How do I make sure that Quick Access Popup is launched when I start Windows?

If you installed Quick Access Popup with the Easy Setup installation, the application is launched automatically when you start Windows. If you prefered the portable installation (ZIP file) you will see hot to enable the auto-start here (this will create a shortcut in the Windows Startup folder).

This option can be turned on or off in one of these ways.

  • Right-click the QAP icon in the Notification Area (System Tray) menu to open the QAP system menu and select/deselect Run at Startup.
    or
  • In the Customize dialog box, select Options, General in the menu bar to open the Options dialog box and check/uncheck the Run at Startup option in General tab.

Notes for users who choose portable install: When you install a the new version of QAP, the shortcut in your Startup folder is automatically updated to launch the new version, if automatic startup is enabled.

In what languages is Quick Access Popup available?

Quick Access Popup is available in various languages, thanks to voluntary translators for their precious work. Select your working language in the Options window, General tab.

Language Thanks to translators! Review in your language
French Jean Lalonde Quick Access Popup : accédez rapidement aux dossiers utilisés fréquemment (Freewares & Tutos)
German Edgar “Fast Edi” Hoffmann Quick Access Popup ist ein toller Nachfolger von Folders Popup. Die Möglichkeit, jetzt auch Programme zu starten oder Webseiten aufzurufen, macht daraus einmal mehr ein Allroundtool für jeden (Giga Software)
Italian Riccardo Leone Quick Access Popup: crea le scorciatoie per le cartelle e programmi (dundi.it)
Spanish Isaias Baez Quick Access Popup
Brazilian Portuguese Igor Ruckert Quick Access Popup (Baixaki)
Portuguese Luis Neves Quick Access Popup (Baixaki)
Dutch Ric Roggeveen Quick Access Popup – Snel toegang tot al je favorieten
Workshop QuickAccessPopup (QAP) is handige hulp bij bestandsnavigatie 
Korean Maeng Bong Kyun  
Simplified Chinese ilaoyao  
Russian WYLEK.ru Post about QAP on WYLEK.ru

Quick Access Popup was originally written in English. Proofreading always appreciated.

 

Can I change folders in file dialog boxes (Open, Save As, etc.)?

Changing folder inside Save As or Open dialog boxes is often described as being the single most productivity booster offered by Quick Access Popup.

Yes, the main QAP triggers (middle mouse button or Windows+W) can change folders in all software that use the standard Windows file dialog boxes (Open, Save As, etc.). It can instantly open one of your current, recent, frequent or pre-configured favorites folders.

 

However, this feature must be enabled in Options (first tab General, first option). The first time you try to change the folder in a dialog box, QAP takes you to this Options, General window.

 

If you enable this option, you understand that this feature is reserved to “file dialog boxes” (Open, Save As, etc.). If you use it in other types of dialog box, for example a Preferences dialog box, trying to change folder in this dialog box could modify and save values in the dialog box without any notification (see a more technical explanations below).

In order to enable Change folders in dialog box, you must confirm in the QAP Options that you understand the consequence of misusing the change folder feature in “non-file dialog boxes” and that you will only use it the proper dialog boxes.

Reopen Current Folder in Dialog Box

Talking about dialog boxes, the QAP feature Reopen Current Folder in Dialog Box under the submenu My QAP Essentials can accelerate your work in file dialog boxes by taking you instantly to the folder you use in Windows Explorer. See this video demo.

Technical explanation

If the Change folders in dialog box is enabled and you select a Folder favorite while the mouse cursor is over a dialog box (or when a dialog box is the active window if you use the keyboard hotkey), QAP sends commands to change the current folder in this dialog box. If the dialog box is not an Open or Save As dialog box, if it is an Options dialog box instead, for example, QAP cannot detect it (because all dialog boxes have the same class name “#32770”, regardless of the dialog box task) and QAP will act as if it was a file dialog box.

To change folder, QAP tries to change the content of a text field of the dialog box named internally “Edit1” or “Edit2” (in a file dialog box, this field is usually labeled File name). If it succeeds, QAP sends “Enter” to press the OK button of the dialog box. In a file dialog box, it changes the current folder in the dialog box. Then, QAP restores the initial content of the Filename field and stops, letting the user continue his work.

If the dialog box is not a file dialog box but contains an “Edit1” or “Edit2” (I’ve seen this situation only once but I have no stats on this), there is a risk to see the text field changed and the “Enter” sent to the OK to the dialog box, saving the changed content without the user consent.

What are the QAP global options?

This sections of the Options in this page are in the order they appear in QAP v11.6.3 and more recent (not necessarily in the order displayed in the screen captures of this page). For options of QAP versions older than v10, see this page.

To open the Options dialog box, in the Customize window, select Options and one of the 15 sections of the dialog box in the menu bar (or hit Ctrl + O).

In the General tab

In the Customize Window tab

  • Select if the QAP Customize window is open when QAP is launched.
  • Select if the favorites list and search result list display additional columns with last modification date, creation date and, if the database is enabled, last usage date and usage frequency.
  • Remember the Customize window position (else, the window is centered on the screen).
  • On a multi-monitor system, select if the Customize window is displayed on the active monitor.
  • Select if QAP check if an existing favorite has the same location or content as the saved favorite.
  • 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 the Explorer context menus.
  • On the right side, set the Search scope to all favorites from the Main menu (default) or search only for favorites under the menu currently displayed in the Customize window.
  • Decide if QAP should use the Windows locale settings when searching for favorites (e.g. “é” considered as “e”).
  • Display the popup menu near the mouse pointer, in the active window or at a fix position.
  • Display the Drives, Recent Folders and Recent Files menus attached or detached from the popup menu.
  • Enable or disable QAP Explorer Context menus (option available only if you installed QAP using the Easy Setup program).
  • Manage the exclusion or inclusion list of applications where the QAP mouse menu trigger is blocked.
  • Use the Get window info button to identify the window to include or exclude.
  • Display keyboard or mouse shortcuts reminders in menu in short or long format. 
  • On the right side, display hotstrings reminders in menu in short or long format.
  • Select the option to use Display Numeric Menu Shortcuts to launch favorites with your keyboard.
  • Set the number of items in the Recent folders and Recent Files menus.
  • Set the maximum number of path levels in Recent/Frequent menus (exceeding levels will be truncated from the beginning)
  • Set the number of items in the Repeat actions menu.
  • Add Close to menus created by QAP allowing to dismiss them if clicking elsewhere does not dismiss them.
  • Display or hide menu icons, and choose menu icons size.
  • Override default document icons with your own custom icons.
  • Set replacement icons for the standard QAP icon.
  • Set a custom icon for Link favorites (used instead of the default browser’s icon)

In the Alternative Hotkeys tab

  • Set mouse or keyboard shortcuts, and keyboard modifiers for Alternative menu features.
  • Use the Reset default modifiers to restore the initial settings.

In the File Managers tab

  • Keep the default file manager Windows Explorer or enable support for Directory OpusTotal Commander or Universal file manager support. After you selected your preferred file manager, fill the additional options as shown below for your file manager.
  • When opening the QAP menu by clicking outside of the Preferred File Manager window (or when another window than this file manager is active), set if you QAP opens the folders in a new window (default) or in the current (or last used) Preferred File Manager window.

In the Snippets and Hotstrings tab

In the User Variables tab

In the Database tab

  • Enable or disable the database collecting info from the Recent Items Windows special folder to build the Frequent Folders, Frequent FilesRecent Folders and Recent Files menus and to accelerate the refresh of some dynamic menus.
  • Set the database refresh interval, the number of days considered in the Frequent menus, and maximum size of the database.
  • Flush the content of the database.
  • Show or not a frequency indicator for folders and files in menus and in the Customize window.
  • Select where the QAP menu bar is displayed.
  • Enable automatic refresh of the Shared menus and Live folders menus and set its refresh frequency.
  • Open the menu when hitting the QAP menu trigger on the Windows taskbar.
  • Avoid having the Clipboard menu refreshed if its size exceeds a certain limit.
  • Set the maximum number of items in the Live Folders of your menu.
  • Show the Switch Settings file and Switch to default Settings file menu items under the File menu.
  • Indicate if network drives can sometimes be offline and indicate the network drive letters.

In the Launch Advanced Options tab

  • Run  Quick Access Popup as an administrator.
  • Refresh the Windows Apps list at each QAP startup (if disabled, you can refresh it on demand in the Add Favorite dialog box).
  • Set a replacement for the QAP icon in the Notification zone of the Windows task bar in the “file,index” format, for example C:\Folder\MyFile.exe,1).

In the Various Advanced Options tab

  • Change the delay (in milliseconds) inserted at various steps of the process of changing folder in dialog boxes.
  • Uncheck the Always open Links in new tab or window to navigate a Link favorite in the current browser tab instead of opening the link in a new tab.
  • Enable favorite debugging for placeholders and user variables to display the debug option in Add/Edit Favorites, Basic Settings tab.
  • Keep file name extension when suggesting a name for favorite in Add/Edit Favorites dialog box.
  • Use ASCII codes (ALT+0nnn) when changing folder in Windows Command Line (CMD) or PowerShell for better compatibility for users of international Windows versions (else QAP sends the characters in raw mode).
  • Enable the Shared Menu Catalogue and set in what location Shared menus can easily be added to user’s menu.
  • Change the delays inserted at various steps of Snippets execution (in milliseconds).
  • Set the number of rows in the Manage Icons window (keep zero for the maximum). More info here if the window becomes too large.

What is the “close menu issue”?

What I call the “close menu issue” is an intermittent issue (probably caused by Windows) preventing users from closing the QAP popup menu by clicking outside of the menu or by hitting the Escape key as they would do normally. As a result, users have to click an item to close the menu. This is annoying when a user opens the menu but changes its mind and does not want to launch any favorite.

This issue occurs intermittently under Windows 7 and Windows 10 (probably also with 8/8.1 or Windows 11). Some user are facing it frequently. Other, like me, see it only occasionally. There are probably others that never see it.

I tried various methods to get around this issue but, in the end, the changes I made in my code had side-effects worse than the initial issue. For this reason, I added the option Add “Close” to menus (in the Options window, Menu Appearance tab). If this option is turned on (checked), the Close this menu entry is automatically added to the main QAP popup menu, to the Alternative menu, to all dynamic menus and to menu that can be open by a shortcut or a hotstring. This option is turned on by default.

 

What if you never encounter this issue?

If you are always able to close the QAP popup menu by clicking outside of the menu or by hitting the Escape key, you can save the space taken by the Close this menu entries. In the Options, deselect the Add “Close” to menu check box.