Tag: Parameters

How can I use placeholders in favorites location, parameters, snippet text, etc.?

Placeholders are special codes between curly brackets {...} inserted in your favorites properties that are replaced with text that can be different each time you open a favorite. It can be used to insert dynamic or interactive text in a text Snippet. It allows to adapt the location or parameter of a folder, document or application favorite to various situations like the active folder in Windows Explorer, the selected document or the active window. Some placeholders can also be used in favorites name.

Placeholders are presented in two groups:

Location placeholders

Interactive or dynamic placeholders

See also How can I debug placeholders and user variables?

5) Launching favorites ,

How can I enter multiple parameters for an application favorite?

In favorite’s Advanced Settings tab, you can enter command line parameters (also called arguments) that are added to the application path when the application is launched (more info on this). If you have only one parameter, simply type it in the field Parameters of the last tab of the Add/Edit Favorite dialog box. Usually, you would not need to enclose the parameter between double-quotes but this is something you could try if this does not work as expected.

You need to know that not all applications parse command-line parameters the same way. This is why some trial-error may be required. This is especially true if you want to enter more than one parameter. These parameters need to be separated by putting a space between them. But this may not be sufficient because spaces could be part of the parameters. The solution I found (based on my personal experience with a limited number of applications) is to enclose each parameter between double-quotes.

For example, if you want to launch Outlook with two parameters:

  • in Location (first tab) of an Application favorite, enter Outlook.exe (you don’t need to enter the full path if the application is properly registered in your Windows environment);
  • in the last tab Advanced Settings, in Parameters, enter “/a c:\filename.txt” “/nopollmail” (double quotes around each parameter, one space between the two parameters).

This will launch Outlook without checking mail at startup (“/nopollmail”) and will create a new mail item with the specified file attached (“/a c:\filename.txt”).
(note: this parameter /nopollmail used as an example does not work anymore with recent versions of Outlook)

But remember that this technique is not universal and may require adjustments depending on the target application.

5) Launching favorites

How do I add an application or script to my menu?

QAP can launch applications (.EXE or .COM) files, scripts (like .BAT batch files, .VBS or .AHK scripts, etc.). To add a favorite application or script, as for documents and folders, you can click the Browse button in the Basic Settings tab to select the application file. But, if the target application is already running, it is much easier to select it in the drop down list of running applications.

When you choose the application, the Short name for menu is automatically filled if it is not already entered.

Still in the Basic Settings tab, you can click the checkbox If the application is already running, activate it instead of launching. This will avoid launching multiple instances of the same application.

Advanced Parameters

In the Advanced Settings tab, you can run the application “as Administrator” by clicking the checkbox Elevate application with administration privileges. When launching this favorite, you may be prompted with the elevation alert or asked for the administrator password.

Also in the Advanced Settings tab, in the Start in zone, you can set the default directory for the application.

In this example, the ExamDiff application will open its Select file dialog boxes in the Music Docs folder. Take note that, unfortunately, not all application comply with the Windows Start in setting when launched.

Also in the Advanced Settings tab, the Parameters text box allows to pass additional information to the launched application. In the following example, the application Windows Explorer is launched with the /e parameter that opens Windows Explorer in multipane view (the parameter /n opens Windows Explorer in single-pane view).

3) Adding Favorites ,