QuickLaunch Panel

1. download setup
2. discussion
3. getting started
4. options dialog
5. context menus
6. the different views
7. older versions

1. download setup

Please download the latest Setup from the Download-page

New in 2.6: You can now have different display modes for different root folders!

QuickLaunch Panel is currently available in English, German, French, Russian, Finnish, Polish, Hungarian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Japanese and Spanish.

2. discussion

If you have any problems with the gadget or want to request new features, please visit the Google Group for this gadget.

Visit the Google Group for this gadget

3. getting started
If you have successfully completed the setup wizard, the QuickLaunch Panel will be registered with your Google Desktop Sidebar. If you have not activated the Sidebar you may do so by right-clicking on the Google Desktop icon in your System-Tray (next to the clock) and selecting "Sidebar".

To select the root folders and other options for the plugin you should go to the options dialog. To open the options dialog click on the down-arrow in the titlebar of the plugin and select "options...". The options dialog will now be displayed with all the options for the plugin. For more information about the options and what they do see the section "Options Dialog"

4. options dialog
The options dialog is used to configure the plugin to your needs.

Root Folders:

As of version 2.0 you may have more than one root folder. To add root folders click on the "+" button and select your folder. To remove a root folder select the folder you want to remove in the dropdown box and click on the "-" button. A message box will ask you to confirm the deletion.

Revert to root folder after launch

If you select this option QuickLaunch will jump back to the root folder index after you have launched an application or file. This means that if you would have your Startmenu as a root folder and walk a subfolder and then launch a program located in that subfolder, QuickLaunch will go back to the Startmenu and leave the subfolder.

Launch files with single click

This option allows you to launch applications and files with a single click similar to the explorer.

Preview Images and Text files

This will show a slide-out if you select a picture or a text file with a preview of the image or the text file.
Use the "Show these files as Text files :" text box to enter the file extensions (with dots) you want to show a preview of. An example for extensions would be ".log;.txt;.cfg".

Display Icons on the left side

If activated the file and folder icons in the "list view" and "tile view" will be displayed on the left side instead of the right.

Enable Filesystem Contextmenu

If enabled QuickLaunch will display a context menu which allows you to cut, copy, paste, delete and more. See "Context Menus" for details.

5. context menus
QuickLaunch uses two context menus. One is accessible by right-clicking the titlebar of the plugin, the other by right-clicking on a file or folder if the Filesystem Contextmenu is enabled.

The titlebar context menu adds some features to the default Google Desktop Sidebar context menu. The first new option is "refresh" which allows you to refresh the current directory. For example after you created or removed a file.

The other options are the different views. The views are similar to the ones used by the windows explorer. More Information about the view is available under "The different views"

6. the different views

	Thumbnails This will display a resized small image of pictures and is especially useful if you browse a folder with a lot of pictures like a gallery folder.
	List This equals the display style from the first QuickLaunch version and displays the icon next to the file or folder.
	Tiles Tiles will show a list of elements similar to the list view but additionally to the name of the file or folder it will display the elements in a folder as well as file type and file size for files. This view also uses the larger icons.
	Small Icons This will show all elements of a folder (files and folders) as small 16x16 icons. If you just want to start your favorite applications from a single folder and know all their icons - this option is for you!
	Large Icons Similar to small icons but with a size of 32x32. If you don't have as many favorite applications or need some larger icons this is for you.

7. older versions

Quick Launch 2.2
Quick Launch 2.4
Quick Launch 2.4.2
Quick Launch 2.4.3
Quick Launch 2.4.4
Quick Launch 2.5