Tag: Groups

Can I launch a group of favorites in one click?

Often favorites for a given project or task need to be launched together. Quick Access Popup let you gather different folders, documents or application that can be launched in one click, each favorite in the group having its own settings. Folders in the group can also have a predefined window position (see: What are the advanced options for favorite folders?).

You create and manage groups as you do for submenus. Favorites can be copied or moved in and out of groups and submenus. A delay can be configured in group’s advanced settings to pace the restoration of group windows (see also Group member options below).

In the QAP menu, group names are followed by the number of items in the group between quotation marks (for example: Group name «3») making groups easier to recognize in menus.

Folders in groups can be restored with Windows Explorer or, if they are configured, with the file managers Directory Opus or Total Commander. If you are using Directory Opus or Total Commander, you can set on what side (or pane) of the file manager each folder member of a group is opened. Each favorite on the same side are open in tabs from left to right in the order they appear in the group.

Here is an example. In the Customize, we see the three favorites in the group named My Group of windows: the Chrome browser (with a parameter to search “project” images), a text file named draft.txt (that will be opened with Notepad) and a folder named Project Charter (with, in the Window Options, the window position in the lower-right part of the screen).

 

The popup menu shows that the group My Group of windows contains three favorites.

When selected, the three windows are opened and the Windows Explorer window is position as directed in the Windows Options.

Showing the group in a menu

Starting with QAP v11.5.5, you can ask QAP to display the group members in a submenu, allowing to launch the whole group or only one of its member if you just need it.

Group members options

Starting with QAP v11.5.1, each group member can have its own launching options.

  • Launch and wait: In addition to the group’s global delay in the group’s Advanced Settings, you can set an additional delay (in milliseconds) for each member, depending on the time they need to launch. This option for group member of any type.
  • Options for member of type Application:
    • Wait until the program finishes: if this option is enabled, the next member in the group will not be launched (or open) before this program or script ends;
    • Stop in case of error: if this program (or script) ends by returning an exit code (aka “error code” or “error level”) other than zero (zero meaning “no error”), the remaining member of the group will not be launched or open if this option is enabled;
    • Launch minimized: enable this option to open the window of this program minimized (for folders, see the Windows Options tab of favorite folders).

5) Launching favorites ,

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?

3) Adding Favorites , , , , , , ,

[Tips] Launch your browser to search for the text or URL in your clipboard

In this tip, you will make two favorites work together inside a group. When a group of favorites is selected in the menu, its favorites are launched sequentially. In this example, the first favorite will launch you preferred browser and the second one will paste the content of your clipboard to launch a search (with Google or Bing, for example, as configured in your browser).  This tip will also show you how to assign a keyboard shortcut to a group.

Note: Since v9.2, QAP allows to put the content of the Clipboard as a parameter for Application favorites using the {Clipboard} placeholder. The example in that page shows how to search for the clipboard using this placeholder. However, the tip in this page has the advantage of allowing to search for text in the Clipboard OR to open the URL in the Clipboard. Also, it shows you how a group and a little macro snippet can increase the possibilities of QAP.

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Experienced , ,