I'm trying out the trial version of Winstep Nexus Ultimate again after several years and I'm really impressed with some of the features that have been added, however I have some show-stopping issues for me with hotkeys. I hope this is just a problem on my end and not a limitation of the software itself:

1. I can't get hotkeys to work for opening gridstack menus. I feel like I tried everything. They just don't respond. I tried the following:
-launching it via dock entry properties
-launching it via grid stack properties
-launching it via drawer entry properties
it just won't activate for me via hotkey.

2. Hotkeys for other functions won't work while I'm in a full screen program. Is there a way to disable this? This is kind of essential for my workflow. I found the "full screen exclusion list", but I think that only works for activating the dock itself and not the modules?

Alternately, is there just a way to send a command to winstep to perform a specific function? Then I could use something like autohotkey and have things activate that way, and much more reliably.

I feel like I'm SO CLOSE to realizing my dream interface with this if I can just solve these issues.

1. So, I had a look at this and hot keys can only be used to launch programs, run internal commands, activate shortcuts in WorkShelf to NextSTART hotspots, and execute the default action associated with modules.

There is a very good reason for this: the hot key functionality does not care if a dock, shelf or shelf tab is currently hidden or accessible, it will do it's thing regardless.

Sub-docks and Grid-Stacks, on the other hand, require a 'point of origin' - they expand *from* somewhere and collapse *to* somewhere. They thus require the parent object (dock, sub-dock or shelf tab) to be open and visible when activated, something the hotkey processing routine cannot do.

2. There is a very valid reason hotkeys are disabled when running a full screen application like a game: 'full screen' is the equivalent of a 'do not bother' sign on your hotel door and you don't want to get thrown out of a game at a crucial moment because you accidentally pressed a hotkey or one of the game's controls is equal to a hotkey. Likewise for edge bump activations, etc...

This is why you have the full screen exclusion list. It should work for hotkeys too... have you tried that already?

Thanks for the reply. Regarding this limitation for Winstep Xtreme, does this also exist with the full version of Winstep Nexus? In other words, if I wasn't running xtreme and ONLY ran Nexus, would it be possible to bring up grid stacks via hotkeys?

That's actually exactly my purpose. I want to be able to launch some grid stacks without having to go through the process of clicking on an item on dock first. If I can just assign a hotkey, it can come up instantly and save myself some time. It's sort of like pressing the Windows key to bring up the start menu instead of manually clicking on it, it can save time.

You seem concerned about accidental triggering, which is understandable, but seeing as how someone has to go out of their way to specify a hotkey to begin with, I think that wouldn't be an issue for the vast majority of users.

I must have just gotten confused, they seem to be working fine now (except being able to launch grid stacks), sorry about that.

So I guess my final question: is there any way to activate grid stacks via hotkeys, either with Xtreme or the full version of Nexus? Again, if there's some external signal I could send to the dock via a program like Autohotkey, that would be just as good.

The paid versions can do EVERYTHING the free version can and MUCH more. The opposite is, however, obviously NOT true. The free version of Nexus doesn't even have/support Grid Stacks.

Anyway, unfortunately there is no way to activate Grid Stacks with a hotkey for the reasons outlined in the previous post. This said, you CAN activate Drawers and even Shelves, so you might want to look into that instead.