The Favorites tab is where you establish your favorite folders, add new items (shortcuts or text items) and set options for them.

The big rectangle on the right of the first tab is the Favorites menu editing box. It displays the sequence and structure of your Favorites menu. (Yours can look very different than mine is, which is shown in the sample graphic above.)

You can populate the Favorites menu with folders, files, and text file items of your choice. The easiest way to add a folder or file shortcut is to drag them from the Windows desktop or other folders directly onto this area. You can also create new items with the New Item… button on the left of the configuration dialog.

Click and hold down the left mouse button on any item, then move the mouse to drag that item to a new position on the list. You can move an item within the same branch of the menu, or you can move it to sub-menus or even the parent menus relative to its current position.

*       If your target is above or below the visible part of this editing box, hold your mouse at the top or bottom border of the box while still pressing the left mouse button. The list box will scroll, allowing you to examine other previously invisible contents. If you want to place the dragged item into a sub-menu that's not currently opened, stop the mouse pointer over that menu for a few seconds, while still holding the left button down. The sub-menu will expands, revealing the contents.

You may also drop an item anywhere on the list and then enlarge the whole FileBox eXtender window, then pick it up again to move further, and so forth. The point being once dropped, you can always pick it up later to relocate.

FileBox allows you drag the items out of this box and directly onto the Windows desktop, or into other folders, or even to the Recycle Bin. You can drop items on the desktop or into other folders, and then later you can drag them back into the list.

In the case of the Recycle Bin, such items will be restored from Recycle Bin’s regular Undelete menu, accessed by double-clicking the Recycle Bin or right-clicking the Recycle Bin and choosing Open.

Virtually any accessible icon on your desktop is a possible Favorites item. You can drag file and folder icons from the desktop or other Explorer folders into this box to create new Favorites menu items (which are really just shortcuts to the item in question).

 

The controls on Favorites tab are:

 

New item
press this button to open Item Properties Window to create a new shortcut to a file or a folder on your Favorites menu, or to add a new text item (such as file filters like *.zip, to list all ZIP files in a file box).

*       You may also create new shortcuts by dragging a document, a file, or a folder icon from the Windows desktop or any other Windows Explorer window to the favorites menu editor box on the right side of the Favorites tab.

 

New Sub-Menu
this function allows you to add a new sub-menu to the FileBox Favorites menu. If you click this, a new item will appear within the list on the right, and the cursor will be placed there for you to name the item. This allows you to organize your favorites in just the same manner as you're used to organizing files. Enter a name for your sub-menu and press ENTER to commit that name.

 

Add Separator
this function lets you put a dividing line into the list, further improving your ability to organize a large list of favorites. You can create, for example, a list of favorites that cover a collection of multimedia files, and then add a divider between that list and another that covers important documents related to your work.

 

Update Shortcuts
when clicked, FileBox will examine your shortcuts, verify that they all exist, and correct errors. A great way to "clean up" the list if you've changed the files or folders to which they point over time and forgot to change the association for them here.

 

Test Menu
loads the Favorites menu so you can see how it looks. If you're cleaning it up, adding dividers to better organize it, this function lets you see how it's going to appear when you use it "for real."

 

Edit Item
this lets you re-establish the item's properties. Essentially it is the same Item Properties Window as when you add a new item, you can set the path to the folder or data file, and change its description if you wish. Should you move a folder or data file, you can correct that changed association here.

 

Rename - lets you quickly change just the name of an item selected in the Favorites list without changing its data file or folder association.

 

Delete Item
removes the selected item from your Favorites list. If you do this by mistake, you can open the Windows Recycle Bin and restore the item by un-deleting it from there.

 

Delete All
clears your entire Favorites list. Use caution, if you've got a big, carefully-constructed list and you select this by mistake, use the Windows Recycle Bin to get the list back.

 

Switch Config
Use this button to change FbX configuration folder – the folder where it stores all its options and shortcuts to the favorites. Displays the standard Windows Browse for Folder dialog box to either select and existing folder or create a new one. The folder you select must be either:

v      A new or empty folder – in that case when you click OK, FbX will ask if you want to copy there your previous configuration. You could copy it and then modify for your particular needs, or you could start with a clean new configuration.

v      A folder that was previously used by FileBox eXtender and already contains a saved configuration.

 

Currently selected item information area
this area displays information about the currently selected item on the Favorites menu. It tells you if this item is a shortcut to a file or folder, a text entry item, a sub-menu, or a separator, and the actual physical target of a shortcut, or the text that this item enters into file dialogs.

If necessary, you can mark the text in this box with your mouse, and copy it to clipboard (press Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert keys, or right-click with the mouse and pick Copy to put the selected text on the Windows clipboard).

 

Favorites Menu editing box
the white box on right allows you to view and modify the structure and sequence of your Favorites menu. If it's empty, please first create some new items, sub-menus, and separators in order to examine the features here. Click and hold down the left mouse button on any item, then move the mouse to drag that item to a new position on the list. You can move an item within the same branch of the menu, or you can move it to sub-menus or even the parent menus relative to its current position.

If you want to place the dragged item into a sub-menu that's not currently opened, stop the mouse pointer over that menu for a few seconds, while still holding the left button down. The sub-menu will expand, revealing the contents.