Classic Shell: Forum

The basic idea is that most applications come with a start menu folder with multiple items (the application, uninstall, help, faq, website, etc.) Usually there's only one item that you actually care about. So, by selecting an item and setting it as "Main in folder" when you click on the containing folder, that item will be launched without actually needing to navigate into the folder. The folder icon is also replaced by the icon of the "Main in folder" item. Hovering over the folder will still open the folder in the normal way, so if you need to access the other contents, you can. This was a great time saving feature of Vista Start Menu / Start Menu X which is otherwise slow and a memory hog. I'd love to see this implemented in Classic Shell.

Yes this is a great and productivity-boosting idea and I've seen it in the PRO version of the Vista Start Menu / Start Menu X. But it still retains folders which do increase hierarchical complexity. An even better way would be to use a shell namespace extension to hide junk shortcuts so only the main EXE is shown unless it is a suite-like program with multiple EXE shortcuts in which case it will show them inside a folder.

Although Ivo will decide since he's the developer about the actual implementation.

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Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

I'll have to give this a try! I tried searching for the functionality and didn't see a previous feature request, but sometimes it's hard to know exactly what to search for. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction. Hopefully if someone else wants to ditch Start Menu X searches for this feature they'll find your post.

No I meant that a shell namespace extension isn't something that is implemented yet in Classic Shell as of 4.0.2. I was suggesting an idea too to include one in Classic Shell which reduces the levels of folder hierarchy without flattening suite-like programs.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Ohhh, I missunderstood. Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully we'll see a feature like this soon!

The upside of the "Main in folder" concept is that lets say I have a bunch of Adobe software installed, but mainly I just use photoshop. Sometimes I'll need to open Illustrator or Bridge or whatever, but usually I'll want photoshop. That is to say, sometimes not all the other links are garbage, but you might still only use one 95% of the time.

Yes I've used Start Menu X Pro and seen it's 'Main in folder' feature. Nice idea.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Have you considered moving all your "garbage" items to a Garbage subfolder, so that you are left with a nice, short menu of your "Favorites", plus, of course, your Garbage subfolder (or a shortcut to it, if it is kept elsewhere)?

I've had good results with Garbage subfolders; however, I too would like to see a "Main in Folder" feature in Classic Shell's next release.

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Kind Regards,
Retired Engineer

Moving links in the Start Menu breaks them for uninstallers. When you uninstall a program, they don't get removed if they're moved. A better alternative might be to set the hidden attribute on them so they get hidden from the menu. In the rare case when you want to use them, open the Start Menu folder in Windows Explorer to use them.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.