On Windows, you can use File Explorer and its Quick access sidebar to manage and launch files and folders. Unfortunately, this Quick access sidebar has some issues, including…
it’s a pain to reorder the Quick access items,
you cannot launch executables from it,
and you cannot give
items
meaningful aliases.
For example,
Visual Studio Code’s
Roaming
User directory
is listed as simply User
rather than something meaningful like
VSCode Settings.
In the next section, I describe how I create and use a Desktop shortcut.
When configuring qutebrowser,
I
often
do things in
my
Use Windows File Explorer to navigate
to
this
Roaming
qutebrowser directory.
Right click its config subdirectory
and
choose
View the Desktop by pressing Win+D.
On the Desktop, right click this
newly-created
config - Shortcut,
choose Rename,
and name it something more meaningful like
Roaming qb config.
After doing this, I can use Win+D to view the Desktop and then…
double click the shortcut to view the directory in Windows File Explorer,
or right click the shortcut and choose…
Open in Windows Terminal,
Git Bash Here,
Open with Code,
or Properties;
or Shift+right click the shortcut and choose…
Open PowerShell window here.
You can do the above for
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\
and
any
other
directory that you regularly visit.
Another example, which includes editing a shortcut’s Properties, is in the Windows Desktop shortcut section of Infinite Ink’s Launching Git Bash.
To configure your Desktop, right click anywhere on the Desktop that is not a shortcut and specify the settings you’d like. Here are some settings that I use:
View >
Uncheck Auto arrange icons
Check Align icons to grid
Check Show Desktop icons
With the above settings, I can use drag and drop
to arrange
my shortcuts
however I like.