Jump Lists - Pin or Unpin Items

I'm astounded to be adding the first reply to this Tutorial.

I have experimented a little with creating a Jump List for Windows Explorer. I put some folders into the JL using the icon on the Taskbar. But there's a couple of problems with it that make it not really useful for me. (I hate acronyms usually but it seems the appropriate thing to do here.) The biggest issue is that clicking any folder in a WinExp JL causes a new WinExp window to open. I want to click my entry in the JL & have it appear in the already open WinExp window. It's just too disorganized for my taste to have a proliferation of WinExp windows.

My second issue with it is I couldn't figure out a way of getting the JL to appear from the Taskbar icon without using the mouse. (There's also no way to access the JL from within the WinExp window itself.) I'm a big fan of mouseless operation & W7 has hugely improved the mouseless operation of both the Start Menu & the Taskbar. But JLs are one thing that won't work without the mouse. I expected the usual keyboard sequence, meaning Shift+F10, to pop up something that included the JL. Instead, Shift+F10 on any Taskbar icon pops up the same menu you get from doing Alt+Enter in any window (or single-clicking the icon in the upper left corner of any window). You know, the menu with Move, Size, Maximize, Minimize, Restore, Close, or more or fewer or some other grouping altogether, depending on the window in question. Simultaneous with displaying this menu, focus also switches to the task in question & brings it to the foreground. No, the only way to access a JL is to right click using the mouse.

In WinXP, which I was using until I got a new computer with W7 a couple of weeks ago, there used to be a Favorites item on the WinExp menu bar. Don't confuse this with the Favorites in Internet Explorer. The WinXP WinExp has its own Favorites & a whole user interface for managing it. I could run through the Favorites & select a few Folders. Once selected, I could navigate through these favorite Folders using Alt+LeftArrow & Alt+RightArrow in the WinExp window. (Which is similar to surfing web pages in IE, but again, don't confuse that with what I'm talking about.) This allowed me to use a single WinExp window to walk back & forth through my most used Folders. I'm looking for a way to do the same thing in W7. Right now in W7, I launch WinExp & then manually select the handful of folders I use all the time. This primes my one and only WinExp window that I ever open, and I just Alt+Left/Alt+Right through my favorites. Problem is that I have to do this little chore after every fresh bootup. Granted, it takes under a minute to set it up. But given that it is tedious, repetitious, and 100% the exact same thing I do every time, I would expect there's a way to automate it.

Hello WildWilly,

You can press press the Windows + ALT + (1-10) keys to open the jump list of the icon in the numerical order from either left to right or top to bottom on the taskbar.

Hope this helps some,
Shawn

Windows+Alt . . . Aha! OK, that helps, as you say, "some." Of course, if you have more than 10 icons on the Taskbar, you're out of luck, right? Also, it's a bit hard to do with one hand. I'm still working that out.

Ooooooo........... I just discovered Windows+Tab as an alternative to Alt+Tab for switching tasks. That one is pretty cool. And it goes backwards if you do Windows+Shift+Tab. It doesn't allow navigation with the Arrow keys like the Alt+Tab ribbon does, but that's not exactly critical.

OK. Back on topic . . .

That keyboard sequence will be handy, but what about the business of proliferating WinExp windows? Is there some way to have a WinExp JL reuse an existing open WinExp window instead of opening a new instance with each entry in the JL?

Or maybe the JL isn't the mechanism. Any ideas?

--------------------------

I'm a kid with a new toy.
Windows+<digit> switches to a task in the order of the icons on the Taskbar. If the icon has multiple choices (e.g.: multiple web browser windows), the Aero peek hover window opens & when you release the Windows key, the left-most choice gets selected. (This automatic selection of only the leftmost of a group means the Windows+t option described below is superior.) Of course, it works for only the first 10 icons on the Taskbar (which is another argument for Windows+t).
Windows+e opens a WinExp window on the Computer item.
Windows+r opens the Run dialog.
Windows+t (revised) pops up the Aero hover window above the leftmost icon on the Taskbar. Once you have done the first one, you have a choice of how to proceed. You can hold the Windows key down & then click t (to go right) or Shift+t (to go left) repeatedly. When you reach either end of the icons, you can wrap around to the other end. Or you can release the Windows button & hit Windows+t (with or without Shift) again. Or you can release those keys & just use the LeftArrow & RightArrow. Once you've displayed the hover window of the icon you want to select, hit Enter to switch focus to that task. If the hover window has multiple choices, UpArrow gets you into the group of choices, then LeftArrow & RightArrow cycle around that group. (In this situation, UpArrow works the same as LeftArrow.) Once you highlight the one you want, hit Enter & focus switches to that window. (DownArrow from a hover group puts you back on the icons on the Taskbar & you can resume navigating to other icons.) This relieves the limitation to 10 in the Windows+<digit> key sequence. But it doesn't help that limit in the Windows+Alt+<digit> key sequence. If you hit Tab or Shift+Tab, you navigate to the other parts of the Taskbar (System Tray, Show Desktop, Start Menu). If you hit Enter or Spacebar when you're on your Start Menu Orb, the Start Menu opens, but you'll be "trapped" in there until you hit Esc, at which point you can (Shift+)Tab to resume your trip around the sections of the Taskbar. I did find that between the Show Desktop button & the Start Menu Orb, focus appears to go into limbo. It's actually on the Desktop but the Desktop doesn't come to the foreground. If you have an image of your Desktop firmly implanted in your memory, you can navigate around it (blind) with Arrow keys & hit Enter to open something. This is clearly . . . what's the term? . . . a deprecated way of doing that, but you need to be aware of it when you think focus has left the building. Alternates to Windows+t to start this process are the following. Windows, then Esc, then Tab. (Paradoxically Windows, Windows, Tab doesn't do it, because hitting the Windows key twice in a row essentially does nothing. It cancels the Start Menu & returns focus to where it was.) Or Ctrl+Esc, Esc, Tab. If you navigate around these hover windows & decide you don't want to select any of them, you'd think that hitting Esc would return focus to the window that had focus before you started this process. But it doesn't. Once you're in this, you have to make an explicit choice, even if it's just the place you were before you first got into it.
Windows+u brings up the Ease of Access Center.
Windows+p brings up . . . I don't know what it is. A Projector dialog?
Windows+d brings up the Desktop. Hitting it again restores all windows.
Windows+f brings up Search. I think. I disabled Search to get rid of the Search entry field on the Start Menu so I'm guessing a bit here.
Windows+l locks the display.
Windows+b does something but I'm not sure what it is. Focus goes away from the current window but I'm not sure where it goes to. Maybe that's what it does, push the current window to background. You know, b for background. Guessing . . .
Windows+m minimizes all tasks & the Show Desktop button on the far right of the Taskbar doesn't restore them all. I would classify this key sequence as a bit radioactive.
Windows+F1 brings up the Help & Support window.
Windows+Spacebar shows the Desktop as if you hovered the mouse over the Show Desktop button on the right end of the Taskbar. Release Windows & focus reverts to where it had been before you pressed the key sequence.
Windows+LeftArrow/Windows+RightArrow work in a "ring." If you repeatedly press Windows+LeftArrow, the window with focus successively gets (1) chopped to half-screen width & full screen height & occupies the left half of the screen, then (2) same size window on the right side, then (3) restored to original size & position, then cycles through the same transformations again as you continue to hit the key sequence. Windows+RightArrow does the same cycle in the reverse direction.
Windows+UpArrow/Windows+DownArrow are related but you have to be careful about the order in which you use them. Windows+UpArrow maximizes the current window. Repeating that does nothing. If instead you follow that with Windows+DownArrow, it restores the maximized window. If you do it again, it minimizes the window & another window gains focus. So if you do it again, that new window will get minimized, so pay attention.
Windows+ any other key on the keyboard acts like you pressed that key by itself. I tried them all.

OK. Play time is over. Time to post this.

I'm not aware of a way to have folders opened in a Jump List open in the same window. Since they basically act like shortcuts, they will always open in a separate window.

You could also press CTRL+Windows+TAB, release, tap TAB to flip through your open windows, and press Enter to select the one in front.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19772-flip-3d-change-number-windows-displayed.html

Brink said:

I'm not aware of a way to have folders opened in a Jump List open in the same window. Since they basically act like shortcuts, they will always open in a separate window.

Click to expand...

Durn! Maybe some day I'll stumble across a way to do it, like I stumbled across the concept of Jump Lists. They're so close to what I want . . .

Brink said:

You could also press CTRL+Windows+TAB, release, tap TAB to flip through your open windows, and press Enter to select the one in front.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19772-flip-3d-change-number-windows-displayed.html

Click to expand...

Ooooooo........... More eye candy. Thanks for the pointer.

You're most welcome. If you come across a way to, then please post back how if you would.

I catch on real quick if you explain things to me often enough.
Every time WinExp opens, it's sitting on something called Libraries. I had been just skipping over that almost like it wasn't there. But for some reason, after not really seeing it even though it was right in my face every day for 2 solid weeks, I decided to read a little of the Help on it. It dawned on me this could serve my purpose. Quite the DOH moment . . .

In a way, it's actually a little better than navigating from directory to directory with Alt+Left & Alt+Right because collecting all my most frequently used directories into a single Library flattens the structure. It brings the entirety of the multiple directories into a single virtual directory & I no longer have to navigate from one directory to another; I can just scroll through the files almost as if they were just in one directory.

This solves my problem. No need for keyboard shortcuts. No multiple WinExp windows. Simple simple simple. A KISS solution. I love it.

Hey Willy,

Yep, jump lists are great for locations or files you open often.

In addition, you might also see how you like the shortcut in the tutorial below to open directly to Computer that can be pinned to the taskbar.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/6916-computer-pin-taskbar.html

....OR

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2863-windows-explorer-taskbar-icon-change-open-target.html

Interesting alternatives. Thanks for those. I will keep those in the back of my mind. I like what I've done just fine. There's like no startup steps I need to do any more. I'm quite happy the way I've got it now.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for the thoroughness & variety of your contributions here. (I've read a lot more of them than I've posted on.) And thank you for your timeliness with responses. Do you own this web site? Are you the webmaster? Do you have a life outside these forums?

You're most welcome Willy.

No, John (z3r010) owns the site. I just help and contribute as much as I'm able to. I'm usually living on the computer, but every once in a while something outside the ship's window catches my eye though.

Dears,

I lost my Jump List for Win Explorer - other applications are fine - & I cannot pin again new items to Win Explorer Jump list (refer to attachments)

appreciate your feedback
mohamad

Hello Mohamad,

It looks like you may have cleared your recent items that would also clear you jump lists. If so, then as you open items in Windows Explorer, they should eventually (usually within 24 hours) start showing up as "Recent" items in the jump lists. When they do, you should be able to pin them again.

For now, double check to make sure that you have Recent Items turned on and set to display however many items you want to display in the jump lists.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2013-recent-items-turn-off.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/4820-jump-lists-change-number-recent-items-display.html

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

Dear Brink,
Thanks for the feedback

I cleared all jump lists, rebuild those for WE and than restore all except those for WE from recycle bin.
That works for me

Regards,
Mohamad

You're most welcome Mohamad. I'm happy to hear it helped

Hi Brink, hope you're well

I wanted to add 'pin to jumplist' context control to the fixlist, but I'm stuck.

My situation is that, whever I'd like to be able to pin a location (explorer jump list), it's the current. It's not common. It's... not listed as recent.

I see the data being created when I monitor my user process of pinning some random folders I recently visited... but Murphy's Law usually dictates that my intended target location isn't an option...

Any workaround? I'd be willing to forsake recent, if, for example, I could call a quick batch that would (ideally) clear (only explorer's) recent history, so that EVERY location I then visit is an option to pin...

Or a shell resource hack?! (Pin current)?

Just a thought... If not it's more favorites for me

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. I was dragging an explorer window that was browsing the address... you have to drag the folder..

Cool. Ignore my above!