Add Add Shortcuts to the "Open" dialog

  • Thread starter Thread starter Windoze
  • Start date Start date
W

Windoze

How do I add new shortcuts to the left side of Open Dialogs in Windows
XP? Currently, it lists My Recent Places, Desktop, My Documents, My
Computer, My and Network Places. I would like to add a projects
folder, and a few others, to the left side. How do I do that in XP?

On my Mac, running OS X, all I have to do is drag and drop the files
and folders that I want to appear there. Is there a easy way to do
such a thing in Windows XP?

I'll start Googleing, but I thought one of you may already have the
answer on the tip of your tongue.

Thanks.
 
Just drag the icons to whatever position you wish
to locate them on the desktop.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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

:

| How do I add new shortcuts to the left side of Open Dialogs in Windows
| XP? Currently, it lists My Recent Places, Desktop, My Documents, My
| Computer, My and Network Places. I would like to add a projects
| folder, and a few others, to the left side. How do I do that in XP?
|
| On my Mac, running OS X, all I have to do is drag and drop the files
| and folders that I want to appear there. Is there a easy way to do
| such a thing in Windows XP?
|
| I'll start Googleing, but I thought one of you may already have the
| answer on the tip of your tongue.
|
| Thanks.
|
|
| --
| Windoze
 
I have Tweak UI installed, and tried your suggestion. Now all that
appears in the left side of the open and save dialog is a yellow star
that says "Favorites" No what I want to do is add new item where
"favorites" such as specific folders, so that I can click on the folder
and see what is inside on the right.

HOW DO I ADD MORE ITEMS BELOW THE YELLOW \"FAVORITES\" STAR?
 
No need to shout.

You can only specify up to 5 places and if you want some folder
instead of Favorites, then enter the full path as instructed.

....Alan
 
First, the Open/Close dialog used by Office programs is different than the
normal one; it too can be customized, but in a different way. Read the
office help, or google, for a how-to on it.

TweakUI allows you to customize the "common" open/close dialog. Simply
choose "Custom" and choose from the drop-down list of generic places for
each of the five slots. If you want to type in a specific folder location
you can do that, just remember that you need to enclose the whole thing in
quotes, and use DOUBLE backslashes for each backslash. If you mistype then
it'll "break".

BTW, the registry area where this is stored is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\comdlg32\PlacesBar

you might find it easier to edit the items there rather than w/ tweakui.
note that the "generic" locations are a REG_DWORD value w/ a code for the
location, while "non-generic" locations are REG_SZ strings: when you type
these strings in regedit you do NOT use the double backslashes. Yeah, it's
confusing! But I'm sure you can figure it out and get it working.

if you mess it up simply use tweakui to reset it all to the default and
try again.
 
Thanks for the replies. I didn't mean to imply shouting with the bol
text above, it was just a way to single out/make obvious the point o
the previous post. Sorry to mislead.

OK, so I was confused by TweakUI's UI (funny huh) but now I understan
what the "Common Dailogs" pull down menus are for.

Taking your advice I attempted to type in the path of the file I wante
to add, but it appears that the length of the path is restricted to 3
characters?

Am I correct, and if so, how can I specify/add this folder (which is o
my desktop) using TweakUI:

"C:\Documents and Settings\myname\Desktop\Projects_Folder"

this is apparently too long (more than 32 char.) to fit into the dialo
box in Tweak UI's interface:

"C:\\Documents and Settings\\myname\\Desktop\\Projects_Folder"

It's a bummer that I can only add 5 places, but it's better than 4.
bit more help and I'll be on my way.

Thanks again
 
Windoze said:
this is apparently too long (more than 32 char.) to fit into the dialog
box in Tweak UI's interface:
Click to expand...
"C:\\Documents and Settings\\myname\\Desktop\\Projects_Folder"
Click to expand...

It is not limited to 32 chars, it only display 32 chars, but it will
scroll as you type.

try this: type in: %USERPROFILE%\

as soon as you type the last backslash a drop down menu will appear with a
list of each directory in that partial path; use down-arrow to select a
line - note as you do that it types that info in above for you, with the
cursor positioned at the end of the line. just type backslash to add the
backslash and the drop-down changes to show the folders in that new path.
continue until you've got the final folder path typed in the line. DONT
PRESS ENTER, or it'll think you're done, and exits tweakui (a bug). Just
click outside the drop-down to finish. By clicking anywhere in the line
(and setting the insertion-point) you can then cursor thru the text to
check it if you want; home and end work as expected.
 
Windoze (e-mail address removed) wrote:

this is apparently too long (more than 32 char.) to fit into the
dialog
box in Tweak UI's interface:

"C:\\Documents and Settings\\myname\\Desktop\\Projects_Folder"

It is not limited to 32 chars, it only display 32 chars, but it will
scroll as you type.
Click to expand...

I tried entering "C:\\Documents and
Settings\\myname\\Desktop\\Projects_Folder" (where my name is my user
name) and then hit Apply, and OK.

Now in my Open and Save Dialog windows I see the icon on the left for
"C:\\Documents and Settings\\myname\\Desktop\\Projects_Folder", but
when I click on it nothing happens?

Is this path incorrect?
"C:\\Documents and Settings\\myname\\Desktop\\Projects_Folder"

should it be?:
"C:\\Documents and Settings\\myname\\Desktop\\Projects_Folder\\"

I must have the path incorrect somehow?
 
If anyone is (still) interested, I did finally get things working more
Mac like, in Windows' Open and Save dialog boxes, by adding the
following to the Tweak UI Common Dialogs Custom places bar(s)

C:\Documents and Settings\myUsername\Desktop\folder1\folder2


Before I was trying the above with [1] double quotes around the path
and with [2]double slashes, as well as a [3]combo of both,all of which
caused it to fail.

1. "C:\Documents and Settings\myUsername\Desktop\folder1\folder2"
2. C:\\Documents and Settings\\myUsername\\Desktop\\folder1\\folder2
3. "C:\\Documents and
Settings\\myUsername\\Desktop\\folder1\\folder2"

Hope this helps someone in the future. I still wish I could add as many
places as I wanted to - like you can do, drag and drop style, in OS X -
but I suppose this is as good as it gets in Windows, which will have to
do for now.
 
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