How can I stop showing the QAP Customize window at startup? How can I show it on demand?

The Customize window is where you make Quick Access Popup work for you by managing your favorites. It is also where you can access various options and tools using the QAP menu bar.

After QAP installation, the Customize window is displayed automatically at QAP startup. If, after you customized your QAP menu, you prefer this window to open only on demand, you can stop showing it at startup: open Options, Customize Window and deselect the checkbox Open “Customize” window at Startup. Other options for this window are described below.

When the Customize window is closed, you can reopen it in different ways.

  • The most common way is to click the Customize menu item in the QAP menu (see How do I display the Quick Access Popup menu?); this item is included in the default menu created the first time you run QAP:

  • As the menu shows, you can also hit the Shift + Ctrl + C hotkey to open the Customize window.
  • Finally, you can open the Customize window from the QAP system menu by right-clicking on the QAP icon in the task bar Notification zone.

By default, the Customize window is displayed at the last position you used it. There is an exception on dual-display or multiple-monitor systems: when QAP detects that the “active” monitor has changed, it centers its window on the newly activated monitor. QAP detects the active monitor based on the mouse or active window position when you opened the QAP menu.

Customize window options

To change the Customize Window settings, select the OptionsCustomize Window item in the QAP menu bar.

  • Open “Customize” window at startup: If, after you customized your QAP menu, you prefer this window to open only on demand, turn this option off.
  • Display dates and stats columns in Favorites list and Search results: display additional columns in the Customize window.
  • Remember “Customize” window position: check this option to re-open the window at its last position after you quit QAP.
  • Open “Customize” window on Active monitorif you prefer the Customize window to be always open at its last position on the same monitor, uncheck this option.
  • When saving a favorite, check if an existing favorite has the same location or content: check this option to avoid duplicate favorites in your menu.
  • When using commands that add favorites automatically to the menu (for example, when using the Add Active Folder or Web page Express QAP feature), select if these new items are added at the top or the bottom of the main menu.

In the right column, you can set options for search results.

  • Search scope: set the root of searches to be always from the main menu or from the current menu or group.
  • Search using locale settings (e.g. “é” considered as “e”): decide how international characters are treated in the search string.
Customizing the “Customize” menu item

The Customize menu item was automatically added to your menu the first time you ran QAP. You can move this menu item up or down, move it to any submenu or change the menu hotkey to anything better fitting your preferences by editing the Customize item in the favorites list.

If you deleted this menu item and wish to restore it in your QAP menu, click the Add button, select the type QAP Feature and choose Customize under the QAP Management category (more info on adding favorites in How do I add a favorite to my menu?).

 

How do I add a favorite to my menu or edit an existing favorite?

There are several ways to add favorites to your menu. But the most common one is to open the Customize window, click the Add button and, in the Add Favorite Type dialog box, select the type of favorite. For each favorite type, you see a short description on the right side. See this quick overview of favorite types.

To edit a favorite, select it in the Customize window and click the Edit button. You can also double-click a favorite in the list edit it (except for submenus where the double-click will open the submenu). Skip the first section and go to Basic Settings tab, just below.

In this page, we will see the most common options, available for all favorite types, using the Folder example.

Select the type of favorite to add

In this example, select Folder and click Continue.

See also more options about favorite folders and options for the other types of favorites:

 
 
Basic Settings tab
In the first tab Basic Settings, enter the short name for your favorite. This name will appear in your menu. In the next field, select the target of your favorite. The content of this field vary depending on the favorite type. For a Folder, click Browse to select the favorite folder’s location.

If whenever you want to temporarily remove this item from your menu without deleting it, click the Disable this favorite checkbox. If you only want to hide a menu item but keep its keyboard shortcut or hotstring active, check only the Hide this favorite checkbox.

Menu Options tab

In the Menu Options tab, choose in which section of your menu the new favorite will appear. In the first drop down list Favorite parent menu, select the Main menu or one of its submenus (more about submenu).

After you selected the parent menu, set the position of the new favorite in the drop down list Insert the favorite before this item.

Next, select the icon for your favorite. By default QAP chooses a default icon based on the favorite type or, for applications and their documents, the system default icon for this application. In the Windows dialog box Change icon (or Changer d’icône in my French version of Windows), select an icon in the current file or browse for another icon file. You can find icons in .EXE, .DLL and .ICO files (more about icons).

Finally, in the Menu Options tab, you can set a keyboard or mouse shortcut for your favorite folder. This will allow to open this folder without having to open and browse the menu. Beside the Shortcut field, click Change. In the Change shortcut dialog box, select the keyboard modifiers (Shift, Alt, etc.) and the mouse button or key of your shortcut (more about shortcuts). Click OK to save your shortcut. Alternatively, in the field below, you can also assign a hotstring to launch your favorite (more about hotstrings).

There are other options in the remaining tabs but these options will be covered in the FAQ pages dedicated to adding the various types of favorites (see the list in the text box at the top of this page).

Saving your changes

To save your new favorite, click the Add button (or to save your changes when editing an existing favorite, click the OK button) and do not forget to save your changes by clicking one of the big buttons Save & Close or Save in the Customize window.

See your new favorite in your menu. In this example, we added the favorite:

  • to the My Project Submenu submenu
  • before the Project Charter item
  • with a calendar and clock icon
  • and the shortcut Shift + Control + P

 

What are the different types of favorites?

Types of favorites proposed when you click the Add button

An example menu with one favorite of each type

In your Quick Access Popup menu, you can add favorites of any of these twelve types:

  • Folder: Add your most frequently used local or network directories to reach them in a snap in a Windows Explorer, a file dialog box or a custom file manager, or turn them into a Live Folder.
  • Special Folder: Add Windows system folders from a list of more than 50 special folders, for example: Libraries, Recent items, Recycle Bin, Startup folder, History, Favorites, Quick Launch, Downloads, Cookies, Temporary files, etc.
  • Document: Insert your day-to-day documents in you menu and launch them in their native application from any window.
  • Application: Add your favorite applications and get full control on their execution (with command line parameters and working directory).
  • Link (URL): Add your preferred web pages and open them in your default browser at any time or in a specific browser if specified in advanced settings. Links are open in a new browser tab by default or in the current tab if you select it in Options, Various Advanced Options
  • FTP Site: Open FTP sites in Explorer, Directory Opus or Total Commander, with login name and password inserted in site address (take note that the password is not encrypted, is saved in the settings file and sent on Internet in clear text – be cautious if your password protects sensitive data!).
  • Snippet: Insert sequences of characters that can be typed in a flash when you need to insert them in any application using an hotstring, a shortcut or the menu (snippets help).
  • QAP Feature: Insert Quick Access Popup features like Current Windows, Reopen a Folder, Drives, Add Active Folder or Web page, etc. in any submenu and assign them the shortcuts and icons of you choice.
  • Submenu: Gather related favorites in a submenu; submenus can be nested at will and each of them can be assigned shortcuts or icons.
  • Shared Menu: Manage the content of a submenu in an external file that can be saved on a network drive or a cloud drive (like Dropbox) and used on different PCs. Shared menu can be used in three flavors:
    • Personal shared menu;
    • Collaborative shared menu for team or workgroup;
    • Centralized shared menu.
    • See shared menus help.
  • Group: Launch a group of favorites of any type in one click or one shortcut; the menu label shows the number of items in the group.
  • Text Separator: Insert a text menu separator at the current menu position.

To add these types of favorites, see How do I add a favorite to my menu?

What are the advanced options for favorite folders?

Two tabs of the Add/Edit Favorite Folder dialog box give more advanced options for favorite folders.

In the Windows Options tab, you can set where the Explorer window will be displayed. First, uncheck the Use default window position checkbox. Then, decide if you want to display the favorite folder in a maximized, minimized or normal Explorer window. If you choose normal, you can decide at what position and what size this window will be displayed. If your system has more than one monitor and you choose Maximized, you can select on which monitor the window will be maximized (more info about multi-monitor systems).

These window options are only available for the favorite types open with Windows Explorer (Folders, Special Folders and FTP site). For most other applications and documents, moving and resizing the window proved to be unreliable.

Open a sub folder automatically

Often, when you open a given folder, what you want, in fact, is to work in one of its sub folders. For example, let’s say you have folder for a client and, under it, sub folders for each of its orders. Most probably, you will want to work in the folder for the latest order of this client. This folder should be the one that was the most recently created.

When you open a favorite folder, you can ask QAP to automatically open the most recently created sub folder in this favorite folder. Set this option in the Advanced Settings tab. QAP could also open the most anciently created, or the most recently/anciently modified or accessed sub folder. Note about the last accessed date-time: if accessed date tracking is disabled on your system (it is disabled by default), this date-time should be the same as the last modified date-time. See how you could enable accessed date tracking on Windows 7 or 10.

Launch with another application

Normally, favorite folders are open in Windows Explorer (or Directory Opus / Total Commander if you selected one of these file managers in Options). In the Advanced Settings tab, you can tell QAP to launch the folder with another application. The designated application will be launched with the favorite folder path as parameter. This option is also available for Document, Special folders, URL and FTP favorites.

In the following example, the folder will be launched by the following batch file (saved here as C:\Users\Standard\my_batch.bat) :

c:
cd \
echo List files in %1
dir %1
pause

 

When launched with QAP, this folder path is passed to the target application (here, my_batch.bat) as the first command-line parameter. See the result of the execution of this batch.

Live Folders

See also, about Live FoldersCan a submenu be updated live with the content of a folder?

Can a submenu be updated live with the content of a folder?

In QAP, this feature is called a Live Folder. To turn a regular favorite folder into a Live Folder, click the Live Folder Options tab and check the Live Folder (including subfolders) checkbox. This turn your favorite folder into a submenu containing the actual content of the folder.

Set the Number of subfolder levels to include in Live Folder menu. Subfolders will be displayed as submenus. Choose a sort criteria and sort order. By default, Live Folders are sorted alphabetically.

You can choose to Hide in menu the Icons or the File extensions. If you show icons, you can set their size with the dropdown list Size of icons in this menu:

  • select a custom size (from 16 to 64 pixels) for this menu;
  • inherit the size from the parent menu;
  • use the default size from Options, Menu Icons dialog box;
  • choose to display no icon in this menu.

You can also choose to include or not  Hidden or System files in this Live folder menu. If your Live Folder contains many items, you can display its menu in multiple columns. Set the Number of items per columns (0 for no column break) depending on your screen size.

You can see on the following screen capture a Live Folder submenu. The My Project Folder opens a submenu with, at the first position, an entry to open the folder itself and, below, the three subfolders in that folder. This Live Folder menu can be open using the shortcut Shift + Control + P.

Finally you can also include documents in your Live Folder. If you check the Include documents option, by default, all documents are included. You can select which files are included or excluded using the Include or Exclude radio buttons and the text box below to list:

  • extensions separated by spaces (for example bak bk);
  • wildcards expressions separated by spaces (for example: *.bak "my file??.ext" *copy*.*);
  • or a regular expression with “Regex:” (for example: Regex:i)^\Qabc\E.*\Q.docx\E$).

If you include documents in a Live Folder menu, you can choose to Exclude folders. If there are multiple levels of folders, folders are excluded only in the deepest level’s menu. 

This second example shows a Live Folder with two levels of subfolders and including documents (for this screen capture, icons size was reduced to 16 px).In the Customize window, Live folders are identified in the Type column.

Note: Take care not to overload your QAP menu with Live Folders. Windows menu are not designed to handle very large number of items. There is a default limit of 500 items in QAP Live Folders. This limit is there to protect you against too large number of items that could make QAP unstable, including hanging it. You should see Live folders as a way to put the most used big branches of your file system into your QAP menu and use your file manager or the file dialog box to navigate into the smaller branches and leaves.

Can I add on the fly a favorite for the folder or the web page I am already in?

The QAP Features Add Active Folder or Web page and Add Active Folder or Web page Express allow to quickly add the current folder or web page to your menu. You can add folders this way in Explorer windows or in file dialog box windows (if this option is enabled) and you can add links to web pages in most web browsers (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.). When you are in the folder or the web page that you want to add to your menu, select one of these features.

  • If you choose Add Active Folder or Web page, it opens the Add Favorite dialog box with the menu name and location pre-filled. You can change the menu name of this new favorite and select the desired options in the various tabs. When you add a web page, QAP tries to retrieve the web page title to fill the favorite name automatically.
  • If you choose Add Active Folder or Web page Express (add this command to your menu by adding a favorite of type QAP Feature), the favorite is instantly added at the top or bottom (according to an option in the Options, Customize Window tab) of the menu where the Add Active Folder or Web page Express was used. It is filled with the normal default settings and the folder’s name as menu name. No question asked. If this name is already used, “[!]” is appended to the menu name. If you want to change some settings, open the Customize window.
  • For folders, these QAP Features record the current position of the Explorer window in the Window Options tab. If you uncheck the Use default window position, this position will be automatically restored as it was when you added the favorite.
  • When you add a web page, its title is automatically retrieved and used as name for the favorite.

How do I add Windows Special Folders to my menu?

Adding one of the 50 Windows Special Folders to your menu is as easy as adding a normal folder, and even easier. All you have to do is to select the Special folder in one of the section of the Special Folders tree view, grouped by type of usage:

  • Basic for folders used by everyday usage;
  • Power User for folders used by more advanced users;
  • Sysadmin for PC and network administrative tasks;
  • Contents for folders related to various media;
  • Hardware for folders about PC components.

In addition, the section All (alphabetical order) at the bottom of the tree view shows all 50 Special Folders.

When you select a Special Folders in the tree view, its name is automatically entered in the Short name for menu text zone (if it was not already filled) and the default icon for this special folder is selected in the Menu Options tab. You can change these default name and icon. In the Menu Options tab, as for other types of favorites, you can also select in what submenu and at what position the Special Folder will be inserted, as well as assigning it a shortcut or an hotstring.

Settings in the Window Options tab are identical to those of Folders favorites, as described in the FAQ page about advanced options for favorite folders.

How do I add favorite document to my menu?

To add a document to your menu, in the Basic Settings tab, click the Browse button to choose the document in the file dialog box. If the Short name for the menu is empty, it is automatically filled with the file name of the selected document (without its extension).

In the Menu Options tab, the icon is automatically set with the system default icon for this type of document (based on the document’s file extension). You can customize this icon. As for other favorites, you can also select the submenu, position in the menu, shortcut or hotstring for this favorite document.

When you click a document favorite in the menu, it is automatically launched with its associated application (based on its file extension). In the Advanced Settings tab, you could choose to launch the document with another application. In the following example, the document would be open with a application named “Translate”.

 

How do I add an application or script to my menu?

QAP can launch applications (.EXE or .COM) files, scripts (like .BAT batch files, .VBS or .AHK scripts, etc.). To add a favorite application or script, as for documents and folders, you can click the Browse button in the Basic Settings tab to select the application file. But, if the target application is already running, it is much easier to select it in the drop down list of running applications.

When you choose the application, the Short name for menu is automatically filled if it is not already entered.

Still in the Basic Settings tab, you can click the checkbox If the application is already running, activate it instead of launching. This will avoid launching multiple instances of the same application.

Advanced Parameters

In the Advanced Settings tab, you can run the application “as Administrator” by clicking the checkbox Elevate application with administration privileges. When launching this favorite, you may be prompted with the elevation alert or asked for the administrator password.

Also in the Advanced Settings tab, in the Start in zone, you can set the default directory for the application.

In this example, the ExamDiff application will open its Select file dialog boxes in the Music Docs folder. Take note that, unfortunately, not all application comply with the Windows Start in setting when launched.

Also in the Advanced Settings tab, the Parameters text box allows to pass additional information to the launched application. In the following example, the application Windows Explorer is launched with the /e parameter that opens Windows Explorer in multipane view (the parameter /n opens Windows Explorer in single-pane view).

How do I add Windows Apps (also called “Windows Store”, “Universal” or “Metro” apps) to my menu?

QAP supports these apps known as: Windows Apps (under Windows 10), Universal Applications, Metro Apps (under Windows 8) or Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. This new Windows application type doesn’t use the traditional executable (.exe) files anymore. These apps are pre-installed in Windows 8 and 10 or downloaded from Windows Store.

This family of applications has the advantage of being available in a very similar way under various Microsoft devices. But, technically, their architecture and behavior differs in many ways from regular applications. This is why a specific favorite type is required to configure and launch them.

Default “My Windows Apps”

The “My Windows Apps” submenu

The first time you run QAP with Windows 10, QAP creates automatically a new sub menu named My Widows Apps at the bottom of your main menu. This menu contains a sample of the most common Windows Apps normally installed with Windows 10. You can edit, move or remove this menu as for other submenus.

Adding a Windows App to your menu

Click the Add button and select the favorite type Windows Apps. In the Basic Settings tab, see the dropdown list of Windows Apps installed on your system. You can click the Refresh button to add the freshly installed Windows Apps to the list (to have the list refreshed each time QAP is launched, enable this options in Options, Launch Advanced Options).

Select a Windows App in the list. This list is built with Windows App “code names” as they are registered in Windows. Some of these names a unfriendly codes but, at this time, QAP could not retrieve more friendly or localized names from Windows (still doing research on this). When you select an app in the list, its name is loaded in the Short name for menu text box. Also, QAP could not currently retrieve the default icon for a Windows App. Fortunately, you can change the app’s name for a more user friendly name and select your preferred icon in the Menu Options tab.

If whenever you need to add an app not in the list, you can select the Custom Windows App identifier (Application User Model ID – AUMID) entry at the end of the list. However, you will have to fill the Application User Model ID (AUMID or Windows Apps identifiers) code for this app (for example “Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MicrosoftEdge” for Microsoft Edge).

Finally, when you will install Windows updates, it may happen that the Windows App ID for a given app changes. If whenever this happens, you will only have to select the Windows App again in the list and save your favorite.

How do I add favorite link (URL) to my menu?

To add a web link to your menu, in the Basic Settings tab, enter the address in the Link (URL) text zone. After you filled the address, you can click the Get title button to retrieve the page title from the web (some site may not return the title). Of course, you can also enter a short name of your choice.

By default, Links favorites are always open in a new browser tab. You can have them open in the current tab (to navigate the browser to the selected URL) if you deselect the options Always open Links in a new tab or window in Options, Various Advanced Options.

Other settings in the Menu Options and Advanced Settings are similar to those described in the other Add Favorite FAQ pages.

How do I add a Text or Macro Snippet to my menu to automate my work?

The favorites of type Snippet allow to send pieces of text or keystrokes to the active application using the QAP popup menu, hotstrings or keyboard shortcut. To add a Snippet, in the Customize window, click the Add button and select Snippet.

Enter a short name for your menu and enter the snippet content.

More information about snippets in the section Automating your work with Snippets.

A powerful way to paste or launch snippets is to trigger them using a shortcode called a hotstring. Find out more about Hotstrings.

How do I add favorite FTP site to my menu?

An FTP favorite allows you to open a file transfer session between an FTP server and your local file system using, depending on your configuration, your default browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, …), Windows Explorer or a dedicated FTP Client software (like FileZilla).

In the Basic Settings, enter the Short name for the menu and the FTP Site URL. If you enter only this information, you will be asked for a login name and password each time you launch the favorite.

You can enter the Login name that will be sent automatically to the server in the format ftp://username@ftp.myserver.com. In this case, you will be asked only for the password.

Finally, you can enter both Login name and Password that will be sent automatically to the server in the format ftp://username:password@ftp.myserver.com. Then you will be logged automatically without any prompt. However, take note the password is NOT encrypted when sent over the Internet or saved in your settings file. Do not enter your password if the data it protects is sensitive.

When sent to the server, the login name and password can be encoded or sent plain. With most browser and file manager, it is recommended to encoded it. In some case, like when using the file manager Total Commander, it should be sent as plain text. By default, the info is sent encoded except if QAP is configured to use Total Commander as default file manager. If whenever you receive an error message like the one below, you can try changing the encoding setting in the Advanced Settings tab.

Take note that “encoded” is not “encrypted”. Remember that the password is NOT encrypted.

In the Advanced Settings, you can also choose your own FTP client software. Browse for its executable file in the Launch with this application text zone. You can also send parameter to the FTP client using the Parameters field.

In this example, the software FileZilla is used to open the FTP server and is instructed to open the c:/temp folder as local folder (as shown below).

What are the QAP features and how do I add them to my menu?

QAP Features are powerful functionalities that can be inserted in any QAP menu or submenu. When you installed QAP, the In the Works and  My QAP Essentials menu were automatically built with some of the most useful features: Frequent Folders, Recent Files, Current Windows,  Repeat Last ActionsReopen a Folder, ClipboardDrives and much more (see more info about the In the Works menu and the My QAP Essentials menu).

But there are much more QAP Features to discover: see more than 50 features in the table below! To add a QAP Feature to your menu, click the Add button in the Customize window and select the feature to add in the categorized tree view. See also the All (alphabetical order) list at the bottom of the tree view. Take a minute to read the description on the right side or to click on the Help on this feature links.

 

For more information on adding these favorites to your menu, see How do I add a favorite to my menu?

QAP Features

Here is a comprehensive list of more than 50 useful features, grouped by categories.

CategoryFeature NameFeature DescriptionInternal Code
Dynamic MenusClipboardDisplay a dynamic menu with the content of you current Windows Clipboard.

If the Clipboard contains documents, applications or folders file path, QAP shows this list in the menu, allowing you to open a document, launch an application or navigate to a folder found in the Clipboard.
{Clipboard}
Dynamic MenusCurrent WindowsDisplay a dynamic menu in two parts:
1) the folders already open in the Windows Explorer and Directory Opus windows
2) the applications currently running on your system (starting with the most recently activated window).

When you select an item, its window is automatically taken to the front.

This menu is refreshed every time you open the QAP menu.
{Switch Folder or App}
Dynamic MenusDirectory Opus FavoritesFor Directory Opus (DOpus) users, display a dynamic menu built with the folders added to the DOpus Favorites. If DOpus was selected when you installed QAP, the Directory Opus Favorites has been automatically added to your menu.{DOpus Favorites}
Dynamic MenusDrivesDisplay a dynamic menu showing the drives on your system with label, free space, capacity and an icon showing the drive type.

This menu is refreshed every time you open the QAP menu.
{Drives}
Dynamic MenusFrequent FilesDisplay a dynamic menu showing the most frequently used files as collected by Windows and used in QAP. This menu is refreshed every time you open the QAP menu.{Popular Files}
Dynamic MenusFrequent FoldersDisplay a dynamic menu showing the most frequently used folders as collected by Windows and used in QAP. This menu is refreshed every time you open the QAP menu.{Popular Folders}
Dynamic MenusRecent FilesDisplay a dynamic menu containing the ten most recently used documents as remembered by Windows in its "Recent items" virtual folder. You can configure the number of items in this menu in the "Options", "Menu" tab.

Items in this menu are sorted with most recent file first, as recorded by Windows.
{Recent Files}
Dynamic MenusRecent FoldersDisplay a dynamic menu containing the ten most recently opened folders as remembered by Windows in its "Recent items" virtual folder. You can configure the number of items in this menu in the "Options", "Menu" tab.

Items in this menu are sorted with most recent folder first, as recorded by Windows.
{Recent Folders}
Dynamic MenusReopen a FolderDisplay a dynamic menu showing the folders already open in Windows Explorer and Directory Opus windows. This menu is refreshed every time you open the QAP menu.

The Reopen a Folder is particularly useful when you are in a file dialog box and want to open a file in a folder already open in another window. See also "Reopen Current Folder in Dialog Box".
{Current Folders}
Dynamic MenusRepeat Last ActionsDisplay a dynamic menu containing the ten most recent favorites that you launched.

You can configure the number of items in this menu in the "Options", "Menu" tab.

Items in this menu are sorted with most recently used first. When you reopen an item, its entry is moved to the top of the menu.
{Last Actions}
Dynamic MenusTC Directory hotlistFor Total Commander (TC) users, display a dynamic menu built with the favorites added to the TC Hotlist as found in the file wincdm.ini.

Set the wincdm.ini file location in "Options", "File Managers" tab. If TC was selected when you installed QAP, the Directory Hotlist has been automatically added to your menu.
{TC Directory hotlist}
Dynamic MenusFavorites in Customize windowShow a menu with the favorites displayed in the Customize window, including when it contains a search result. In search results, duplicate menu names are appended with the "[!]" suffix to make them unique.{Container In Gui}
Menu EditingAdd Favorite - (Type)Add a favorite.

In the "Add Favorite" dialog box, enter :
- a name for your favorite
- a content, depending on the selected type of favorite
- various settings like icon, shortcut, hotstring, parameters, etc.

In feature code, replace "(Type)" with: "Folder", "Document", "Application", "Special", "URL", "FTP", "QAP", "Menu", "Group", "Snippet", "External", "Text", "WindowsApp", "X" (separator) or "K" (column break)
{Add Favorite - (Type)}
Menu EditingAdd Active Folder or Web page ExpressSimilar to the "Add this Folder or Link" feature except that the new favorite will be automatically added at the top of the Main menu without any interruption.

If you need to change default settings, you can click the "Edit" button to change the name, position or various settings of the favorites.

In "Options", you can set the new favorite to be added by default at the bottom of the Main menu.
{Add This Folder Express}
Menu EditingAdd Active Folder or Web page…Quickly add to your menu the active folder or web page.

You can add folders this way in Explorer windows or in file dialog box windows. You can add links to web pages from most web browsers.

In the "Add favorite" dialog box, confirm the name for your favorite and enter various settings like icon, shortcut, hotstring, parameters, etc.

By default this feature is included in the Main menu.
{Add This Folder}
Menu EditingAdd Favorite…Display a list of favorite types where you select the type of the favorite to add.

In the next window, you enter :
- a name for your favorite
- a content
- various settings like icon, shortcut, hotstring, parameters, etc.

Depending on the selected type of favorite, the content of the favorite can be a folder, document or application file path, web link, snippet text, submenu name, etc.
{Add Favorite}
Menu EditingAdd shared favorites menu from catalogue…Add to your menu a shared menu from the Shared Menus Catalogue, a repository of favorites settings files managed by the menu administrators or by other workgroup members.

You can select an existing Shared menu file from the repository, add a shared menu not in the catalogue or create a new shared menu.
{AddExternalFromCatalogue}
Menu EditingCustomizeDisplay the "Customize" window where you can customize your QAP popup menu, manage your favorites and set various options.

By default this feature is included in the Main menu.
{Settings}
Menu EditingManage HotstringsDisplay a dialog box with a global view of your hotstrings (small sequences of keys that automatically trigger QAP favorites). You can sort favorites by clicking the header.

Double click an hotstring to edit it.

Click the "See all favorites" checkbox to assign hotstrings to other favorites.
{Hotstrings}
Menu EditingManage IconsDisplay a dialog box listing all the favorites in your QAP menu with their current icon and the default icon for this type favorite. Favorites are grouped by submenus, in the order they appear in your menu.

Click the buttons to select a custom icon for a favorite or reset a favorite to its default icon.
{Icons}
Menu EditingRefresh Live Folders and Shared menusRefresh on-demand the "Live folders" menus. This action can also be executed repeatedly by entering an interval (in seconds) in the "Scheduled QAP menu refresh" of the "Menu" tab in the "Options" windows.

During the short (depending on the number of Live folders or Shared menus) refresh time, the QAP menu is not available.
{RefreshMenu}
Menu EditingManage ShortcutsDisplay a dialog box with a global view of your keyboard or mouse shortcuts. You can sort favorites by clicking the header.

Double click a shortcut to change or remove its assigned hotkey.

Click the "See all favorites" checkbox to assign shortcuts to other favorites.
{Hotkeys}
Menu EditingSwitch Settings file…Select another QAP settings file and restart Quick Access Popup with these settings (including favorites and various options).

Make sure you save changes in Settings before restarting QAP.
{SwitchSettings}
Menu EditingSwitch to default settings fileRestart Quick Access Popup with the Settings file at its default location.

If you installed QAP using the "one-step installation" procedure, the default location is located under the User directory (for example, "C:\Users\Jean\AppData\Roaming\Quick Access Popup").

If you preferred the portable installation, the default location is where the QuickAccessPopup.exe program is running.
{SwitchSettingsDefault}
Window managementClose all windows…Display a list of windows currently open. Uncheck those to keep and click "Close selected windows" to close the other windows. Double-click or press Enter to close one window or see its details.{Close All Windows}
Window managementReopen Current Folder from Dialog BoxReopen the current folder in a new Explorer window (also in Directory Opus or Total Commander). Useful when you want to open the folder you are browsing in a file dialog box in an Explorer window.{Reopen in New Window}
Window managementReopen Current Folder in Dialog BoxChange the folder in a file dialog boxes to the folder currently active in Windows Explorer.

To use this feature, the "Change folder in dialog box..." option must be checked in "Options", tab "General".
{ReopenCurrentFolder}
Window managementWindow Always on TopSet the current window "Always on Top" property on or off (toggle){Window Always on Top}
Close ComputerClose Computer Control Center…Take full control on how your computer will shutdown:
- Logoff, Shutdown, Reboot, Power down, forced or not
- Sleep or Hibernate, immediately or not, disabling wake events or not
- Turn off monitor, Turn on low monitor power mode or Start screen saver.
{Close Computer Control}
Close ComputerHibernate computerPut the computer in a power-saving state that allows it to quickly resume full-power operation (similar to Sleep but uses less power). When you start up the PC again, you’re back to where you left off (though not as fast as Sleep). Hibernate is designed for laptops and might not be available for all PCs.{Hibernate Computer}
Close ComputerLogoff userClose all applications and terminate current user session.{Logoff}
Close ComputerPower down computerClose all applications and turn off computer power.{Power Down Computer}
Close ComputerPut monitor in low-power modePut computer's monitor in low-power mode. Low-power mode is designed for laptops and might not be available for desktop monitors.{Monitor Low Power}
Close ComputerRestart computerClose all applications and restart the computer as if user turned power off and on again.{Restart}
Close ComputerShutdown computerClose all applications in preparation to turn off a computer's power. Depending on your system configuration, this could be followed by a system power down.{ShutDown}
Close ComputerSleep computerPut the computer in a power-saving state that allows it to quickly resume full-power operation when you want to start working again. Sleep mode uses very little power, your computer starts up faster, and you’re instantly back to where you left off.{Suspend Computer}
Close ComputerStart screen saverStart default system screen saver.{Start Screen Saver}
Close ComputerTurn monitor offTurn off computer's monitor.{Turn Off Monitor}
UtilityGet window info…Help you identify a window that you want to exclude from the QAP menu mouse hotkey.

This feature will prompt you to click in the target window with the QAP menu hotkey (by default, middle mouse button) and copy the window title and class name in your Clipboard.

See the "Exclusions" tab in the "Options" dialog box for complete explanations.
{GetWinInfo}
UtilityRepeat Last ActionAdd an item labeled "Repeat Last Action" to your menu. When you select this menu item, it reopens the last favorite you opened.

The label of this feature is always "Repeat Last Action" (QAP limitation). You have to remember what was the last action you selected.
{Last Action}
UtilityRestart Quick Access PopupRestart Quick Access Popup.

Make sure you save changes in Settings before restarting QAP.
{Reload}
QAP ManagementAboutDisplay development, translation and other credits, application and runtime version numbers, licence, current user and PC names, link to support website.{About}
QAP ManagementCheck for updateCheck on Quick Access Popup web site if a new version is available.{Check for update}
QAP ManagementClose this menuClose the QAP menu if it is not closed by clicking outside of the menu or by hitting the Escape key as it would do normally.

This is related to an intermittent issue (probably caused by Windows) preventing users from closing the menu normally.
{CloseMenu}
QAP ManagementEdit QuickAccessPopup.iniEdit the active Quick Access Popup settings file (.ini).{Edit Settings file}
QAP ManagementExit Quick Access PopupQuit Quick Access Popup, releasing all mouse or keyboard menu triggers and shortcuts assigned to favorites.{Exit}
QAP ManagementHelpShow the short QAP "Help" window.{Help}
QAP ManagementImport/Export Settings…Display a dialog box where you can export your favorites and other settings to create a backup in a location of your choice.

You can also import favorites and settings from another PC or another user.
{ImportExport}
QAP ManagementList Applications WindowsList title, process path, and other properties of running windows. Double-click on a window to display a dialog box where you can switch to the window or close it.{List Applications}
QAP ManagementOptionsDisplay the "Options" dialog box allowing to make QAP work the way you want.{Options}
QAP ManagementRestore "Customize" window positionRestore "Customize" window size and position at the center of main screen.{Restore Settings Position}

How can I gather numerous favorites in a clutter-free popup menu?

If your QAP menu gets too long, divide and conquer! Gather your favorites by types, subjects or projects in submenus. To add a submenu, in the Customize window, click the Add button and, in the Add Favorite Type dialog box, select the Submenu radio button.

  • In the Basic Settings window, give your submenu a name.
  • Optionally, you can also:
    • enable the Sort menu automatically and select the sort criteria;
    • have this menu reopen after you launched one of its items (select Close this menu when you don’t need to open another favorite);
    • disable or hide this favorite;
    • have this menu displayed automatically after QAP startup.
  • In the Menu Options tab, you can select an icon for your menu.
  • You can choose the size of the icons inside this submenu. For each menu, the dropdown list Size of icons in this menu allows to:
    • select a custom size (from 16 to 64 pixels) for this menu;
    • inherit the size from the parent menu;
    • use the default size from Options, Menu Icons dialog box;
    • choose to display no icon in this menu.
  • You can also assign a shortcut that will allow to open this specific section of your menu by hitting a shortcut, without having to browse from the main menu.

This will create an empty submenu named My Project Submenu. You will see below how you can move existing favorites to this new menu or how to add new favorites to it.

Submenus can be nested in submenus at will. For example, in the screen shot above, the Final Report is a submenu of My Project Submenu.

To move a favorite from one menu to another, click the Edit button or double-click the favorite name and, in the Menu Options tab, select the new menu in the Favorite parent menu drop down list and choose the favorite’s position in the list Insert the favorite before this item.

To add a new favorite in a submenu, you can also open this menu in the Customize window and select the new favorite position before clicking on the Add button.

 

Can I add a folder or file from its context menu by right-clicking its icon in Windows Explorer?

You can use Windows Explorer context menu (right-click menu) to add favorites of any of these three types: Folder, Document and Application. In the following example, the user right-clicked the Excel file project-budget-WBS. The context menu Add File to Quick Access Popup menu will create a favorite for this document.

Quick Access Popup will automatically detect if the selected file is a folder, a document or an application and will create a favorite of the correct type.

Explorer context menus are also available in Total Commander or Directory Opus.

Fore more details, read the page Explorer Context Menus Help.

Which QAP commands are available using Explorer Context menus?

You can use Windows Explorer context menus (right-click menus) to add favorites to your Quick Access Popup menu. You can also right-click the Desktop background to show the QAP popup menu!

Add Folder context menu in Explorer

Add Folder context menu in Explorer

Context menu in Desktop background

Context menu in Desktop background

The following eleven context menus are added to your Windows Explorer menus:

Target Trigger Menu name
Files in Explorer Right-Click Add File to Quick Access Popup menu
Files in Explorer Shift + Right-Click Add File to Quick Access Popup menu Express
Folders in Explorer Right-Click Add Folder to Quick Access Popup menu
Folders in Explorer Shift + Right-Click Add Folder to Quick Access Popup menu Express
Desktop background Right-Click Show Quick Access Popup menu
Desktop background Shift + Right-Click Show Quick Access Popup Alternative menu
Explorer window background Right-Click Show Quick Access Popup menu
Explorer window background Shift + Right-Click Show Quick Access Popup Alternative menu
Explorer window background Right-Click Add Folder to Quick Access Popup menu
Explorer window background Shift + Right-Click Add Folder to Quick Access Popup menu Express
Windows Shortcut icon Right-Click Add favorite and import settings from Windows shortcut

To find more about installation and enabling of Explorer context menu, read the Explorer Context Menus Help.

What should I know about Explorer Context menus and QAP?

In this page:

Using QAP Context menus

You can add favorites to your QAP menu with the Windows Explorer context menus. Right-click or Shift+Right-click on any file or folder to show its context menu. QAP’s command in this menu are recognizable by the QAP icon on the left. You can also right-click the Desktop background to show the QAP popup menu!

Add Folder context menu in Explorer

Add Folder context menu in Explorer

Context menu in Desktop background

Context menu in Desktop background

  • Context menus are automatically added when you install and removed when you uninstall QAP using standard Windows procedure (see Easy one-step installation).
  • At any time, you can remove or re-install the context menus using the Enable Explorer Context Menus checkbox found in Options dialog box, Popup Menus tab.
  • Users who prefered portable installation (see Portable installation) can setup context menus manually by following the instruction below.

The following eleven context menus are added to your Windows Explorer menus:

Target Trigger Menu name Action
Files in Explorer Right-Click Add File to Quick Access Popup menu Open the Add Document or Add Application dialog box ready with the selected file
Files in Explorer Shift + Right-Click Add File to Quick Access Popup menu Express Add the selected document or application at the top of the main QAP menu, no question asked
Folders in Explorer Right-Click Add Folder to Quick Access Popup menu Open the Add Folder dialog box ready with the selected folder
Folders in Explorer Shift + Right-Click Add Folder to Quick Access Popup menu Express Add the selected folder at the top of the main QAP menu, no question asked
Desktop background Right-Click Show Quick Access Popup menu Open the QAP popup menu
Desktop background Shift + Right-Click Show Quick Access Popup Alternative menu Open the QAP Alternative popup menu
Explorer window background Right-Click Show Quick Access Popup menu Open the QAP popup menu
Explorer window background Shift + Right-Click Show Quick Access Popup Alternative menu Open the QAP Alternative popup menu
Explorer window background Right-Click Add Folder to Quick Access Popup menu Open the Add Folder dialog box ready with the current folder
Explorer window background Shift + Right-Click Add Folder to Quick Access Popup menu Express Add the current folder at the top of the main QAP menu, no question asked
Windows Shortcut icon Right-Click Import Windows shortcut to Quick Access Popup menu Open the Add Folder dialog box ready with settings imported from the shortcut: working directory and parameters (for application favorites), window state (for folder favorites) and icon settings (for any type of favorites)
Setting up Context menus manually (for portable installation users)

You can install or remove Windows Explorer context menu entries in the Windows Registry using a batch file created by Doğan Çelik (thank you, Doğan!):

1) Unzip the file ManageContextMenu.bat from the QAP zip file and save it in the same folder where you unzipped the files QAPmessenger.exe and QuickAccessPopup.ico.

2) You will need administrator privileges to execute this command. To run this batch file as administrator, in Windows Explorer, right-click its icon and select Run as administrator.

3) In the menu, select 1) Install… to create the registry keys or 2) Uninstall… to remove them.

Context menus and server installation (for sysadmin)

When installed with in setup mode, QAP always enable its Explorer Context Menus. There are two exceptions: context menus will *not* be enabled if “ExplorerContextMenus=0” in either of the quickaccesspopup.ini file in current user’s appdata folder or common appdata folder. More about installation on a server: Are administrator rights required to install QAP?

Calling QAP from the command line

See also how you can use a command-line to display the QAP menu to your menu and how you can use a command-line to display the QAP menu to your menu.

Can I add favorites from the command-line or a batch?

You do it with the QAP executable companion QAPmessenger.exe installed in the QAP application folder. This utility is used to send commands to QAP from the Windows Explorer Context menus. But you can also use it this utility to add QAP favorites from the command line, a batch file, a Windows shortcut, etc.

Enter one of the following lines at the command prompt, in a .BAT file line or in the Target field in a Windows shortcut. Replace C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe with the current path and filename of QAPmessenger in your setup.

The two first lines add folders and the other ones add files. The ones with “Express” add favorites with default values without showing the dialog box (be cautious if you use them in a batch loop).

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" AddFolder "C:\FolderPath"

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" AddFolderXpress "C:\FolderPath"

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" AddFile "C:\Folder\FilePath.ext"

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" AddFileXpress "C:\Folder\FilePath.ext"

See also how you can use a command-line to display the QAP menu to your menu.

Can I copy a favorite with all its settings?

Yes. In the Customize window, you can copy favorites of types Folder, Document, Application, Special Folder, LinkSnippetFTP and QAP Feature. The Menus and Groups cannot be copied.

To copy a favorite, select it and click the Copy button or hit Control + Y. Rename the new favorite or select another submenu using the Menu Options tab.

 

You can copy multiple favorites in one click. Select the favorites with Shift + Click or Ctrl + Click, click the Copy button and select the destination menu (you cannot copy multiple favorites in their original menu).

 

Can I add multiple favorites in one click?

This feature is available with QAP v11 or more recent.

You can add multiple favorites in one operation from various sources. Select the Favorite, Add Multiple Favorites from the Customize window menu. In the dialog box, select the source of these favorites and click Continue.

The various sources are:

  • add favorites folders or applications from the favorites found in the Current Windows menu;
  • add items from the Recent Folders or the Recent Files menus;
  • add items from the Frequent Folders or the Frequent Files menus;
  • add multiple QAP Features or Special Folders;
  • add folders, documents or applications favorites from a selected folder;
  • add any types of favorites from a QAP settings file, selected from a flat list
  • add any types of favorites from a QAP settings file, selected from a hierarchical tree view (with QAP v11.1 or more recent)
  • add favorites from a CSV (comma-separated values) file (with QAP v11.6.2 or more recent).
  1. In the Menu dropdown list, select the menu where the favorites will be added.
  2. To exclude from the list the favorites already found in your menu, check the checkbox Exclude existing favorites.
  3. For favorites from QAP Settings files, Folders or CSV file only, click the Browse button to select the source file or folder.
  4. The list in the Add Multiple Favorites dialog box can be sorted by clicking on the column headers.
  5. Click the favorites you with to add to your menu.
  6. If you wish, you can edit the name of a favorite by selecting its row and pressing F2.
  7. Click Add to insert the favorites in the destination menu and click Save in the Customize window.
For many of the sources of the Add Multiple Favorites dialog box you can filter the list by keywords.
Importing favorites from a hierarchical list of favorites from a QAP settings file

Adding favorites from a CSV file

Adding from a CSV file is available using QAP v11.6.2 (or more recent). The requirements to add favorites by importing a CSV import file are:

  • The CSV file must be comma separated (to convert from tab-separated or other formats, see my other application CSV Buddy).
    • If a field includes a comma, enclose it in the field encapsulator "..." (double quotes).
    • To insert a double quote inside a field, double the double quotes and embed the field in double quotes, for example "This is a ""quoted"" word".
  • The first line of the file is the header and is required.
  • The file must have one line per favorites except for menus that also have a closing line (see the example below).

For all favorites, the only required fields are the three firsts (except for submenus where the FavoriteLocation field is empty).

FavoriteType
FavoriteName
FavoriteLocation

Other fields are optional. Favorites types supported are:

Folder
Document
Application
URL
FTP
Snippet

To insert a menu separator line, simply add a line with FavoriteType X, remaining fields being empty. If the exporting app supports column breaks in menu, the FavoriteType for a column break is K, remaining fields being empty.

The possible values for the property FavoriteDisabled are: 0 (favorite enabled and visible, default value), 1 (favorite disabled and hidden) or -1 (favorite enabled but hidden in menu, shortcut/hotstring active).

In this simple example, after the header, the file contains a Folder, a line separator, a Document (with a comma in its name), a Menu containing only an Application (see the line closing the menu) and, back in the main menu, a Snippet. A last Folder favorite is hidden. In each case, except for the Menu-End line and the line separator, after the favorite type, the line includes the favorite name (that should be unique in its menu), the favorite location (or content for Snippets) and, optionally, an icon resource, a keyboard shortcut,a hotstring, etc.

FavoriteType,FavoriteName,FavoriteLocation,FavoriteIconResource,FavoriteShortcut,FavoriteHotstring,FavoriteArguments,FavoriteAppWorkingDir,FavoriteLaunchWith,FavoriteLoginName,FavoritePassword,FavoriteDisabled
Folder,My Projects,C:\Projects\,"C:\My Icons\IconFile.dll,3",+^p
X
Document,"Project Charter, 1234",C:\Projects\My Project Charter.docx,"C:\My Icons\IconFile.dll,5"
Menu-BEGIN,My Menu,,"C:\My Icons\IconFile.dll,8"
Application,Gantt App,C:\Apps\GanttApp\GanttApp.exe,"C:\Apps\GanttApp\GanttApp.exe,1",,,-option x,C:\Projects\
FTP,Project Repository,ftp://www.server.com/folder,"C:\My Icons\IconFile.dll,5",,,,,,username,password
Menu-END
Snippet,My ProjectName,Project ABC,,,"::,pn"
Folder,Hidden Folder,C:\Program Files,,,,,,,,,1

Select the favorites you wish to add to in your menu and click the Add button.

Submenu can be embedded, for example:

...
Menu-BEGIN,My Menu,,"C:\My Icons\IconFile.dll,8"
...
Menu-BEGIN,My SubMenu,,"C:\My Icons\IconFile.dll,8"
...
Menu-BEGIN,My SubSubMenu,,"C:\My Icons\IconFile.dll,8"
...
Menu-END
...
Menu-END
...
Menu-END
...