How often has it happened to you that you closed a folder only to reopen it again several minutes later? There is not much that you can do but to click all the folder icons again until you reach the desired folder in the folder hierarchy. Third party tools or desktop indexing programs might help but the majority of users is not using them. If you want something simple, lightweight that works out of the box then Folder Cache might be exactly what you are looking for.
The portable software program has been designed by Donation Coder member Miles Ahead. It is a compiled AutoHotkey application which means some antivirus programs might identify it as a false positive. The program remembers the 24 most recent folders of the Windows operating system and provides easy access to them when needed.
It will sit quietly in the Windows system tray for most of the time and can be activated by pressing the keyboard shortcut [Shift Page UP]. This will open the main program window displaying the most recently opened folders.
The most recent folders are located at the top. A double-click on any folder will open it in a new Windows Explorer window. It takes a second or two to open the folder meaning the delay is noticeable but still way faster than having to open the folder manually in Windows Explorer again.
There are a few aspects that might be worth changing. The delay should be investigated and if possible reduced to speed up the process. It would be nice if the software developer would add preferences to the computer program. Thinking of settings to change the number of recorded folders. Another interesting feature would be the addition of permanent folders in the interface that the user could add.
Folder Cache is a lightweight tool for users who work (a lot) with Windows Explorer.
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2 Responses to “Access Folder History With Folder Cache”
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[...] Vía: Ghacks [...]
Hi. I’m the author of FolderCache, MilesAhead. Thanks for noticing my utility. I have updated the software to address issues you mention. By default AutoIt3 List Control doesn’t honor double-click or Enter key in the message loop. So to keep the design simple I set it to launch selected folders when the Right Mouse Button is released or the Open Selected Button is pressed. I added the Spin Button to allow for Max Folders adjustment in the range 16 to 64. I try to avoid scrolling since this slows down user interaction. A max somewhere around 24 entries should be ideal. For permanent sets of folders to use together I have FavesSA which is a stand-alone Delphi 5 exe program. It saves and loads lists of folders, files and shortcuts similar to a text editor. I wanted to do this popup Folder Cache so that I could use a wider window, avoiding horizontal scrolling to read long paths. To be honest, I like using this one the most myself since it doesn’t use any desktop real estate when not popped up. The latest version is 1.51 and it is on the web site available for download. I hope Windows users enjoy using Folder Cache. I know I hate when I close a folder only to have to open it again within a few seconds. :) It should work on Windows XP or later. Glad you like the concept. :)