If you know the first letters of the favorite or a recent file/folder you want to open, save more time! Instead of opening the QAP menu and look for the favorite in one of your submenus, just open the Quick Launch box, type a few letters and press Enter or select the favorite you want to launch in the list.

Opening the Quick Launch box

If you installed QAP for the first time with version 11.6 or more recent, this feature is already included in your QAP menu. Open it under the My QAP Essentials submenu or hit the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+Q.

IMPORTANT: If, on the other hand, you upgraded QAP from a version earlier that v11.6, you have to add the feature to your QAP menu. Add a favorite of type QAP Feature and select Quick Launch under the Various Utilities section.

In both case, you can change the keyboard shortcut in the Edit favorite dialog box’s Menu Options tab. For example, you could prefer the Middle Mouse Button with the Alt or Ctrl modifier key. Finally, it is always possible to open the box from the Customize window menu bar Tools, Quick Launch menu.

Launching favorites

To launch a favorite with the Quick Launch box, simply type a few letters. Favorites and recent items with these letters in their name will be listed sorted by usage, the most frequently used first. The more letters you type the more precise is the search result.

At any time, you can launch the highlighted item by pressing Enter. By default, the first item is already selected. You can use Down/Up arrows to select another item and press Enter. You can also double-click on an item to launch it. If it is a folder or a document, QAP will open it. If it is a menu, it will display the menu.

If you have a lot of favorites in your QAP menu, to be more specific in your search, type multiple sequences separated by space. For example, type qui pop to search items having “qui” AND “pop” in their name.

Quick Launch options

There are a few Options that you can set to change the way the Quick Launch box behaves. Under Options, Customize Window, you can enable the Extended Search (search all properties). That way, you query will return more results because the search is done not only in the favorites and files name but also in all favorites properties (location, parameters, snippet content, etc.).

By default, Recent and Frequent menus are included in the Quick Launch result. This means that not only the favorites in your menu are included in the search result but also the folders or files you used recently or frequently. By default, the option Include Recent and Frequent menus items is enabled. If you prefer, you can turn this option off to exclude these folders and files.

By default the Quick Launch box shows 10 search results. You can always resize this window manually. If you prefer, you can change the default height by setting a different Number of rows of search result.

Finally, you can set the sort order of the Quick Launch box. By default, the most frequently used favorites will be shown first. This works only if your database is enabled in the Options, Database. If you prefer, you can Sort by: Favorite name or by the Menu order following the natural order of the favorites in your menu.

Using Quick Launch with the Alternative menu

The QAP Alternative menu gives access to actions that can be taken on items from your menu. Normally, you would open the Alternative menu with Shift+Middle Mouse Button and afterwards select a favorite in your QAP menu. With Alternative menu features, you can Edit a Favorite, Copy a Favorite’s Path or URL (or event a snippet content), Run as administrator for an application and Open the Containing Folder of the favorite. See What are the Alternative menu features? for more details.

You can use these commands in the Quick Launch search result. Right-click on an item to open the Alternative menu and select the action you want to take on this item.

You can also call the Alternative menu features with keyboard keys. For example, if you press the Right Shift key while you double-click on a favorite or press Enter, this will open the folder containing a favorite. You can review the Alternative menu hotkeys in Options, Alternative Menu Hotkeys.