Solved Adding a little folder menu in the system tray area of Windows 7

[miloshapiro]

MANY years ago, on my beloved Win7desktop, I discovered a way to get quick access to my most used folders. I created a folder in "My Documents" called "Q".
In it, I created subfolders by themes.
And within those, I created both more subfolders and added shortcuts to about 60 key documents I use.
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I then, by some method I cannot tell you all these years later, added that Q-folder-menu to my system tray so it sits there, like in the attachment, ready for me to access those folders and files super-easily. I used it every single day. Unlike a folder one could add to the Start Button, with the Q-button in the system tray, I can go to the side-appearing subfolders from the Q without it opening Exploring. MUCH nicer!
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So here's the issue. Now that my travel laptop is Win10 (and realizing that, sometime not that far off, my main computer is going to have to go the way of Win10 too, much to my dislike of it), i need to figure out two things:~
1) How did I create, in the system tray, the link to Q-toolbar that you can see in the image I'm attaching? Is there a name for such pinned folders like that?

2) Is there any equivalent to this in Win 10?
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I don't even know what to call that Q with the two right-pointing arrows that give me access to its subfolders. A system tray menu, perhaps? Or system-tray toolbar, maybe? If knew what it were called, maybe I could google it for more information.

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I can't imagine using Win10 much without this great feature. (If I never see a tile again, I would be just fine!) So I'm trying to find my way around them to remain a productive worker. Does Win10 support this feature?

Thank you!!!

 

[Brink]

Hello Milo,

You could select to add a folder as a toolbar on the taskbar for this in Windows 10.

:ar: Add Toolbars to Taskbar in Windows 10 | Tutorials

 

[samuria]

You mean the quick launch toolbar still there How to Bring Back the Quick Launch Bar in Windows 7, 8, or 10

 

[miloshapiro]

Brink, it looks like you're on to the solution for me, but when I right click on the taskbar (that's the area to the left of the system tray, right?) I don't get the menu of options that they show in that tutorial so I don't get the "Toolbars" option. I can't cut-and-paste an image of what I see because the right-click-menu goes away when I open snipping tool, but I can tell you it's eight options starting with "Show app icons" and ending with "Show language switcher". oh, i know...i'll take a photo with my phone. Hope that helps you know what I'm seeing.
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So until I can figure out how to get to Toolbars, I'm stuck.
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samuria, I thank you and may do what you suggest, too, for quick access to favorite programs, but what I'm requesting is a way to get to folders and documents, not programs...it sounds like that's what I could get from your idea. Addendum: Actually, I just tried to do that and have the same issue: the instructions say to start by right-clicking on the taskbar and choose "Toolbars". That whole menu that they show isn't the one I see, as per my image.

 

[Brink]

It looks like you have tablet mode turned on. Temporarily turning off tablet mode will add "Toolbars" to the context menu.

:ar: Turn On or Off Tablet Mode in Windows 10 | Tutorials

 

[miloshapiro]

Finally found a break to look at this on the laptop again. Yes yes yes! Turning off Tablet Mode with win+A −- What a wonderful discovery! If we never solved the other problem again, at least I know how to make my laptop look a little more like my preferred Win7. Then, upon doing that, I created a folder on the laptop called "F" and created subfolders and put links to documents in there. Then I used the toolbars/newtoolbar option and F is now in the system tray, showing me all those quick subfolders and links to favorite documents!



Next thing to try: Samuria's idea for a quick way to the programs that I use most without having to minimize everything to see desktop icons...yes, that worked nicely as a way to put favorite programs there. Thank you both!

 

[Brink]

Glad we could help.

 

[RoWin7]

I have similar links in the Start Menu, after discovering that the Start Menu doesn't have to contain only programs.

 

[idoru]

more convenient (and productive) you can install the excellent direct folders software, (Direct Folders for Windows - Code Sector, that I'm using since W98, allowing, on a double click (configurable), a pop-up dialog in any open/save windows dialog or in any empty space in windows explorer (or for me Xplorer2 pro) displaying your prefered folders/path as ordered and set up instantly.

I have 2 computers on my private network, 3 disks in W7 and 4 in an old XP, one NAS with 15 To and believe me, this softwre is unvaluable !

If you add to this nice piece of software, teracopy (also from code sector) allowing asynchronious/non focused/resumable copy/moving application, you'll discover a more friendly/usable windows