With all the good suggestions received from users, Quick Access Popup cumulates an impressive number of features. You may use only the 20% top features and already fully benefit from using QAP. But power users will find hundreds of other ways to become more productive using QAP. Pick your choice!

Basics

Installation

• Easy Setup program (recommended)
• Portable ZIP file installation
• Install and update silently with Chocolatey
• Available in 10 languages
• Check for updates

Launching QAP

• Run at Windows startup
• Launch from the Start menu
• Start from command line with parameters
• Start with special commands using QAPMessenger

Open the Quick Access Popup menu

• Press the Middle Mouse Button (configurable)
• Hit Windows + W (configurable)
• Click the Quick Access Popup icon on the task bar
• Right-click on the Desktop and select Show Quick Access Popup menu
• Double press the Ctrl key (enable it in Options)
• Open the Main menu or a submenu from the command-line or batch file

Favorites types

Your QAP popup menu can contains favorites of any of the following 10 types. Favorites can also be grouped in Submenus, Shared menus or Groups.

Folders

• Change folder in the current Explorer window
• Open a folder in a new Explorer window
• Change a folder in file dialog boxes (Open, Save As, etc.)
• In file dialog box, change to the folder currently in Explorer
• Reopen any folder active in any Explorer window
• Switch to any active Explorer window
• Set the state (maximized, etc.) or position of new Explorer windows
• Automatically open the most recently created (or changed) subfolder of a given folder
• Option to open a folder on the active monitor of a multiple-display system
• Turn the content of a folder into a submenu (see Live Folders below)

Special Folders

• Open more than 50 pre-defined Windows system folders like: Desktop, Document, Downloads, My Computer, Libraries, My Pictures, Recycle Bin, Downloads, etc.
• Special Folders are grouped in categories: Basic, Power User, Sysadmin, etc.
• Alphabetical list of all Special Folders
• Set the Explorer window position and file manager options

Documents

• Open a document with its default application
• Choose a specific application to launch the document
• Add optional parameters

Applications

• Launch applications (.exe or .com) or scripts (.bat, .vbs, .ahk, etc.)
• Set the working or Start In directory when launching an application
• Add command-line parameters
• Launch an application as administrator (with elevated privileges)
• Create favorites for an internal DOS commands like DIR or XCOPY

Windows Apps

• Launch Windows Apps (pre-installed or download from Windows Store)
• Add from a list of apps installed on your system

Links (URL)

• Open a web page or any URL in the default browser
• Select a specific browser to launch the link
• Retrieve page title and site’s icon (favicon)
• Open web page in a new tab or navigate the current browser tab

FTP Sites

• Access FTP sites with a browser, your file manager or a dedicated FTP client
• Optional automatically login with user name and password (not encrypted)
• Set the command-line parameters

Snippets

• Send pieces of text or keystrokes to the active application
• Insert snippets using the menu, hotkeys et hotstrings (see Hotstrings)
• Choose Text mode to paste of text as with the Clipboard
• Choose Macro mode to send snippets as keystrokes sent to the active window
• In Macro mode, send any keystrokes combinations including function keys, modifiers, etc.
• In Macro mode, use special commands to pause or slow down the execution or wait for a given key before resuming
• Edit snippets using a fix font and select font size
• Insert pre-defined contents in your snippets (see User variables and Placeholders)
• Create a snippet using the Clipboard content and define its hotstring in one step

QAP Features

• Various features grouped by categories like Dynamic Menus, QAP Menu Editing, Window Management, Windows Features and QAP Management
• See the list of features below under QAP Features List

Text Separators

• Insert headers or text between sections of a menu
• Optionally assign an icon to the separator

Submenus

• Group related favorites by types, subjects or projects in submenus
• Submenus can be nested in submenus at will
• Automatic sorting on various criteria or manual order
• Assign a shortcut to open a submenu as standalone menu
• Assign an icon to a menu
• Reopen menu after launching items allowing to launch multiple items

Shared menus

• Share favorites on multiple computers or for various users from a common settings file
• Share the submenu settings file using any cloud or network drive
• Three modes: Personal, Collaborative or Centralized
• Personal: for the same user on different computers
• Collaborative: for team or workgroup
• Centralized: read-only menu for all users except for the menu managers
• Protection against synchronization conflicts adapted for each type
• A Shared Menus Catalogue can be set to facilitate insertion of shared menus
• User variables and Windows environment variables allow to share files on cloud drives synced at different locations

Groups

• Launch a Group of favorites of any type in one single step
• Open groups from the menu, shortcuts or hotstrings
• Options to launch an application minimized
• Control restoring delays between each group member
• Option to wait until a program finishes before launching the next group member
• Option to interrupt group opening if a group member returns an error

Using the QAP menu

Launching favorites

• Launch favorites from the QAP menu, Hotkeys or Hotstrings
• Add command-line parameters when launching a favorite
• Option to play a custom sound file after launching a favorite
• Make favorites or groups launched automatically when you launch QAP
• Launch favorites with all their powerful properties from the command line or a script using QAPMessenger

Quick Launch search box

• Open the Quick Launch box , type a few characters and press Enter or double-click an item in the search result to launch it
• Quick Launch searches in the name of the favorites in your menu and in the content of your Recent/Frequent Files/Folders
• Quick Launch search result is sorted by Usage (default), by Favorite name or by Menu order
• Option for Extended search to search in all properties instead of only in the favorite name
• Use Alternative menu features to edit a favorite, copy a favorite path or snippet content, run an application as administrator or open the folder containing a favorite

Hotkeys

• Assign keyboard shortcuts to any favorite or submenu in your menu
• Assign favorites or submenu to a mouse button, optionally with keyboard modifiers
• Open any QAP submenu or launch a group with a hotkey
• Manage all hotkeys in a single window
• Insert keyboard shortcut “&” shortcuts in menu Name (e.g. &Name for Name)
• Enable automatic numeric shortcuts of menu items
• Options to disable all QAP keyboard shortcuts in specific applications

Hotstrings

• Assign hotstrings (short sequence of characters) to any favorite or menu
• Expand text snippets from an hotstring
• Options to make a hotstring Case sensitive, Expand inside other words, Keep hotstring abbreviation, Do not wait for Ending key or Omit the ending character when pasting snippets
• Manage all hotkeys in a single window

Alternative menu

• Show the Alternative menu with:
  • Shift + Middle Mouse Button (configurable)
  • Shift + Windows + W (configurable)
• Alternative menus features:
  • Open the selected favorite folder in a new window
  • Edit the selected favorite from the menu
  • Copy the path or URL of the selected favorite
  • Run an application as administrator
  • Open the folder containing the selected favorite
  • Move the selected file(s) to a favorite folder
  • Copy the selected file(s) to a favorite folder
• Launch Alternative features from keyboard shortcuts
• Select these features in the regular menu using keyboard modifiers

Live Folders

• Submenu updated with the current content of a folder
• Option to include one of multiple subfolders levels
• Subfolders are added as submenus
• Option to include documents
• Sort menu items automatically or keep original order
• Filter files to include or exclude by extensions, wildcards or regular expressions
• Set the size of icons for a Live folder menu and its submenus

Customizing your menu

Customize window

• Open the Customize window at QAP startup (optionally)
• The Customize window lists the favorites grouped by menus and submenus
• Select the current menu in a dropdown list or by double-clicking a submenu name
• Browse back or forward in menus previously listed or open the parent menu (up button)
• Buttons to Add, Edit, Remove, Copy or Move one or multiple favorites
• Right click to open a context menu for the selected favorite or submenu
• Move favorites position with up/down buttons or with the mouse (drag and drop)
• Button to preview a menu allowing to launch any item in the current favorites list without having to save it
• Make the window always visible (always on top)
• Sort favorites in the current menu
• Menu bar to access various File commands, Favorite commands, various Tools, Options or Help.
• Remember last window position
• Open this window on active monitor (optional)
• Option for extended columns in lists (dates and stats)
• Use keyboard shortcuts to manage favorites in the Customize window
• High DPI screens and Windows Dark mode compatibility

Add/Edit Favorite dialog box

• Double-click an item to edit its properties in various tabs:
  • Basic: set menu name and favorite’s path or content
  • Menu Options: set menu, position, icon, shortcut and hotstring
  • Live Folder Options (Folder type only): set dynamic menu properties
  • Window Options (for folder when using Explorer and Total Commander): set window position and minimized/maximized state
  • Advanced Settings: set various options like Start In folder, Launch with application, Parameters, Play this sound, etc.

Search and replace

• Button to Search in favorites of all menus
• Extended search filtering on all favorite’s properties
• Special search to locate favorites not found or 404 errors
• Search and replace any favorite properties
• Options to select in what types of favorites and in what properties to search and replace the values
• Confirm each replacement or replace all found items at once

Tools to add favorites

• Menu item to Add Active Folder or Web page on the fly
• Add folders or documents from the Explorer context menu
• Drag and drop folders or document from Explorer to the Customize window
• Add Favorite – Type menu item to add a favorite of a given type in the current menu
• Avoid duplicates favorites by checking if a favorite already exists for the same location (optional)
• Retrieve page title or site’s icon (favicon) when adding a Link (URL)

Tools to add multiple favorites

• Folders or applications from the Current Windows
• From the Recent Folders, Recent Files, Frequent Folders or Frequent Files
• Multiple QAP Features or Special Folders
• Folders, documents or applications from a selected folder
• Favorites from a QAP settings file

Embellish your menu

• Add menu icons to your favorites
• Support icons from image files (.jpg, .png, etc.) or icons files (.ico, .dll, .exe)
• Set different size of icons for each menu (or inherit the size of the parent menu)
• Manage all icons from one dialog box
• Add menu column breaks, line or text separators to your menu

User and Environment variables

• User variables (like {MyVariable}=My Content) and Windows Environment variables (like %windir%) can be used to replace paths or parts of snippets content
• Can replace long network paths
• In Shared menus, allow to share cloud drives contents saved under different path
• User variables and Environment variables can also be used in favorites name, for example Doc of %username%
• An option helps debugging user variables and environment variables

Placeholders

• Insert automatic values in Snippets content and in favorite’s Location, Parameters, Start In and Launch with fields
• With placeholders, you can insert locations based on:
  • the favorite’s own location (full location or part of it);
  • the path (or part of) of current folder in Explorer
  • the path (or part of) of the selected item in Explorer
  • the path of the QAP Settings file
  • the path to the executable of the active window
• And you can insert values based on interactive or dynamic contents
  • the current content of your Windows Clipboard;
  • an input from the user (with possibility to reuse the input in the same favorite)
  • a selection in a custom menu
  • the current date and time (with date calculations)
  • random text, random numbers or GUID
• Option to debug placeholders

QAP Features

QAP Features are special commands or dynamic menus that can be added to your menu.

Dynamic Menus

• Recent Folders: most recently folder open on your system
• Recent Files: most recently documents open on your system
• Frequent Folders: most frequently folder open on your system
• Frequent Files: most frequently documents open on your system
• Current Windows: list folders open in the Windows Explorer and running applications windows on your system
• Preview menu showing favorites currently in the Customize window
• Preview menu showing favorites in the current Search result
• Clipboard: content of you current Windows Clipboard (folders and files).
• Drives: Drives on your system with label, free space, capacity and an icon showing the drive type
• Reopen a Folder: List of folders already open in Windows Explorer
• Repeat Last Actions: Most recent favorites that you launched
• Exclude selected folders, files or applications from dynamic menus in Options, Menu Exclusions/Inclusions
• Restrict dynamic menus to selected folders, files or applications in Options, Menu Exclusions/Inclusions
• Configurable number of items in dynamic menus

Menu Editing

• Add Active Folder or Web page: quickly add to your menu the active folder or web page
• Manage Shortcuts: edit the keyboard or mouse shortcuts of all your favorites
• Manage Hotstrings: global view to edit any of your hotstrings
• Manage Icons: edit icons of all the favorites in your QAP menu
• Refresh Live Folders and Shared menus: on-demand refresh of these menus

Window management

• Close all windows: close all or selected applications in one step
• Reopen Current Folder from Dialog Box: reopen in a new Explorer window the folder current in a dialog box
• Reopen Current Folder in Dialog Box: change the folder in a file dialog boxes to the folder currently active in Windows Explorer
• Window Always on Top: set the current window Always on Top property on or off (toggle)
• Get window info: help you identify a window that you want to exclude from the QAP menu mouse hotkey

Close Computer

• Close Computer Control Center: take full control on how your computer will shutdown
• Hibernate computer: put the computer in a power-saving state
• Logoff user: close all applications and terminate current user session
• Power down computer: close all applications and turn off computer power
• Put monitor in low-power mode: low-power mode is designed for laptops
• Restart computer: close all applications and restart the computer
• Shutdown computer: close all applications in preparation to turn off a computer’s power
• Sleep computer: put the computer in a power-saving state that allows it to quickly resume operation
• Start screen saver: start default system screen saver
• Turn monitor off: turn off computer’s monitor

QAP Management

• Repeat Last Action: reopens the last favorite you opened
• Check for update: check if a new version is available
• Edit QuickAccessPopup.ini: edit the active Quick Access Popup settings file
• Import/Export Settings: export your favorites and other settings to create a backup
• List Applications Windows: list title, process path, and other properties of running windows
• Restore “Customize” window position: Restore “Customize” window size and position at the center of main screen.
• Temporarily Suspend Hotkeys (including hotstrings)

File managers

File managers supported

• Windows Explorer
• Directory Opus (see below)
• Total Commander (see below)
• Command line (CMD), PowerShell and alternative shell ConEmu
• 25 alternative configurable file managers with QAPconnect

Directory Opus support

• Automatic detection at QAP setup
• Open folders in the current lister or in a new lister
• If in a new lister, open the folder on the left, right, active or target side
• Change to current DOpus folder in file dialog boxes
• Reopen any folder active in DOpus
• Switch to any active Lister or Tab
• Add active folder to your menu
• Show Directory Opus Favorites in menu
• Show Directory Opus Layouts under Favorites menu
• Restore groups of related folders in desired tabs and sides.

Total Commander support

• Automatic detection at QAP setup
• Open folders in the current or in a new TC window or pane
• If in a new pane, open the folder on the left, right, active or target side
• Change to current TC folder in file dialog boxes
• Reopen any folder active in TC
• Switch to any active TC window or tab
• Add active folder to your menu
• Support Total Commander Directory Hotlist, including target path
• Restore groups of related folders in desired tabs and sides.

Other options

• Set global options in various tabs
• General: enabling Change folders in dialog boxes and various options about language, Windows dark mode, colors, settings folders and startup
• Customize Window: open Customize window at startup or not, various window behavior settings, settings of the Quick Launch box
• Menu Icons: set menu icons default size, QAP icons replacements, document default icons replacements, custom icons folder
• Menu Appearance: menu shortcuts reminders, numeric shortcuts, size of dynamic menus
• Popup Menu: QAP menu position, enabling Explorer context menus, QAP menu hotkeys control (blacklist or whitelist)
• Menu Exclusions: folders or files to exclude from the Frequent and Recent menus, applications to exclude from Current Windows menu
• Popup Hotkeys: mouse and keyboard triggers to open the QAP popup menu and QAP Alternative menu, enable double-press of Left or Right Control key to open the QAP menu
• Alternative Hotkeys: mouse or keyboard shortcuts, and keyboard modifiers for Alternative menu features
• File Managers: see the section above
• Snippets and Hotstrings: default settings for snippet editing, default hotstrings options
• User Variables: Set custom user variables (like “{Dropbox}”) to use in file paths or snippets
• Database: control how the QAP database collects info for Frequent and Recent menus, refresh interval, the number of days considered and maximum size of the database
• Menus Advanced Options: various advanced options about the QAP menu
• Launch Advanced Options: various advanced options about the QAP startup
• Various Advanced Options: various more technical options