[Tips] Add favorites folders or files using drag-and-drop

Using your mouse and the drag and drop technique is an efficient way to add favorites from Windows Explorer to your Quick Access Popup menu. In this tip, you will see how to add folders, documents or applications to your menu without even having to touch your keyboard!

For this tutorial, you will create a submenu where you will drop your new favorites. First, in the Customize window, click the Add button and select Submenu. In the Add Favorite window, give your menu the name Dropped favorites and click Add. Open this new submenu in the Customize window by double-clicking its name or by selecting it in the Menu or group to edit: drop down list.

Now, to make it easier to drop files to the Customize window, locate the thumbtack icon on the left side of the Customize window. Click it to enable the always on top mode. Now, open the Windows Explorer window and notice that the Customize window always remains visible.

To add a folder to your menu, left-click its icon or name in the Windows Explorer window and drag it to the Customize window.

When you release the mouse button, the folder is dropped to the Customize window that automatically react by showing the Add favorite dialog box. Notice that the Folder (path) field is already filled with the location of the folder ant that the Short name for menu field contains the folder’s name.

Of course, you can edit the name, change the icon, etc. But if you want to keep it simple, just click the Add button and the new favorite will be added to your menu with all the default settings. The new favorites are automatically added after the selected item in the list or at the end of the menu if no favorite is selected.

You can use the same technique to add documents or applications to your menu. Just drag the document or application from Explorer to the Customize window, click Add and the favorite is added at the top of the menu in the Customize window.

In the example below, I added a folder, two documents (Word text and Excel workbook) and two applications (an .exe executable file and a .bat batch file).

Before you ask, you can’t drag-and-drop links from your browser to the Customize window.  Only three types of favorites can be added to the QAP menu using the drag-and-drop technique: folders, documents and applications. This is a Windows limitation.

Update (2021-01-31): Starting with v11.2, you can drag-and-drop an item inside a menu in the Customize window to change its position. However you can’t use it yet to move an item from one menu to another (this will be added in a future release).

Oh… One last thing! To disable the Customize window always on top mode, just click again on the thumbtack icon.