(Update February 2019) Up to version v9.4.1.3, the Quick Access Popup Easy Setup installer included an option to convert settings from Folders Popup (the “ancestor” of QAP, latest version v5.2.3, September 2016) in order to import them in QAP. This option has been removed in more recent releases installer.
To convert your Folders Popup (FP) settings to QAP must:
Download QAP version v9.4.1.3 and install it making sure you enable the option Import Folders Popup settings and favorites.
Everything possible is made to facilitate the transition from Folders Popup to Quick Access Popup.
The ImportFPsettings utility helps you do the transition from Folders Popup.
It imports favorites from Folders Popup and convert them to QAP format.
It also import options settings and hotkeys and adapt them to QAP.
Only Folders Popup groups settings cannot be imported to QAP settings. The group implementation has been completely reviewed in QAP, integrating them with favorites as if they were as special kind of submenus, making it difficult to import.
If you install QAP using the standard Setup program (v9.4.1.3 or before), make sure the Import Folders Popup settings and favorites option is checked during installation. The utility will be automatically executed after the initial QAP installation (if you preferred the portable installation, you must run ImportFPsettings manually).
Take note that ImportFPsettings replaces all favorites that could exist in QAP and overwrites existing option settings. It is recommended to use it when you just installed QAP.
After you installed QAP, do not forget to uninstall Folders Popup or, at least, remove it from your Startup group: uncheck Run at Startup in Folders Popup Options dialog box (first tab).
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)
In the Menu dropdown list, select the menu where the favorites will be added.
To exclude from the list the favorites already found in your menu, check the checkbox Exclude existing favorites.
For favorites from QAP Settings files, Folders or CSV file only, click the Browse button to select the source file or folder.
The list in the Add Multiple Favorites dialog box can be sorted by clicking on the column headers.
Click the favorites you with to add to your menu.
If you wish, you can edit the name of a favorite by selecting its row and pressing F2.
Click Add to insert the favorites in the destination menu and click Save in the Customize window.
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.
(2023-08-29 – this page has been updated to v11.6.2.3 )
First, about backups, QAP is automatically copying daily backups of your main settings file (QuickAccessPopup.ini) and keep the backups for the last 5 days in the backup folder selected in the Options, General tab. You can retrieve a backup file by putting aside the current QuickAccessPopup.ini file and rename the backup file from QuickAccessPopup-backup-YYMMDD.ini to QuickAccessPopup.ini.
If you need more flexibility, the QAP features Export Options and Favorites, Import Options and Import Favorites can be uses for two reasons:
exchange settings (favorites and options) between different PCs or different users;
create a backup of your favorites and global options in a file that you can save where you want.
To open the Import and Export dialog boxes, select one of the entries in the File menu in the Customize window menu bar. You can also add these features to your QAP menu by adding a QAP Feature found under the QAP Management section.
Exporting Options and Favorites
Choose the Destination file that will be created (if it does not exist) to store your exported data. The last destination file is remembered and displayed as default file. The path can include the %A_NowUTC% and %A_NowUTC% variables, environment variables, QAP user variables and placeholders. For example, the file name my-export-%A_Now%.ini would be converted to my-export-20230829112529.ini.
Choose the settings category to export: global options, hotkeys, alternative menu hotkeys and modifiers, themes and favorites.
Click the Export button.
You will be alerted if settings exist in the destination file and asked if you want to overwrite them or not. For favorites, you will be asked if you wish to overwrite or append the imported favorites. A report will summarize the completed actions.
Importing Options
Choose the Source file containing the data to import. The last source file is remembered and displayed as default file. The path can include environment variables, QAP user variables and placeholders.
Choose the settings category to import: global options, hotkeys, alternative menu hotkeys and modifiers, and themes.
Click the Import button.
You will be asked if you want to overwrite existing settings or not. A report will summarize the completed actions.
Importing Favorites
Favorites can be imported in the Add Multiple Favorites dialog box available under Edit, Add Multiple Favorites. This dialog box offers many source options. To import favorites from a QAP settings file, select QAP Settings File (tree view). You can also access this dialog box with this option selected by choosig the menu File, Import Favorites. More info on adding multiple favorites, see: Can I add multiple favorites in one click?
Note: before QAP v10.3.2, the import/export features had an undocumented size limitation. This was an issue if the size of the [Favorites] section of you settings file was larger than 65,532 characters. This is why, for safety, it is mandatory to update QAP to v10.3.2 (or more recent) before using the Export command.
The ini file format described in this page also applies to shared menus, exported settings file and to import settings files. See also What are the values in the QAP settings (ini) file? for detailed reference info.
Regular users should not be required to edit these files except in rare situations described in the FAQ or in the Support page.
[Global] Section
This section contains settings managed in the Options dialog box or managed internally by QAP.
See also the special [Global] values for Shared menus below.
[Favorites] Section
This section contains the favorites found in your QAP menu. It starts with the first item in your main menu (“Favorite1=…”) and ends with a line with a favorite of type “Z” (“Favorite7=Z” in the following example). When a submenu is added to your menu, it starts with a line of type “Menu” and ends with a line of type “Z” (“Favorite5=Z” below) and it continues with the content of the previous menu. Submenus can be nested at will. FavoriteN numbers must be consecutive. Menu loading stops at first missing N.
For example:
[Favorites]
Favorite1=Folder|Name of folder in main menu|...
Favorite2=Document|Name of document in main menu|...
Favorite3=Menu|Submenu name|...
Favorite4=Folder|Name of folder in submenu|...
Favorite5=Z
Favorite6=Folder|Name of next folder in main menu|...
Favorite7=Z
FavoriteN= where N is a number starting at 1. One favorite line contains infos delimited by | (pipe), real pipes in values being replaced with the sequence “Сþ€” in ini file for all values except fields 1, 7 and 8.
Each time the favorites are saved using QAP, a [Favorites-backup] section is created with the current content of the [Favorites] section. Be careful to edit the current [Favorites] section and not its backup.
Themes settings
[Gui-Grey] and other sections starting with “Gui-” are theme descriptions. More info on themes in this page: Quick Access Popup Color Themes.
[AlternativeMenuHotkeys] section
This section contains the hotkey (shortcuts) settings managed in the Alternative Menu Hotkeys tab of the Options dialog box.
[AlternativeMenuModifiers] section
This section contains the modifiers that can be used in the QAP menu to call Alterative menu features, set in the Alternative Menu Hotkeys tab of the Options dialog box.
[LocationHotkeys] section (deprecated after v8.7.1.1)
Up to version v8.7.1.1, this section contained the favorites hotkey (shortcuts) settings managed in Change hotkey dialog box. You can open this dialog box in the Shortcut section of the Menu Options tab in the Add/Edit Favorite dialog box or in the the Manage Hotkeys dialog box.
From v8.7.1.93, shortcuts are saved in the [Favorites] section as parameter #20 (see object model).
Import and Export ini files
The files created when your export settings comply to the format described in this page. Files imported must also comply with this format. However, they could include any or all of these settings sections: Favorites, Hotkeys, Alternative menu hotkeys, Alternative menu modifiers, Global settings and Themes. More info on import/export commands here: Can I backup, import or export my favorites and settings?
Shared menus
Shared menu are saved in ini files complying to the format described in this page. But they contain only a [Favorites] section as described earlier and a special [Global] section with shared menu specific variables. More information about shared menu settings file: What is the content of a shared menus settings file (for advanced users)?