Can QAP run if I’m using a Russian keyboards?

One of my goals with QAP is to make it run on as many international systems as possible. But programming hotkeys on a Russian keyboard is a challenge for a non-Russian developer like me living in Canada. Russian keyboards are very different from most of those used in America or Europe. Up to QAP v8.6.x, launching QAP on a system with Russian keyboard was giving error messages and configuration issues making the app unusable.

Starting with version v8.7, changes has been made to QAP code when running with Russian keyboard:

  • at first execution, default keyboard hotkeys showing the popup menu (normally Windows + W and Shift + Windows + W) are changed for Windows + ц and Shift + Windows + ц . I choose the “ц” character (ASCII Unicode 0419) because it is located at the “w” location on my keyboards. Users can change it in QAP Options, Popup Hotkeys tab;
  • at first execution, to avoid startup errors, QAP will not creates default hotkeys for frequently used features as it would normally do, letting users create their preferred hotkeys themselves;
  • QAP internal hotkeys available in the Customize window are disabled because they were creating errors.

Important for QAP existing users: on systems with a Russian keyboard, it is recommended to first run QAP with a *fresh* install (making sure the file QuickAccessPopup.ini does *not* exist when you launch QAP). QAP will then create a new QuickAccessPopup.ini OK for Russian keyboard. If you had favorites in a previous installation, import them in the new installation from a backup of your settings.

Video – Tutorial on QAP Dynamic menus (QAP Features 1/2) (6 min.)

Joe Glines is doing great videos on his The-Automator YouTube channel. Last week, we started doing tutorials on Quick Access Popup! We hope this will help demonstrate it’s power.

This week we demonstrate how to quickly access: Recent Folders, Drives, Clipboard, etc.

View, comment or LIKE this post on our YouTube channel

Presentations videos

Demo videos

Video – Quick Access Popup Overview

All videos

Video – Quick Access Popup v7 Features Demo (6 min.)

Presentations videos

Demo videos

What are the QAP global options (for QAP before v10)?

This page is for Quick Access Popup v9. For options of QAP v10, see this page.

In the Settings dialog box, click the Options button to open the Options dialog box. This dialog box contains six tabs.

In the General tab:

  • To enable folders navigation in file dialog boxes (Open, Save As, etc.), check the Change folders in dialog boxes with the main QAP hotkeys.
  • Select your working Language.
  • Choose the colors Theme of QAP Settings and other windows.
  • Change the location of the Temporary folder created to store small images, language files and working files required at run time.
  • Set the location of the Shared Menu Catalogue where Shared menu can easily be added to user’s menu.
  • Select Run at Startup option to launch Quick Access Popup automatically when you boot Windows.
  • Display Startup Tray tip in the Notification zone.
  • Select the Check for updates to be informed when new QAP versions become available.
  • Remember Settings and Add/Edit favorite windows.
  • Run  Quick Access Popup as an administrator.
  • Set Snippets options defaults values.

In the Menu tab:

  • Display the popup menu near the mouse pointer, in the active window or at a fix position.
  • Display hotkey reminders in menu in short or long format.
  • Set the number of items in the Recent folders and Recent Files.
  • Set the number of items in the Repeat actions menu.
  • Automatically add favorites in Main menu at Top of menu or Bottom of menu when added with Add this Folder or Link, Add this Folder or Link Express and Add favorite from Explorer context menus.
  • Display the Drives, Recent Folders and Recent Files menus attached or detached from the popup menu.
  • Select the option to use Display Numeric Menu Shortcuts to launch favorites with your keyboard.
  • Open the menu when hitting the QAP menu trigger on the Windows taskbar.
  • Add Close to menus created by QAP allowing to dismiss them if clicking elsewhere does not dismiss the menu.
  • Display or hide menu icons, and choose menu icons size (available on Windows workstations only).
  • Enable automatic Shared menus and Live folders Menu refresh and set refresh frequency.
  • Enable or disable QAP Explorer Context menus.

In the Hotkeys tab:

In the Alternative Hotkeys tab:

In the Exclusions tab:

  • Manage the exclusion list of applications where the QAP mouse menu trigger is blocked.
  • Use the Get window info button to identify the window to exclude.

In the File managers tab:

 

Could you give me a tour of the QAP v9 Settings window?

(this page is for QAP v9 – see the page about the new v10 Customize window here)

Welcome aboard 🙂

  1. Select the Main menu or the submenu displayed in the Settings window. You can also use the little arrows on the left of the drop down list to move up or back in the submenus.
  2. Filter favorites from any submenu by keyword in favorite name or in more metadata if you check Extended Search.
  3. This is the list of favorites in the current submenu or filtered by keyword. Double-click a favorite to edit it or double-click a sub menu to navigate to this menu.
  4. Use the AddEditRemoveMove or Copy buttons to manage the favorites in the current submenu.
  5. Change Quick Access Popup global parameters in the Options window.
  6. Move the selected favorite(s) up or down in the current submenu.
  7. Add horizontal separator, column break or text separator in your menu.
  8. Sort the selected favorites in the current submenu. With the pin icon above, make the window Always on top to make drag and drop easier.
  9. Click the Help or About buttons to read more info about QAP.
  10. After you’ve made changes to your menu, click Save & Close to save your changes and close the Settings window, Save & Reload to save changes but stay in the Settings window or Cancel to forget your changes.
  11. Click the keyboard icon or the Shortcuts label to get a global view of your shortcuts and edit them, click on the Hotstrings label to edit hotstrings globally, or click Icons to manage your menu icons.
  12. Finally, click the text links Favorites Shortcuts Help (on the left) for tips on editing the menu using Settings window hotkeys, or Drag & Drop Help (on the right) for help on adding favorites from Windows Explorer using the drag-and-drop mouse technique.

How can I restore my icons that got replaced after I updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10?

Wrong icons imported from Windows 7 under Windows 10

Wrong icons imported from Windows 7 to Windows 10

NOTE: The following info is for users who installed QAP under Windows 7 and upgraded to Windows 10.

Quick Access Popup is using icons from Windows files “shell32.dll” and “imageres.dll” found in the “System32” Windows folder. Microsoft has the bad practice of slightly changing the order of the icons in these files at every major release (and even, sometimes, in service packs).

This has for consequence that, after a Windows update, some QAP favorite icons in QAP suddenly show to the wrong icons in the popup menu. For example, if you just upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, you will see the submenu icon changed to a surprising blue rounded arrow. To fix this issue, you have to following options (from the quickest to the safest):

1) Download and run the little utility QAPupdateIconsWin10. It will scan your settings file and update every icons number that changed from Windows 7 to Windows 10. It is better to do this just after you upgraded to Windows 10. If you added icons using Windows 10 since you upgraded, there is a slight risk that the app would replace icons numbers that would not need it.

Icons fixed with QAPupdateIconsWin10 utility.

Icons fixed with QAPupdateIconsWin10 utility.

2) Use te QAP Settings window to edit manually the changed icons. I agree, this can be tedious.

3) Use a text editor and open the QuickAccessPopup.ini file. The replace the following strings in the settings file:

Replace from “imageres.dll,203” to “imageres.dll,204” (Special Folders icon)
Replace from “imageres.dll,208” to “imageres.dll,209” (Donate icon)
Replace from “imageres.dll,217” to “imageres.dll,201” (Add This Folder icon)
Replace from “shell32.dll,297” to “shell32.dll,299” (Group Save icon)
Replace from “shell32.dll,298” to “shell32.dll,300” (Submenu icon)
Replace from “shell32.dll,301” to “shell32.dll,319” (Options icon)
Replace from “shell32.dll,304” to “shell32.dll,324” (Application icon)
Replace from “shell32.dll,305” to “shell32.dll,325” (Switch icon)