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IDEA: slim folder menus on taskbar (not in system tray)

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Nod5:
In Win XP it is possible to add menus to the taskbar that displays any folder and all its subfolders and -files.
I use that feature a lot for very quick access to C:.

The only downside with the built in feature is that it wastes taskbar space for no good reason:
- the "arrow" that opens the menu is 1cm to the right of the label (could be above it)
- for root drives, XP forces the text "(C:)" to the right of the drive's name.



I have three harddrives and would ideally like to have a menu for each drive's root folder plus one more folder but refrain because it wastes too much taskbar space.

So my idea is this:

A tool that retains all the built in features for taskbar menus but that decreases the taskbar space for each menu.

Here's how I imagine it:





Clarification 1: there are several small apps that allow customizable menus from a tray icon. LaunchBarCommander , https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/LaunchBarCommander/index.html is one example. But I very much prefer a menu on the taskbar area to the left of the tray, since the tray icons tend to rearrange themselves as new applications start and close.

Clarification 2: my idea was to only find a way to decrease the taskbar space usage. The idea does not involve any added functionality on top of the built in folder menu feature. Again, there are several apps (again, like LaunchBarCommander) with a very rich set of features. I emphasize this because more features tend to come with larger file size and slower operation. Since I use the menu feature a lot even a small delay between a click and folder display would be annoying in the long run.

Any ideas how this idea could be implemented? I know that some applications add a search field, drop spot and so on to the taskbar so it is clearly possible, but I have no idea how complicated it is.

lanux128:
try Free LaunchBar or its beefed-up cousin, True LaunchBar..

mouser:
Thanks for mentioning my LaunchBar Commander Nod5  :up:

I was going to recommend exactly what lanux128 said.  And just a reminder, in addition to being a great program, True LaunchBar is very reasonably priced as is, but as a supporting member Nod5, you can take advantage of the generous discount the TLB author made available for our members (see normal discount area).

Nod5:
Thanks for the feedback!

I wasn't aware of Free Launch Bar or True Launch Bar.

From the comparison table on http://www.freelaunchbar.com/ it seems that only True Launch Bar supports the feature I want: "Virtual Folders (This is menus that show the content of any folder from My Computer (Control Panel, Printers any file system folder etc.)".

I'll test True Launch Bar later this week. However, my first impression from browsing the site is that it's very complex compared to what I need. (It's smallest installation pack is 1.86 MB)

I did some more searching and found what looks like a more minimal app ShortPopUp, http://www.digitallis.co.uk/pc/ShortPopUp/ . I'll test that too and report back here afterwards.

I also found this resource on creating "Desk Bands", http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/shell/programmersguide/shell_adv/bands.asp . However, that guide is way over my head so I can't implement it myself.

Nod5:
ShortPopUp didn't do what I wanted. It does not display a folder tree. I could get it to display a menu with links to folders. Clicking the links pops up an explorer window. But that's no good solution.

TrueLaunchBar (TLB) did just what I requested however (after fiddling around with the settings) -- see screenshots. One small drawback is that TLB displays hidden files within the folders which the built in taskbar folder system does not (even though I have explorer set to display hidden files). But that's no big problem.
edit: Never mind, it IS possible to not show hidden files: TLB settings > general options > show hidden files > never


The only other downside with TrueLaunchBar so far is that it "feels" too complex for this simple task even though I have nothing specific to complain about. I'll run the "demo version" for a while and see if it uses up a lot of system resources, causes the menu loading to lag or something like that. If not, then I'll go for it. It's only 10$ after the Donation Coder discount!

   

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