/tToolbar"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_width="match_parent"        layout="@layout/my_toolbar" /></RelativeLayout>

MyActivity.java

import android.os.Bundle;import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;import android.support.v7.widget.ActionMenuView;import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;import android.view.Menu;import android.view.MenuInflater;import android.view.MenuItem;public final class MyActivity extends ActionBarActivity {  private ActionMenuView amvMenu;  @Override  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);    // this layout includes the custom toolbar my_toolbar.xml    setContentView(R.layout.my_activity);    Toolbar t = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.tToolbar);    amvMenu = (ActionMenuView) t.findViewById(R.id.amvMenu);    amvMenu.setOnMenuItemClickListener(new ActionMenuView.OnMenuItemClickListener() {      @Override      public boolean onMenuItemClick(MenuItem menuItem) {        return onOptionsItemSelected(menuItem);      }    });    setSupportActionBar(t);    getSupportActionBar().setTitle(null);    getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);  }  @Override  public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {    MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();    // use amvMenu here    inflater.inflate(R.menu.my_activity_menu, amvMenu.getMenu());    return true;  }  @Override  public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {    // Do your actions here    return true;  }}

If there is no special reason to add toolbar items as menu actions, UI controls can be directly added to the toolbar, and aligned similar to aligning any other item inside a layout.

For an example, following toolbar has a left aligned Spinner and a right aligned EditText.

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar    android:id="@+id/toolbar_actionbar"    android:layout_width="match_parent"    android:layout_height="wrap_content"    android:background="@color/tab_background"    android:gravity="center_vertical">    <Spinner        android:id="@+id/categorySpinner"        android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp" />    <EditText        android:layout_width="wrap_content"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_gravity="right"        android:hint="Name" /></android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>