I have used PortableApps a very long time. I have rarely commented on it. I finally feel I want to say a few things ...
COMMENTS
1 - Its simply the BEST initiative on portable applications ever made.
2 - The open structure of the menuing system that lets you add non-PortableApp listed apps is a wonderful thing. Its made everything I do easier. The fact is most apps I use are portable. Having a simple way to organize and use them on several computers has made my life better.
3 - In the real world of computing there are many apps that are "almost-portable". For example, apps that are fully portable, except for one registry key for their unlock code. What is my point? There are DEGREES of portability. The philosophy behind PortableApps is strict. And so it should remain, IMO, to be FULLY portable. At the commercial level I wish more companies would recognize the NEED for true portability, rather than pseudo portability, in their licensing systems not being registry dependent. They could do it via the cloud if needs be.
REQUESTS
A - I would really appreciate a two-tier menu structure that would allow me to differentiate "tools" into sub-categories like "SSD tools", "video monitors" etc.
B - Some kind of solution to the VERY difficult problem of FILE ASSOCIATIONS. At the moment this is one area of PortableApps that is a MESS. It is confusing and inconsistent what individual apps do.
Best wishes.
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A) You could always put your apps into custom categories by right-clicking any app in the menu then going to Category->Add a New Category.
B) Unfortunately there was a good solution that I believe was getting very close to releasable, but the way it was implemented ended up not working with Windows 10 when it was released, so John has had to rethink and rework the whole thing.
Further to what Ken's said; John T. Haller, our lead developer, recently spoke on file associations. Here's what he has to say: https://portableapps.com/node/52680
Thanks for the link.
I read it through. Its a bit of nightmare to find a solution that will work across the different versions of Windows.
The ability for apps to directly set file associations was removed by Microsoft in Windows 8, if I recall correctly. Windows 8 didn't get much uptake, so it wasn't a big issue. Windows 8.1 got more. But Windows 10 is what everyone will move to.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I was not clear enough on (A).
I do already put my apps under custom categories. BUT what I was really asking for was SUB-CATEGORIES. A hierarchical menu structure with two levels: Category & Sub-Category. I am asking because I have dozens of small portable utilities and a one-level menu system is not optimal for organising that.