My Coding Projects Portable Freeware Applications for Windows

After close to nine months of (part-time) development, Quick Access Popup, the next generation of Folders Popup, is now ready!

You will benefit from multiple enhancements including: new revamped Add/Edit favorite dialog box, mouse or keyboard shortcuts for any favorite or submenu, hotkeys management dialog box, switch to any running Windows Explorer or application window, copy favorites, new FTP favorite type, integration with Windows folders icons and much more.

… And it’s still free!

What’s new in Quick Access Popup compared to Folders Popup?
Import your existing favorites and settings automatically

*Quick Access Popup is optimized for Windows 7 and more recent OS. Windows XP and Vista users can still use Folders Popup that will continue to be maintained for these versions.

Folders Popup is going under a major rewrite and will be released under the new name Quick Access Popup. Here is your chance to influence the future of your preferred app!

As mentioned in an earlier post, since its initial launch, Folders Popup evolved a lot. At the beginning, the app was solely doing folders change and launch. Now, it also launches documents, URLs and applications. In addition, various features were added to improve and accelerate your computer work. On many software directory web sites, Folders Popup is still described as only a folder launcher with very old screenshots and features lists. For most of them, these description cannot be updated. This is why I think about re-branding the app with new features and launch it as a new product called Quick Access Popup (still freeware, don’t worry!).

Now, what should be the next generation of Folders Popup? See the QAP wishlist and vote for your preferred features or add your comments and suggestions. Welcome the Quick Access Popup wishlist!

Version 5.1 released today is the last version of Folders Popup (except for bug fixes). After more than 18 months, the app evolved a lot and it is time now to take a step back and see how to prepare the next generation of this tool.

Since its initial launch, Folders Popup evolved a lot. At the beginning, the app was solely doing folders change and launch. Now, it also launches documents, URLs and applications. In addition, various features were added to improve and accelerate your computer work.

On many software directory web sites, Folders Popup is still described as only a folder launcher with very old screenshots and features lists. For most of them, these description cannot be updated. This is why I think about re-branding the app with new features and launch it as a new product (still freeware, don't worry!).

Now, choosing a name for an app is not easy! I had some ideas, each having their pros and cons. But what do YOU think? Please, be my focus group and vote for your preferred name. And, if you feel inspired, suggest your own new name using the comment form below. I'll add your suggestions to the poll.

When the new name will be chosen, I'll launch a new website to share ideas and collect your requests on a public wishlist. Thank you for your continuous support!

Version 5.1 is now available with two new languages and the addition of new improvements to get always more from Folders Popup:

New in release v5.1

• New menu Copy a Favorite's Path or URL... and shortcut Shift-Control-C to copy a location to the Clipboard.
  • This option opens the popup menu where you can choose what favorite's location you want to transfer to the Clipboard.
  • A tip in the notification zone prompts you to select the favorite to copy.
  • A message in the notification zone confirms that the location has been copied to the Clipboard.
  • A new check box in Options (first tab) allow you to choose to display or not the Copy a Favorite's Path or URL... menu.
• Two new languages!
  • Addition of Spanish translation, thanks to Kiketrucker.
  • Addition of Brazilian Portuguese translation, thanks to Igor Ruckert.
• Various improvements
  • Expand the relative path (like ../folder/) in favorite locations, based on the current working directory.
  • Sort URLs in the Clipboard menu.
  • Enable keyboard shortcuts even if Current folders, Groups of Folders and Clipboard menus are disabled.
• Bug fixes
  • Fix a bug causing an error when trying to show icon in the Clipboard menu when icons were not allowed.
  • In Change hotkey dialog box, make the selection of no hotkey (None) more obvious.
  • Fix a bug when adding folders using the drag-and-drop technique, these favorites being wrongly created as application favorites.
  • Various minor display and under-the-hood improvements.

Download and support here...

Version 5.1 is already on its way. This is a very early beta test. At this time, only one new feature is available for testing. But I will add some other features before releasing the final v5.1 in a few weeks. Beta testers are welcomed for testing right now.

What’s new in v5.1 (see details in comments section)

• Paste favorite's location to clipboard or keyboard according to destination selected in Options
• More to come...

Version 5 is almost ready for public release. Beta testers are welcomed for pre-release testing.

What’s new in v5

• New Application favorite type with new options for full control on application execution:
  • Parameters to pass to the application (arguments);
  • Start in to set application's working directory.
• Clipboard submenu:
  • submenu with folders, documents, applications path(s) and URLs found in the Clipboard;
  • only existing folder, documents or application files are displayed in the submenu;
  • when the Clipboard does not contain path or URL, the previous submenu content is preserved;
  • when FP is launched, the Clipboard submenu is empty (disabled) as long as the Clipboard does not contain a path;
  • an option allows to determine if the Clipboard menu is shown (default is true).
• Check for beta version updates:
  • check for beta versions updates at startup if user enables the Check for update option;
  • active only for users who ran a beta version previously.

This was a long awaited feature request: allow to resize the Settings window. And it is now almost ready for public release, after a few days of testing with beta users! Because of the windows management sensitivity, I prefer to run a beta phase for this feature before going public. I hope it will run OK on all supported plaftorms.

What's new in v4.3

I will soon release the interim version 4.2 of Folders Popup. But, before that, I would like to test these new features with the FP beta users group. If you are not already part of this group, please join in! This beta test phase should last one or two weeks. See download instructions at the end of this post.

What's new in v4.2