Use Favorites to access Folders faster

The Open and Save file dialog in Windows is not really optimized and Microsoft somehow fails to improve that dialog with every release of a new Windows operating system. Saving different file types in different folders always means to click through your folder structure whenever the file type changes which puts a strain on the right (or left) trigger finger.

Flashfolder to the rescue. Flashfolder is small tool that docks a window onto open and save dialogs in Windows, giving users options to access favorite folders, currently open file folders and the global folder history each, with two clicks. The absolute path of the current folder is displayed as well which is ideal if you want to manually change it in case you are a fast typing user.

Flashfolder can be configured for three types of dialogs, those are Common Open / Save, Common Browser for folder and Microsoft Office Open / Save dialogs. Each comes with an option to exclude applications from showing the Flashfolder overlay and with options to set a minimum height, width and position of the overlay window.

Flashfolders uses less than 2 Megabytes of Ram while running which is excellent. It adds itself to as a service in Windows which is essential for compatibility according to the author of the program.

Update: The latest program version has been released in 2008. The program does not appear to be compatible with versions of Windows that have been released after that year.

The configuration window comes with options to separate folders from each other, first with separators and then with the addition of submenus to the program. You could for instance separate work from entertainment folders, or local and network folders from each other.

I’m not aware of any alternative to the program at the moment. Please let everyone know if you are aware of an alternative.

Related Articles:

Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday December 12, 2007 -
Tags:folder, windows software, windows tips