Classic Shell: Forum

I'd love a feature to add multiple links to a single folder, so we can show the links of multiple folders or locations into a single menu item

like take the shortcuts in the "Fast Items" from %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu and %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
(C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu, and C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu) and combine the contents in a single folder display on the start menu

you could add a new "Link" Field to a location simply by pressing the "[+]" button under the current "Link" Field

another cool feature would be to give an option "display only ".*" files.. where you could select multiple file types, such as "*.exe", "*.lnk" etc.. this way we could display all .exe files from both our "Program Files" & "Program Files (x86)" folders, from multiple drives (C:\, D:\, etc) and have them show up in Classic Start Menu in one folder

it would need to link to items in sub-folders as well

and it would be cool if it could have the options to "do not include duplicates" & "rename duplicates"

maybe it could monitor the selected folders for changes, and create shortcuts of its own for all those programs in its own folder or something..

just a thought

anyone know of a program to scan multiple folders for certain file types & create links to them all into a different folder? and possibly monitor those folders, or be able to find differences in them when they've been updated and extract the new links? or maybe be able to create links as they're installed or something?

thanks

Libraries already allow you to combine multiple folders. Just add the folders you want combined to one Library in Explorer, and add the Library to the Start Menu as a link. To add any library, add the following as a Link:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\<name of Library file>.library-ms

In case of your Start Menu folders, Classic Start Menu already combines the All Users and per-user Fast Items, so you're requesting a feature that already exists. It shows it without a sub-menu. You can create a Library that combines the fast items as well and show it as a sub-menu.

As for finding and filtering files, that is the job of Explorer's search feature. You can save the Explorer search as a search-ms file and add a command to it from Classic Start Menu.

On Windows 8, there is a shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1} virtual folder (Try opening it from Run dialog). It is basically an A-Z flat view of all shortcuts to all programs in your Start Menu minus the neat organization into folders. You can add that as a link too.

_________________
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.

thanks for the library tip

i know it combines the two locations on the start menu, the 'fix' part was for displaying the multiple columns, without the scrolling, which we currently cant turn off or fix or change..

and about that filtering thing, i was referring more to a program that is built for this function, like the Windows 8 Virtual Folder, which would give an A-Z list of all programs in several specified folders, and then display them as links or whatever win8virtual folder does... and that would also automatically update as items were added or removed from the monitored folders

i'd like to find a program that does that for Windows 7, or I'd love it if Classic Shell could include that function.. sort of taking the best from both sides, win8 & XP/win7

Yes for folders pinned to the Start menu via drag and drop (not Custom Items), they currently show as a single column. You meant those right?

_________________
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.

yep thats the one I hope can get improved at some point, if possible

Btw I found something similar to what you asked about the automatic monitoring and shortcut creation: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-disc ... older.html Maybe it will help.

_________________
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.

thats cool, thanks

actually, the folders are filled with programs I dont really need or want pinned to my start programs.. like uninstalls, etc..

I think the method i did the write-up for in this tutorial will work, viewtopic.php?f=5&t=327

since it only really needs to be done one time, after that I can just pin the ones I want..

I decided to leave the "ProgramsMenu" as a folder in the right column, out of the way, and then put the ProgramLauncher one in place of where Programs used to be, so i can just quickly jump up to a newly installed item in the right column folder, & pin the desired .exe files to the Classic Start Menu, which the Program Launcher points to

But the ProgramLauncher wouldnt be needed if we had multiple Columns of pinned items in the menu as a standard option.. the whole problem is just not wanting to scroll..

but I have nircmd, its a great tool, and Directory Monitor is pretty awesome. i just realized there's no way to get rid of all the unwanted .exe files, I dont see how windows 8 does that, i imagine you get 5.exe files pinned with some programs, which would actually suck..

so.. i gave it up.. just going to stick with manual pinning to an expandable multi-column folder called "Program Launcher" above the search box for now, thanks for all your help