Can I change from/to “easy setup” and “portable installation” without loosing my favorites?

You can switch from Portable to Easy setup installation or vice-versa without loosing your favorites. But it is recommended to follow this short procedure.

1 a) Switching from Portable to Easy Setup installation

  1. Copy your latest settings file from your current QAP working directory to your Desktop (or any other location of your choice). Your working directory is where your portable QAP is installed.
  2. Reinstall QAP following Easy Setup wizard steps.
  3. At the end of the installation procedure, QAP is launched with the default configuration for an Easy Setup installation. Continue with steps under 2) Importing the favorites from your previous installation below.

1 b) Switching from Easy Setup to Portable installation

  1. Copy your latest settings file from your current QAP working directory to your Desktop (or any other location of your choice). For QAP before v10, your working directory is under the User directory (for example, C:\Users\Jean\AppData\Roaming\Quick Access Popup). For QAP v10 (or more recent), the working directory is shown in the Options, General tab under Settings Folder.
  2. Unzip the QAP portable ZIP file in a new (empty) folder following these instructions. Do not install it in a system-protected folders like those under C:\Program Files or C:\. This could prevent QAP from saving your configuration.
  3. Launch QAP from this folder (choose the QuickAccessPopup-32-bit.exe or QuickAccessPopup-64-bit.exe version depending on your system).
  4. QAP is launched with default configuration for a Portable installation. Continue with steps under 2) Importing the favorites from your previous installation below.

2) Importing the favorites from your previous installation

  1. In the Customize window, remove all the favorites in the new file (select all favorites and click the Remove button). These favorites will be replaced with the favorites from your backup in the next step.
  2. Using For QAP v11.1 or more recent, open the Favorites, Add Multiple Favorites, select the source QAP Settings File (tree view) and click Continue.
  3. In the Add Multiple Favorites dialog box, keep the Main menu as destination menu and click the Browse button to select the backup of your previous settings file on your Desktop.
  4. Click the Select All checkbox to select all favorites and click the Add button to import the selected favorites and submenus in the your new Main menu.

Differences between Easy Setup and Portable settings

There are very little differences in the way QAP works whatever you select the Setup mode or the Portable mode. In general, setting up QAP in Setup mode is simpler and answers most needs. The Portable mode give user more control and allows to use QAP on a machine having to copy files on it or change the hosts system configuration.

The QAP files are installed…

  • Setup mode: … using the setup program who is copying the QAP files under the C:\Programs File\Quick Access Popup\ folder, the QAP icons files in C:\ProgramData\JeanLalonde\JLicons.dll and the setting and database files in C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Quick Access Popup\ (for QAP pre-v10) or in My Documents\Quick Access Popup (for QAP v10).
  • Portable mode: … by the user who is unzipping the QAP zip file to the folder of his choice, including the icons, settings and database files.

When QAP is running…

  • Setup mode: … its working directory is C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Quick Access Popup\ (for QAP pre-v10) or in My Documents\Quick Access Popup (for QAP v10). Temporary files are saved under this folder unless user selected another folder in Options.
  • Portable mode: … its working directory is the folder where QAP is running. Temporary files are saved under this folder unless user selected another folder in Options.

The QAP is uninstalled and its files are removed…

  • Setup mode: … using the standard uninstall command in Windows Control Panel or in Quick Access Popup menu under Start menu; this command remove all files under Programs but keep the settings files in its working directory.
  • Portable mode: … by the user who must manually delete the folder created to run QAP, taking care of keeping a copy of the settings file quickaccesspopup.ini if necessary.

The QAP shortcut in the Startup folder…

  • Setup mode: … is created automatically for you if you use for pre-v10 (QAP v10 or more recent uses an entry in the Windows registry to run QAP at startup).
  • Portable mode: … must be created by the user by selecting the checkbox in Options.
  • See: What are the QAP global options?

The QAP entries in the Windows Explorer context menu…

The Check for update command…

The Usage Monitoring module (starting in v9.2)…

  • Setup mode: … is set ON by default.
  • Portable mode: … is set OFF by default and can be enabled in Options.
9) Settings File (.ini) , , ,

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