You are here

How to change folder locations?

34 posts / 0 new
Last post
jlgarnier
Offline
Last seen: 10 months 6 days ago
Joined: 2009-03-26 05:58
How to change folder locations?

Hi,

I'd like to change the Music, Images, etc. folder locations and have PortableApps menu reflect these changes. How should I proceed?

I didn't find any clue in the fora, so thanks in advance for any help,

Jean-Luc

MaienM
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 7 months ago
Developer
Joined: 2007-12-18 04:35
First, welcome to the

First, welcome to the portableapps forums!!
Changing the folder locations is not possible yet, but it is planned for a future release.

Behold, the DutchLander has arrived.
Grammatical errors are copyrighted.

nothingness
Offline
Last seen: 6 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2018-12-27 18:56
Hi, from the future.

Hi, I'm from 2024, but the feature you promised has still not granted YET Biggrin

sekazi
Offline
Last seen: 6 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2024-04-03 10:36
I am also from 2024 and just

I am also from 2024 and just attempted to do this only to find this post. I guess I will be using symlinks for now. I always change the drive letter to be consistent between machines anyways.

Simeon
Simeon's picture
Offline
Last seen: 9 years 12 months ago
DeveloperTranslator
Joined: 2006-09-25 15:15
Hi

and welcome here Jean-Luc!!!

Unfortunately you cant change the folder locations of the Menu. They are hardcoded into the Platform.

I dont know if there are any plans to make them adjustable in the future.

"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate

Hasle
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 2 months ago
Joined: 2007-11-02 07:20
Or you could …

… change the whole menu: geek.menu is based on an older version of portableapps.com menu, it is not supported, and it may contain bugs. But you can change folder locations …

jlgarnier
Offline
Last seen: 10 months 6 days ago
Joined: 2009-03-26 05:58
How to change folder locations?

Thanks to all, especially for your warm welcome!
I'll wait the next release, hoping it will allow folder locations modification...

Jean-Luc

Best regards,

Jean-Luc, France

nottRobin
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 2 weeks ago
Joined: 2008-09-25 12:03
++

++

I really want this too. I don't think having "Music", "Pictures" and "Videos" under "Documents" makes any sense because they aren't documents. It was a silly standard introduced by Windows, and they've even removed it in Windows Vista.

Also, I like to keep all my documents synchronised between my USB drive and my computer, but not my music, pictures or videos (because they wouldn't fit) and this would be made much easier by having an isolated documents folder. I'm sure I can't be the only one.

So I would really appreciate having a setting in PortableApps.com\Data\PortableAppsMenu.ini like:

[Folders]
Documents=%root%\Documents
Music=%root%\Music
Pictures=%root%\Pictures
Videos=%root%\Videos

That'd be awesome.
Robin.

qwertymodo
qwertymodo's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 3 months ago
Joined: 2008-03-17 19:08
Other reasons

There are other reasons to want this as well, for instance if you were to install this onto a storage device such as an SD card that you also use for pictures (like I have, actually it's my phone's microSD), where the camera puts pictures into its own folder, and it would be nice to point to that folder from the platform. It could be utilized as an environment variable or some other way like that so that all of the apps would use the same folders (if for some reason an app wanted to access one of those folders, although I can't think of one off the top of my head, so that might just be nonsense...)

Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.

OliverK
OliverK's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 months ago
Developer
Joined: 2007-03-27 15:21
I think that music, pictures,

I think that music, pictures, and videos make sense organizationally. I personally would rather have them grouped under Documents, because at least on my flash drive, my root is cluttered enough without another 3 folders.

Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world

gluxon
gluxon's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 1 month ago
Developer
Joined: 2008-06-21 19:26
I agree with

I agree with OliverK.

Technically Pictures, Videos, and Music are all Documents Biggrin

And if you had drives with folders packed up... yeah...

Anyway... if you really want the menu to change the path, change the source code and recompile, which should only be attempted for very advanced users... (I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M TELLING YOU THIS!!!) Yeah... so don't try it unless you 100% know what you're doing and know how to change the PortableApps.com Platform's code.

pr14o
Offline
Last seen: 2 months 2 weeks ago
Joined: 2009-02-28 22:39
Can I also rename the folder and the portableapps menu name?

According to my habit, I never ever use "My Music" or "My Video" folder to save my files. But I would be appreciate if someone can help me to rename it (not only just for the folder, but also the menu in portable apps) into "My Downloads" and "My e-Books".

Can I do that?

djnavas
Offline
Last seen: 8 months 9 hours ago
Joined: 2008-01-30 17:27
Isn't necessary to change names or move folder

I sinchronize between Vista -- USB -- XP, and does not have problems at all.

First: C:/Users/Public --> [%root%]:/Documents

This way, you create a folder structure Vista-style, but retains the PA structure too, without complications. Add to your sinchronizing software to not sinchronize the music, photos and videos folders and you are done.

portableNic
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 6 months ago
Joined: 2009-05-05 14:24
Isn't necessary, doesn't mean I don't want to.

The whole point of this discussion is to give us options. I think PAM should allow us to manage our own folder items. So instead of seeing "Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos" we should be able to choose which folders get displayed. The option should also be available to set the icon as desired. This kind of coding is very easy with an .ini file. I personally don't have music and videos on my USB thumb drive, so why should I have to look at the folder icon all the time? Why shouldn't I be able to change that to "C++ Projects" or "PDF's" or "JScripts" or anything I want?!?!?!

Purpledelta
Offline
Last seen: 13 years 1 week ago
Joined: 2011-10-03 04:01
Hello All, Sorry if this has

Hello All,

Sorry if this has been answered more recently in a different topic.

Did this feature get added to PA?

I have looked at all the available options and dont see the possibility to change the folder locations/names?

Many Thanks
Purpledelta

Aluísio A. S. G.
Offline
Last seen: 8 years 2 months ago
DeveloperTranslator
Joined: 2010-11-09 17:43
Not yet

It's already in our TODO list.

Previously known as kAlug.

Purpledelta
Offline
Last seen: 13 years 1 week ago
Joined: 2011-10-03 04:01
Okies many thanks.

Okies many thanks.

kiwichick
Offline
Last seen: 6 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2006-12-01 15:29
11 years later and hasn't

11 years later and hasn't been implemented yet. Is it still on the TODO list? It would also be great to have the option to disable the Documents, etc folders altogeher.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 29 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Please Submit A Patch

You're free to submit a patch for anything on the to do list: https://portableapps.com/node/28593

If you're unfamiliar with coding, you can hire a developer to make the changes you'd like.

Please note that the platform is only developed by me for quite some time now.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Codedoc
Offline
Last seen: 8 months 15 hours ago
Joined: 2024-02-10 04:11
Submitting a patch

@John T. Haller

Hello John,

I came across this Thread, having the same issue as I like to keep the same directory structure across my devices for backup reasons.

When I've read this post, I thought, "Ok, I think I could do that" and began looking for the code base. Hovever, this search was unfortunately unsucessful, neither there were any link on this site, nor there was any code in the Github @PortableApps/Plattform to fork, change, and pull request. Also a quick glance into the forum pages didn't help me out.

Do you have any hints for me?

Greetings
Codedoc

HJ79
Offline
Last seen: 8 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2012-02-28 07:52
Change folder location by using links

I did delete the music folder and made a link to another folder and named it Music. Now the appmenu follows the link to my new Music location.

I't some crude work around till the new update will support changing the folder location in another way.

BTW. PA is a nice enviroment and get even better with each update. I'm loving it!

markess
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 10 months ago
Joined: 2012-03-04 12:01
Put a shortcut in document

Put a shortcut in document directory.

Markess

djsongohan
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 3 months ago
Joined: 2006-07-14 23:24
Update PortableApps on Folders

Greetings from Mexico to All:

I have the following PortableApps directory structure, to be organized:

-\ 
    +\Portable Apps Directory™
        +\Accessibility
        +\Development
        +\Education
        +\Games
        +\Graphics & Pictures

        +\Internet
            +\FirefoxPortable 

How I can update all the APPS, on the subfolders?

Thank you for your help and assistance.
John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 29 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Move Them, Platform Organization

There is no ability for the platform to automatically find apps in sub-directories nor for the updater to find them there. But...

There's really no need to place your apps in their own subfolders or regularly access those files directly. Keep them all in the PortableApps folder of the platform and everything gets updated automatically. And you can worry about organizing them in folders inside the platform. And, if you do need to explore into the app's files, just right-click and select Explore.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

cjc1959au
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 3 months ago
Joined: 2008-05-08 23:18
Possible Solution

Hi,

I might have a possible solution that could work.

Currently, it appears that the PortableApps Menu creates a Documents folder and then puts Music, Images, etc underneath that.

How about changing Documents to UserData and then putting Documents, Music, Pictures, etc underneath the UserData folder?

Keeps things neat and tidy, doesn't put too many folder in the root directory and manages to make logical sense as well!

Thanks for all the great work on PAM Guys and girls!

Christopher

SES21
Offline
Last seen: 8 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2009-12-26 00:12
I personally hope they pick a

I personally hope they pick a structure like that. I'd actually prefer a shorter name than UserData if possible, though, to try to minimize path names. Something like Home, User, Data or even Files would suit me fine. After all, Music, Pictures & Videos are not truly Documents - they're all just files.

cyb1n
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 1 month ago
Joined: 2012-08-27 14:32
Borrow from Linux?

I personally like the structure used by most linux distros and it could easily be adapted to the menu by taking out the user directory (example below):

LINUX STRUCTURE
+ /
  + Home
    + {Username}
      + Desktop
      + Documents
      + Downloads
      + Music
      + Pictures
      + Videos

CONCEPT FOR PORTABLE APPS
+ /
  + Home
    + Documents
    + Downloads
    + Music
    + Pictures
    + Videos
  + PortableApps
    + CommonFiles
    + FirefoxPortable
    + PortableApps.com
    + (etc.)
  x Start.exe
dejevic
dejevic's picture
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 8 months ago
Joined: 2013-07-30 13:43
Here's my workaround

First of all, I agree with cyb1n's suggestion concept. I think that linux did it right.

Second, this is my workaround (this is how my d: partition looks like):

+ (D:) Home
  + Documents (original portable apps folder)
    - documents folders I actually use
    - shortcut to Music folder
    - shortcut to Pictures folder
    - shortcut to Videos folder
  + Music (I created this)
  + Pictures (also by me)
  + Videos (also by me)
  + Other folders 

So, if you put your Music, Pictures and Video folders anywhere you like, you'll be able to open them from portable apps launcher as long as you create shortcuts to those folders INSIDE original Documents folder. This is possible because launcher opens the file/folder on a certain path, and it doesn't care if it was file or folder.

Just my two cents, hope this can help anyone.

BruceDenney
BruceDenney's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 11 months ago
Joined: 2021-10-26 06:39
Change folder locations

Hi

I see this is a VERY old thread, can anyone point me in the direction of the documentation for setting this or has it not been done yet?

Diverse Industries
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 7 months ago
Joined: 2021-11-03 08:19
Fully Customizable Folders

Hi all,
New to the forum, but long time user.

I have been installing and setting up the "portable app platform" and "geek.menu" for friends and family for many years (around 2008 for portable app and geek.menu at version 0.9 or 1.0. Just recently installed portable apps platform 19.1 for a family member). But I'm still yet to install it on my own portable drives as this feature still hasn't been added (kind of in the geek.menu but not fully (read below)).

Everyone seems to have their own opinion on how the folder tree should be structured and I fully agree with all of them!

I use different portable drives for different parts of my life, not one for all.
examples;
I have a portable HHD for my photo collection as I have a very large amount of photos (ex professional photographer).
I have a portable HHD for my Music as I have a very large amount of music (love my sounds)
I have a portable HDD with my Movies, TV shows and Documentaries (all backup up from DVD)
I have a portable HDD for my Work, Personal, New Photos, Travel Music, Travel Movies, Travel TV shows and Travel Documentaries (my work involves travel so one drive is all I travel with).

So as you can see a one set tree structure doesn't fit all. If I use the menu on any or all on my drives the folder tree structure would not suit on any (almost, but not).

Can the menu be updated with a "custom folder" tab in the options so that;
1. We can name the folders on the menu.
2. We can set the path.
3. We can choose the Menu Icons and Windows Icons.
4. We can select how many folders there are.

There is room for one more tab in the options;

My Thoughts on how you could implement the new option tab;

On the new option tab there is a tick box for "Default" or "Custom Folders";
There is a field with all the folders on the menu (example on the left side of that option tab)
Once custom is ticked;
Then there is the fields (example all on the right side of that options tab):
Folder name (edit box),
Folder path (locator button/box),
Menu Folder icon path (locator button/box).
Windows Folder Icon path (locator button/box) (left blank will use windows default folders).
An add button (when pressed it adds the folder and attributes and this can be seen in the field where the other folders are already on the menu) 

The field where all the folders on the menu has the ability to remove folders by selecting a folder and pressing the remove button.

Leave it on default for those who like it the way it is now or don't need to change it.

This will then fit everyone's needs.

Sorry if I used the wrong terms. I'm sure you can read past those mistakes if not please ask and I will try to explain better.

BTW, the work you do here is great, I have been enjoying your portable apps since around 2007 (before I installed the menu on friends and family's portable drives).
Thank you

P.S.
It would also be cool if there could be a customizable name on the top of the menu, for those that want their own title or for those that have multiple drives and menus to easily see which drive they have in. cheers.

Diverse Industries
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 7 months ago
Joined: 2021-11-03 08:19
mock up options

I mocked up in Photoshop my idea for the option tab.
It is rough and probably missing heaps, but it does give the rough idea I had.

https://ibb.co/cYCBpLK

GiT
Offline
Last seen: 8 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2021-07-18 14:57
mock up options

Hello. How can I get the "custom folders" tab. How did you do it?

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Online
Last seen: 29 sec ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Mockup

The above is a mockup of what the user would like to see as a feature. An example they made in Photoshop. It doesn't exist at the present time.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

GiT
Offline
Last seen: 8 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2021-07-18 14:57
Mockup

Hi! Thanks for the clarification.
Do I understand correctly, I can't display the folder structure of my documents on the quick launch toolbar.
I would not like to see music folders, and images on my portableapps panel.

Is there any way I can change this?

Log in or register to post comments