What’s new in Quick Access Popup compared to Folders Popup?

Note: This page is based on the first version of Quick Access Popup (v7). See what’s new since then in the News section.

Welcome to Quick Access Popup (QAP)! Here are all the improvements implemented in this new product.

Transition from Folders Popup to QAP

The ImportFPsettings utility helps you do the transition from Folders Popup.

  • It imports favorites from Folders Popup and convert them to QAP format (except groups).
  • It also import options settings and hotkeys and adapt them to QAP.

If you use the standard Setup program, 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 prefer the portable installation, 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. More info here: I’m upgrading from Folders Popup. Can I import my favorites and option settings?

Favorite Types

In addition to the existing favorite types in Folders Popup (Folders, Documents, Applications, Special Folders, Links and Menus), Quick Access Popup adds five new favorite types:

  • FTP: Open FTP sites in Explorer, Directory Opus or Total Commander, with automatic login with user name and password inserted in site address.
  • Snippet: paste pieces of text or send keystrokes to the active application from QAP.
  • QAP Features: Allowing to insert features like Reuse an Open Folder, Add This Folder, etc. in any submenu and assign them the shortcuts and icons of you choice.
  • Groups: Launch a group of favorites of any type in one click; unlike in Folders Popup, groups management has been completely integrated with favorites management.
  • External menus: manage favorites submenus in external setting files that can be saved on a share drive.

Favorites dialog box

A brand new favorite Add/Edit favorite dialog box with four tabs:

  1. Basic Settings: all the info required to create a favorite, menu name and favorite’s path.
  2. Menu Options: optional selection of icon, shortcut and favorite position in menu. Also use this tab to set Windows folders icons to the images selected in QAP.
  3. Window Options: optional position of window when opening a folder in a new window, available for Folders, Special folders and FTP sites, with a configurable delay when moving/resizing the window (Windows Explorer, Directory Opus and Total Commander).
  4. Advanced Settings: various advanced settings depending on favorite types.
  • Advanced favorite settings:
    • Launch with this application: executable to use to launch a folder, special folder, document, link or FTP site.
    • Start in: working directory for applications.
    • Parameters: command-line parameters added to the command, available for all types of favorites, supporting location placeholders {LOC} for full location, {NAME} for file name, {DIR} for directory, {EXT} for extension, {NOEXT} for file name without extension and {DRIVE} for drive letter.
    • Encode FTP URL: encode login name and password added to the FTP site URL.
  • Groups of favorites: create a group of related favorites to be launched in one click, with each favorite folders in a group having its own window position and advanced settings.

These functionalities will ease the creation of favorites:

  • Add this folder: this QAP feature now remembers the current window position of the added favorite and move/resize the window to that position when the favorite is launched in a new window.
  • Add this folder Express: add a new folder in one click. No question asked! The new favorite folder is immediately saved at the top of the main menu where you can edit it if required.
  • Application favorite: add an application favorite by selecting it in a list of running applications.

Hotkeys for favorites and submenus

This one is a major addition. Each favorite can be assigned a shortcut allowing your folders, document, applications, web or FTP sites to be launched with a hotkey. Even submenus can be open with their own hotkey.

You can set a favorite’s hotkey in the Menu Options tab in the Add/Edit Favorite dialog box. When you assign a shortcut to a favorite, all other favorites with the same location will also be assigned this shortcut.

To view and edit all assigned shortcuts, a new dialog box has been added to the Settings window. Click the Hotkeys button on the right side.

QAP Features

Instead of selecting in Options the features to display in the FP popup menu, Quick Access Popup gives you full flexibility in the way you access these special features. When you install QAP, a configurable menu My QAP Essentials is created. You can customize this menu: add features, move them to other menus or remove them, in addition to selecting shortcuts or icons. Here is a list of the most useful QAP features:

  • Switch: switch to a windows from a menu built with the list of running applications and folders open in Explorer or Directory Opus (folders open in Total Commander are not available yet).
  • Reopen a Folder: open a folder from a menu built with the list of folders open in Explorer or Directory Opus (folders open in Total Commander are not available yet).
  • Recent Folders: open a folder from a menu built with the list of folders recently open with Windows.
  • Clipboard: open a folder, a document, an application or a website from a menu built with the list of file paths or URL currently found in the Clipboard.
  • Drives: list of all drives on your system with total capacity and free space.
  • Add This Folder: add the current folder to popup menu.
  • Add This Folder Express: one-click addition of the current folder to the main popup menu.
  • Hotkeys: open a dialog box listing all favorite shortcuts in your popup menu and giving access to the Change hotkey dialog box.
  • Settings: direct access to the Setting dialog box.
  • Options: direct access to the Options dialog box.
  • Get window Title and Class: copy the clicked window title and class to the clipboard allowing to use this info in the QAP Exclusion list or in other apps.
  • … and other QAP features, see What are the QAP features?.

Groups of favorites

Group of folders in Folders Popup has been completely revamped and integrated with the favorites management.

  • Now, you can create and manage groups as you would do for submenus.
  • Any type of favorites can be included in a group: folders, applications, documents, etc.
  • Favorites can be moved in and out of groups and submenus.
  • If a folder in a group has its own window location properties (in the Window Options tab), the favorite is restored at its location and size.
  • In the QAP popup menu, group names are followed by the number of items in the group between double-square brackets (for example: Group name [[5]]) making groups easy to recognize in menus.
  • A delay can be configured in group’s advanced settings to pace the restoration of group windows.
  • Folders in groups can be launched with Explorer, Directory Opus or Total Commander.
  • With Directory Opus and Total Commander, user can select if folders are open in a tab in the left or right pane.

Because groups has been completely redesigned, the existing FP groups cannot be imported to QAP by the ImportFPsettings utility (see Transition from Folders Popup to QAP below).

Navigation in Settings window

Browsing your favorites in the Settings window has been reviewed.

  • Double-click the back link (“..”) at the top of the list to return to a parent menu.
  • Double-click on a menu name in the favorite list to open and edit its content (use the Edit button to edit the menu item itself).
  • Double-click on a group name in the favorite list to open and edit the favorites to launch as a group (use the Edit button to edit the group item itself).

Create a favorite by copying an existing one

If you need to create a new favorite with settings similar to an existing one, just select the original favorite in Settings and click the Copy button or hit Control-C. Rename the new favorite or select another submenu using the Menu Options tab.

You can copy favorites of types Folder, Document, Application, Special Folder, Link, FTP and QAP Feature. The Menus and Groups cannot be copied.

Popup menu Hotkeys

QAP introduces a new logic for popup menu triggers. There are still two types of triggers and each one has a mouse button and a keyboard hotkey. The two triggers types are now named:

  1. QAP menu triggers (mouse default is middle mouse button and keyboard default is Windows+W)
    • These triggers show the QAP popup menu over any window (except those excluded, see Exclusion list below).
    • In the QAP menu, the favorite you choose is launched in a new window.
    • But, if the favorite is a folder and the target window supports folder navigation (Windows Explorer, Console or other file managers), the window location is changed to the favorite folder.
    • Folder navigation is also available for file dialog boxes (Open, Save As, etc.) but this has to be enabled in Options window (see the Options window, General tab).
  2. Alternative menu triggers (mouse default is Shift+middle mouse button and keyboard default is Shift+Windows+W).
    • These triggers show the Alternative menu over any windows.
    • In the Alternative menu, you select the actions to apply to one of your favorite (see the list of Alternative menu features below).
    • Then, in the QAP menu, select the target favorite on which the Alternative menu feature will be executed.

Note: The default keyboard shortcuts Windows+A and Shift+Windows+A in Folders Popup has been replaced with Windows+W and Shift+Windows+W because Windows+A is now a reserved shortcut in Windows 10. However, if you import Folders Popup settings (see Transition from Folders Popup to QAP below), your shortcuts will be kept the same until you change them yourself.

Alternative menu features

Folders Popup users suggested different actions to be applied to the favorites in addition to simply launching them. Some suggested to introduce different hotkeys for these actions. In order minimize the number of hotkeys to remember and to gather all these special features under one menu, QAP now offers a Alternative menu with the following features.

  • Open in new window: open the favorite in a new window instead of changing the folder in the target window.
  • Edit a Favorite: modify a favorite directly from the QAP menu (without having to open the Settings window and browse to the favorite submenu).
  • Copy a Favorite’s Path or URL: copy the file path or the URL of a favorite to your clipboard in order to paste it in any other window.
  • … for other Alternative menus, see What are the Alternative menu features?

After the user selected the Alternative menu action, the regular QAP popup menu is displayed where you can choose on what favorite execute the feature. For example, to edit a favorite directly from the QAP menu:

  1. Open the Alternative menu with Shift+middle mouse button or Shift+Windows+W.
  2. Select Edit a Favorite.
  3. Select the favorite to edit in the QAP popup menu.

Exclusion list

There may be some windows where the user does not want the QAP mouse trigger to interfere with the normal use the application. An exclusion list has been added in the Options dialog box (tab Exclusion list). When the target window is in the exclusion list, the QAP mouse hotkey is disabled and is sent to the target windows as if QAP was not running.

More info: Can I block the QAP menu trigger (middle mouse button) if it interfere with one of my other apps?

Menus

In Options, General tab you have the option to display favorite’s shortcut reminders in popup menu. The reminder can be displayed as full name (for example, “Windows+W” or “Control+Left Mouse Button”) or as abbreviated name (for example, “#W” or “^LButton”). See this reference about short names.

At its first execution, QAP creates a default menu named My QAP Essentials containing these QAP features: Add This Folder, Reopen a Folder, Recent Folders and Clipboard. This menu can be edited, moved or delete as any other submenu.

Integration with Windows folders icons

If the folder you add to your favorites already has a custom icon, this icon will automatically be associated to your new favorite and shown in your QAP menu. If the folder has no icon, you can use the Add/Edit favorite dialog box link Set Windows folder icon to change the folder icon to the images selected for your favorite. That way, your QAP menu and your Windows file system will show the same icons for your favorite folders. QAP can also Remove Windows folder icon if you want to revert your changes.

Support for environment variables and PATH folders

In any file path (folder, document or application), the system environment variables like %appdata%, %public%, %temp% or %userprofile% (etc.) are supported in favorite location (for example: “%appdata%\Microsoft\Templates” will take you to the folder “C:Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates”).

System variables can also be inserted in favorite Advanced settings parameters, Launch with this application and Start in.

You can also enter a location without path. In this case, the file is searched in the PATH environment variable directories or in Windows registry App Path keys. Also, if you enter an application location without a file extension, it is searched for all executable extensions in the PATHEXT variable: .COM; .EXE; .BAT; .CMD; .VBS; etc.

File managers support

As Folders Popup, Quick Access Popup still supports the file managers Total Commander and Directory Opus (in addition to standard Windows file managers Windows Explorer and Console). Folders Popup also supports other file managers using a third-party addon called FPconnect developed by tpr. In Quick Access Popup, the addon FPconnect is not required anymore since all the information about the 15 file managers collected by tpr is now made available directly in QAP thanks to the new settings file QAPconnect.ini delivered with QAP.

With the help of tpr and other users, this list of file managers will be augmented with new apps or adapted to newer versions. The most up-to-date QAPconnect.ini file will be distributed with QAP.

The following features are supported with QAPconnect-ed file managers:

  • Open favorite folders and special folders in in a new window (launch).
  • Open favorite folders and special folders in the current window (navigate) if the target window supports navigation.
  • Resize or move the file manager window (not very reliable at this time – need more work).

Many other features work perfectly with all these file managers. However, some features are not available at this time. The most noticeable unsupported QAP feature is the Reopen a Folder menu.

To enable your file manager:

  1. In Quick Access Popup, open the Settings window, click the Options button and open File managers tab. Then, select the QAPconnect radio button and click the Edit QAPconnect.ini button.
  2. In the list of file managers, find your file manager and adapt its parameters to reflect the current setup of your file manager file. Save this file.
  3. Back to the File managers tab, choose your file manager in the Application drop-down list and Save your choice.

Note: The file managers Directory Opus and Total Commander are already supported by QAP without needing additional settings in QAPconnect.ini. To use one of these file managers, select them in OptionsFile managers support tab.

Language

At this time, Quick Access Popup is available in Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

OS Support

QAP requires Windows 7 or more recent OS. Windows XP users are invited to stay with Folders Popup. QAP will run on Windows Server with the only limitation that icons are not displayed in menus.