Quick Launch AHK

Windows 10 allows a folder to be added as a toolbar in the taskbar. This is a convenient way to add a quick-launch menus - just organize shortcuts in a folder ("menu folder") and make it a toolbar. Windows 11 unfortunately has removed this feature. This is an AutoHotKey script that turns a menu folder into a menu in the system tray (or "taskbar corner").

Installation

First, download and install AutoHotKey (v1.x) if it not already in the system. Next, download a release of quick-launch-ahk from GitHub, and extract to some folder, say "%UserProfile%\quick-launch-ahk".

Optionally run the compile.cmd script to compile the quick-launch.ahk script to binary executable quick-launch.exe. The exe file is self-contained, so it can be dropped it in any %PATH% folder.

Running Quick Launch AHK

To make a menu folder into a quick-launch menu, simply run quick-launch.ahk (or quick-launch.exe) from there. For example, if our menu folder is "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" and it contains the following items:

* Google Chrome.lnk
* Microsoft Edge.lnk
* Shows Desktop.lnk
* Window Switcher.lnk

then one may run these commands:

cd "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch"
"%UserProfile%\quick-launch-ahk\quick-launch.ahk"

and get a system tray menu like this:

Right-click on the icon to bring up expand the menu.

One can create a shortcut with quick-launch.ahk (or exe) as target and a menu folder as working directory for launch from Windows Explorer. Put the shortcut in the startup folder if desired for auto-run at login.

Multiple menus are straighforward; run quick-launch.ahk/exe a second time from another folder for a second menu in the system tray.

Here are some more details about quick-launch-ahk:

1. Hidden shortcuts and sub-folders are skipped.

2. Changes to the folder are not reflected automatically in the menu. Select Reload to refresh menu as needed.

3. Menu items are not limited to shortcuts. On the other hand, shortcuts with explicit icon setting work best.

Customization

The icon for menu in the system tray is configurable, as is any submenu icon. Quick Launch AHK honors the icon resource specified in the desktop.ini file of a folder, so simply customize the icon of the folder through Windows. For example, here both the menu folder and the "Ubuntu Terminals" submenu have a custom icon:

If a quick-launch.ico file exists in the menu folder, it takes precedence over the desktop.ini setting. When the script or the compiled executable is renamed, the name of the custom icon file is expected to follow.

Acknowledgment

Some icon files are from thirdparty:

1. icons/menu-list-blue.ico downloaded from icons-icons.com. (Designer: Juliia Osadcha)
2. icons/menu-green.ico downloaded from icons-icons.com. (Designer: Juliia Osadcha)