2) Showing menu – Quick Access Popup

How do I display the Quick Access Popup menu?

QAP has various types of triggers to open two different menus. Each menu can be open with a mouse button, a keyboard hotkey or an icon.

1) Main QAP menu mouse and keyboard triggers

The default mouse trigger is the Middle Mouse Button and the default keyboard trigger is Windows+W.

These triggers show the QAP popup menu over any window (except those excluded, more info about exclusion list).
In the QAP menu, the favorite you choose is launched in a new window.
But, if the favorite is a folder and the target window where you open the QAP menu supports folder navigation (Windows Explorer, Console or other file managers), the window location is changed to the favorite folder.
Folder navigation is also available for file dialog boxes (Open, Save As, etc.) but this has to be enabled in Options window (see the Options window, General tab, first checkbox).

Using a touchpad
Most of the touchpads can be configured to emulate a click on the middle mouse button (for example, by doing a three fingers tap). Check the documentation of your touchpad. You will find more info in this How-To Geek article.

Open the Alternative menu with Shift + Middle Mouse Button or Shift + Windows + W

2) Alternative menu mouse and keyboard triggers

The default mouse trigger is Shift + Middle Mouse Button and the default keyboard trigger is Shift + Windows + W.

These triggers show the Alternative menu over any windows.
In the Alternative menu, you select the actions to apply to one of your favorites (see the list of Alternative menu features in: What are the Alternative menu features?).
Then, in the main QAP menu, select the target favorite on which the Alternative menu feature will be executed.

Clicking on the Notification zone icon

You can open the menu by clicking the QAP icon in the Notifications area (right part of the task bar). More info here.

Using Explorer Context menus

You can also show the popup menu from the Explorer context menu (right-click menu). On the Desktop, right-click anywhere except on icons and select Show Quick Access Popup menu. To use the Alternative menu, hold Shift key while you right-click the Desktop and select Show Quick Access Popup Alternative menu.

Using the Ctrl+Ctrl hotkey

You can also open the main QAP menu by pressing twice the left or right Control key. Enable this feature in the Options, Popup Hotkeys.

From the command line or a batch file

Finally, you can open the menu from the command line, a batch file (or any script) or from a file shortcut using the QAP companion executable QAPmessenger.

2) Showing menu Alternative menu, Context menu, Hotkeys, Popup menu, Triggers

What is the “In the Works” menu and its “Frequent”, “Recent” and “Current Windows” menus?

Video demo

The In the Works menu is built automatically by Quick Access Popup to give you an easy access to the contents you most probably need because you use them…

frequently (Frequent Folders and Frequent Files);
recently (Recent Folders and Recent Files);
or currently (Current Windows).

Chances are high that the content you need to work NOW is already in one of these submenus.

Privacy Statement
The data in the Quick Access Popup database is collected and stored locally, solely to build dynamic menus and increase performance. This data resides ONLY on your system and NO information is transmitted to a remote server.

To build the Frequent Items menus, QAP is maintaining a local and private database that remembers the folders and files you used in the last days. Before going further, for those concerned with privacy, see my statement in the box beside.

If you prefer not having QAP collect this data, you can go to the Database options to turn this feature off, flush its content or control its behavior.

Frequent Folders and Frequent Files

The Frequent Folders and Frequent Files menus contain by order of frequency the ten folders or ten documents you opened most frequently in the last days. In your first hours or days of usage of QAP, these menus may not be full or may not reflect your most often used content. But, they will improve quickly as you use QAP.

Frequent Files – Click to enlarge

You can change the number of items in these menus in Options, Menu Appearance tab. Set the Number of items in menus under Frequent Items and Recent Items Menus. You can also see how QAP discovers your most frequently used folders and file and set various parameters here: How can I control how the Frequent Items Database works?

Recent Folders and Recent Files

The Recent folders and Recent files menus list the recent places or documents memorized by Windows. You can find more information here: From where comes the content of the Recent folders and Recent files menus?

Recent Files – Click to enlarge

Recent Folders – Click to enlarge

Current Windows

The last item of the In the Works menu shows all the folders and windows open on your system. You can can find more information here: How is built the Current Windows menu?

Edit the In the Works menu

The In the works menu was added automatically at the top of your main menu when you launched QAP. Using the Customize window, you will be able, if you wish, to rename this menu, move it or break up its content in other submenus. See how to open the Customize window and how to use it to customize your menu.

Excluding folders or files from the Frequent and Recent menus

You can select folders or files to exclude from these menus. See: Can I filter out items in Current Windows, Recent or Frequent menus?

2) Showing menu Database, Recent

What are these features in the “My QAP Essentials” menu?

QAP Features are powerful functionalities that can be inserted in any QAP menu or submenu. For your convenience, the My QAP Essentials menu is built automatically when you installed QAP. It gives access to a subset of the most useful QAP Features.

With the Add Favorite – QAP Feature…, add new QAP Features to this menu (see How do I add a favorite to my menu? for help on adding favorites to your menu)
With the Quick Launch menu, open a search box to type a few letters and launch one of your QAP favorites or an item from the Recent/Frequent menus.
With the Reopen Current Folder in Dialog Box menu, take your file dialog box (Open, Save as, etc.) to the last folder you used in Explorer.
With the Reopen a Folder menu, open a folder in Explorer from a menu built with the list of folders already open in Windows Explorer (also useful in file dialog boxes).
The Clipboard menu shows the folders, documents, application path or URL saved in your Windows Clipboard.
The Drives menu shows the list drives on your system with label, free space, capacity and an icon showing the drive type.

Finally, other QAP features were also added in the main QAP menu:

The Add Active Folder or Web page menu allows to add on the fly the currently active folder or web page.
The Close this menu item allows to close the popup menu if clicking elsewhere or hitting the Esc key do not close the menu as it normally should (you can remove this menu if you never face this issue).

Feel free to add QAP Features to this menu or to move them around. See the list of other QAP features.

Edit the My QAP Essentials menu

The My QAP Essentials menu was added automatically to your main menu when you launched QAP. Using the Customize window, you will be able, if you wish, to rename this menu, move it or break up its content in other submenus. See how to open the Customize window and how to use it to customize your menu.

2) Showing menu Dynamic menus, Favorites, QAP Features

What are these special folders in the “My Special Folders” menu?

When Windows is installed, numerous system folders are created. Quick Access Popup knows more than 50 of these “Windows Special Folders”. The My Special folders menu gives access to the most known and used:

Desktop
Document
Pictures
Downloads
My Computer
Network Neighborhood
Control Panel
Recycle Bin

With the first item of this menu Add Favorite – Special Folder…, you can add new system folders to this menu (see How do I add a favorite to my menu? for help on adding favorites to your menu). There are plenty of other special folders that you can also add using the Add Favorite button in the Customize window, for example: Libraries, Recent items, Startup folder, History, Favorites, Quick Launch, Cookies, Temporary files, etc. Special folders can be inserted in any QAP menu or submenu. For your convenience, the My Special Folders menu was built when you installed QAP. Feel free to add special folders to this menu or to move them around.

Edit the My Special Folders menu

The My Special Folders menu was added automatically to your main menu when you launched QAP. Using the Customize window, you will be able, if you wish, to rename this menu, move it or break up its content in other submenus. See how to open the Customize window and how to use it to customize your menu.

2) Showing menu Favorites, Folders, Special folders, Windows

What are the Alternative menu features?

Alternative menu features are actions to be executed on one of the favorites in your QAP menu. After you click one of the options in the Alternative menu, the full QAP menu is displayed to let you choose on what favorite you want to execute the Alternative menu command.

You open the Alternative menu with a mouse or a keyboard triggers. The default mouse trigger is Shift + Middle Mouse Button and the default keyboard trigger is Shift + Windows + W.

These triggers show the Alternative menu over any windows.
In the Alternative menu, you select the actions to apply to one of your favorites (see the list of Alternative menu features below).
Then, in your QAP menu, select the target favorite on which the Alternative menu feature will be executed.

Alternative menu features

The Alternative menu offers the following features:

Open in new window: open the favorite in a new window instead of changing the folder in the target window (even if the menu is opened in an existing Explorer window or in a file dialog box).
Edit a Favorite: change a favorite settings directly from the QAP menu (without having to open the Customize window).
Copy a Favorite’s Path or URL: copy the file path, the URL or the content of a Snippet to the Clipboard in order to paste it in any other window.
Run as administrator: run the application with administrator access (elevated privileges).
Open the Containing Folder in the Current Window: open, in the current Explorer window, the parent folder of the selected favorite document, application or folder.
Open the Containing Folder in a New Window: open the parent folder of the selected favorite in a new window (even if the menu is opened in an existing Explorer window or in a file dialog box).
Move the selected file to a favorite folder (requires v11.5.7.1 or more recent): move the selected file(s) or folder(s) to one of the favorite folders in your QAP menu. The selected files or folders are the selected items in the active Windows Explorer, Directory Opus window or on the Desktop (not available with Total Commander at this time).
Copy the selected file to a favorite folder (requires v11.5.7.1 or more recent): copy the selected file(s) or folder(s) to one of the favorite folders in your QAP menu. See Move the selecte file above.

Alternative menu features are also available directly from the regular menu by using various keyboard modifiers when clicking a favorite in the popup menu. By default these keyboard modifiers are available:

Left Shift + Click: Open in new window.
Left Control + Click: Copy a Favorite’s Path or URL.
Left Shift + Left Control + Click: Edit a Favorite.
Right Shift + Click: Open the Containing Folder in the Current Window.
Right Control + Click: Open the Containing Folder in a New Window.
Right Shift + Right Control + Click: Run as administrator.
Move the selected file to a favorite folder and Copy the selected file to a favorite folder do not have default keyboard modifiers but you can remove modifiers from the less used features above to free them for the new ones.

About this, see how to configure Alternative menu features shortcuts: Can I launch Alternative menu features directly from the regular popup menu?

Finally, you can also use these Alternative menu features in the Quick Launch search box. See Can I quickly search QAP to launch one of my favorites? for more details.

Video on the Alternative menu

My AHK colleague and friend Joe Glines asked me what was the most useful but least known feature of Quick Access Popup. Answer: the Alternative menu!

Can I quickly search QAP to launch one of my favorites?

2) Showing menu Admin privileges, Alternative menu, Triggers

Can I launch Alternative menu features keyboard shortcuts or directly from the regular popup menu?

Launch Alternative menu features directly from the menu

Alternative menu features are also available directly from the regular menu by using keyboard modifiers when clicking a favorite in the popup menu. These keyboards modifiers are by default :

Left Shift + Click: Open in new window.
Left Control + Click: Copy a Favorite’s Path or URL.
Left Shift + Left Control + Click: Edit a Favorite.
Right Shift + Click: Open the Containing Folder in the Current Window.
Right Control + Click: Open the Containing Folder in a New Window.
Right Shift + Right Control + Click: Run as administrator.

Note: Two Alternative menu features added in v11.5.7, Move the selected file to a favorite folder and Copy the selected file to a favorite folder, do not have default modifiers. To assign one the the modifiers to them, you must first one of the modifier by selecting None for another feature.

To continue our previous example where you want to edit a favorite, you could open the your QAP menu using the regular shortcut (by default Middle Mouse Button) and before clicking the favorite to edit, keep the Left Shift and Left Control keys pressed while clicking the favorite to edit.

The keyboard shortcuts opening the QAP menu for specific Alternative menu command and the keyboard modifiers for the Main menu can be changed in the Option, Alternative Menu Hotkeys section.

If you made changes in the modifiers dropdown list and want to return to the current modifiers, click the button Reset to saved modifiers on the bottom right of the window. If you wish to go back to the default modifiers settings, click the button Reset to default modifiers.

These keyboard modifiers can also be used in the Quick Launch search box. See Can I quickly search QAP to launch one of my favorites? for more details.

More info about these features: What are the Alternative menu features?

2) Showing menu Alternative menu

Can I display the QAP menu or launch QAP favorites from the command-line or from a batch file?

You display the QAP menu or launch QAP favorites using 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 call the QAP menu or launch 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 first line shows the regular menu. The second line shows the same menu but will change the folder in the current Windows Explorer window (for favorites of type Folder or Special) instead of opening a new window:

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" ShowMenuLaunch
"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" ShowMenuNavigate

You can also use these commands to popup a specific submenu. Enclose in double-quotes > (greater than + space) and the name of the submenu, for example:

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" ShowMenuLaunch "> MySubMenu"
"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" ShowMenuLaunch "> MySubMenu > 2nd Level"

This example shows the Alternative menu:

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

The last examples shows how to launch a favorite named FavName from the command line (requires QAP v11.5.4 or more recent). In the first line, QAP will launch the favorite FavName located in the Main menu. The following lines shows how to launch favorites in a submenus.

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" LaunchFavorite "> FavName"
"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" LaunchFavorite "> SubMenu > FavName"
"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" LaunchFavorite "> Sub1 > Sub2 > FavName"

If you use the ampersand (&) in a submenu or favorite name to make a keyboard shortcut, make sure you reference the submenu or favorite with its name as it is entered in the Customize window (for example &&FavName). Same thing if you use the double-ampersand to insert a real ampersand in the favorite name.

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" LaunchFavorite "> &FavName"
"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" LaunchFavorite "> FavName && Co."

You can display the QAP dynamic menus (Recent Folders, Frequent Folders, Recent Files, Frequent Files, Current Windows, TC Directory Hotlist, DOpus Favorites, etc.) if these menus are present in the QAP menu. In these cases, unlike previous examples, you must not enter the submenu where the dynamic menu is located. For example:

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" ShowMenuDynamic "Recent Folders"
"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" ShowMenuDynamic "Current Windows"

You can also launch submenus (this will display the submenu) or groups (this will launch all group items). When launching groups, do not include the «n» suffix in the group name (indicating the number of items in the group). For example:

"C:\Program Files\Quick Access Popup\QAPmessenger.exe" LaunchFavorite "> SubMenu > GroupName"

See also how you can use a command-line to add favorites to your menu.

2) Showing menu Context menu, Messenger, Popup menu