virtual folder vs menu - i really did look for this question

maybe im trying to do something that tlb wont but i thought i had done this before.

seems like the difference between a menu and virtual folder is the menu is an actual windows folder present on my hard drive and a virtual folder is merely a reference to an already existing folder.

a virtual folder doesnt have to be maintained as it will always be in 'synch' with the original folder.

if i create a menu 'of' another folder on my drive, then i get 2 windows real folders and they can go out of 'synch'. this i dont want.

i like the way a 'menu' works. the little blue arrows point to links within a folder that can be launched. the menu'd folder sorts itself to the top of a truelaunch folder whereas a virtual folder is mixed in with other links and such.

is there someway that an existing folder can be included in a truelaunch folder so that the menuing look/feel, ie sorting, blue arrows etc, happens, but it doesnt create a 'new' folder?

hope someone can help or at least tell me i cant do this.

thanks.

jim

A normal TLB menu is just a subdirectory inside your quicklaunch directory, in which you can store a collection of shortcuts.

A virtual folder is a reference to an existing folder (eg. My Computer, Printers, or just any directory you like).

It sounds like you want to create a virtual folder and point it to the directory you need... And that's easy, I did this for "My Documents":

(edit: sorry for messing up the layout again, I promise I'll pay attention to the image width next time... it would be a great forum feature if we could somehow remove our own posted images, and the .png extension should be added to the 'valid' list... in fact, this image *is* a renamed .png file)

thanks for the reply. i am attaching a snap of my main tlb folder 'desk', which shows my problem. notice on the left side there are 5 folders which are 'menus' and they are real folders in the '\toolbars\desk\' folder. there are a few other folders that i would like to act like menus, ie have the little blue arrow next to them (and the actions that come with that), but i'll be darned if i can figured out how to make them do that, without it actually creating a real (not virtual) new folder beneath the 'desk' path. everything i try just drops a regular folder into the directory rather than the special menuing folder.

Jim, any chance you could post your system configuration (See my signature for an example), and I'll be glad to help if I can!

I've had this issue with some of the older builds of TLB, and my workaround was to create the menu on a toolbar first, then shift-drag it to where I really wanted it!

I think you may have your terminology confused (or I'm just not understanding). A menu is internal to TLB (meaning you can't access it from anywhere else) and can contain anything you put in it. A virtual folder is a TLB menu that mirrors the contents of a directory or other location on your computer. Any changes made to the virtual folder in TLB will be made to that location, and vice-versa. Both types of menus will have the arrow, allowing subdirectories to function as sub menus. If you create a shortcut to a folder, or left-click drag a folder from Explorer to TLB, you will get the folders that do not act like menus. The correct way to create these menus is to either right-click and select new-> menu (then create either type of menu), or right-click drag a folder from explorer and select "copy here". You can not use the first method inside a virtual folder, but the second works fine, creating the appropriate directories on your hard drive. I hope this information helps you. If not, please let us know.

@shapeshifter: Actually, a menu in TLB is a folder as well, but in a fixed location. That's basically the only difference: when creating a True Launch Bar you assign it a folder. Shortcuts in that folder appear on the bar, folders in that folder become menus or submenus. A Virtual Folder simply allows you to step out of the assigned directory and link any directory on your system...


In short: both are in fact real folders, but one is typically managed by TrueLaunchBar (by default the Quick Launch folder in your Documents and Settings), while the other is often used for things like the Control Panel, etc...

well, i think what i am wanting is a virtual folder inside a virtual folder. but it seems like i can only hang virtual folders off the taskbar. a pointer to an existing folder that acts like a menu, being what i mean as a virtual folder. something that isnt on the hard-drive itself physically twice in its entirety.

i did discover that the 'folders' i was seeing in my 'desk' tlb were in fact shortcuts and not folders. when i actually tried doing a drag/drop of a folder it would become a 'menu' but it also copied itself into a directory beneath the 'desk' folder that was present on the drive. so i then get 2 copies of the same data, but they arent 'linked' so if i change one the other doesnt. thats not a lot of help tho.

i created a series of tlb menus/folders off the taskbar and they worked like i wanted but whenever i tried to link one of those inside another then things started not working the way i expected/wanted.

thanks all.

jim

Virtual Folder inside Virtual Folder will be supported in the next version. Actually this will be option to expand shortcuts to folders into menu.

How about something similar but not quite the same?

I want to create a menu (or virtual folder) for the Control Panel, but then I want to add new icons to this.

If I create a menu and copy all the Control Panel icons, it doesn't stay in synch with Control Panel. If I create a Virtual Folder, when I make changes to the menu to add icons, it adds them to the control panel folder (which doesn't work in this case).

I wanted to do the same thing to a Recent Documents folder to simulate the XP option of having a My Documents menu at the top of the Recent Documents menu.

So, what I really want is a virtual folder that expands in its parent menu - adding multiple items for its contents rather than just one item (and these probably shouldn't nest!).

NetMage Idea is very interesting. I'll try to release it.