I just recently purchased Winstep eXtreme a few days ago and have been working to set it up according to my needs. I truly like the utilities that you've created much better then any other 'program launchers' and 'Organizers' that I've purchased (most recently I have been using Objectdock).

Though I am a newbie to Winstep I am a very experienced Windows and Mac user. Embarrassingly though, I can't find the setting or ability to do something that I'm sure that your FAQ's said could be done. I simply want to be able to rearrange the icons under the various tabs of the 'Shelf' to be in the order that I wish and not alphabetical as is the way it is currently. I've spent 3 days trying to find a setting and looking through this forum for the answer to no avail. I did find a reference to using drag & drop with the shift or ctrl keys to accomplish this but it doesn't seem to work with either key stroke method- all that happens is that it copies the shortcut and moves it next to the original in it's alphabetical order (which is what it does not using the modifiers.)

What have I missed? I have version 10.6 on a Win 7 64-bit system with plenty of RAM and HD space.

Your great wisdom in helping me find the solution would be greatly appreciated.

Let's start with a couple of questions:
What kind of shelf tab is it? I guess the show folder tab? In that case it is normal that it sorts alphabetically. When you place the shortcuts yourself in the shelf tab (so being an empty tab normally) that is when you can sort the shortcuts yourself.

I don't know whether there is a workaround for that at the moment.

Yep, Kutagh is right. The Shelf is able to display several different tab types, but you can split those into two main groups: 'regular' Shelf tabs, in which the tab acts like a dock and where you can re-arrange items at will, and tabs which show the contents of folders/virtual folders on your PC. The latter group, being a 'window' into a folder in your hard disk or a virtual shell folder, cannot have the content re-arranged, and its contents are always displayed in alphabetical order.

You can't re-arrange the contents of the Windows Control Panel window either, for instance. Another difference is that you can drop files into regular and folder tabs, but you cannot drop files into virtual folders (as they don't exist 'physically' in your hard drive).

I'll update the FAQ to make this clear, sorry.

Thanks for the quick response to both of you but obviously this leads to a couple of further questions (and believe we when I say that I've read every single FAQ to understand this program better):

1. Both of you and the FAQ refer to different types of shelf's (or shelf tabs) but there doesn't seem to be anything on exactly what they are and how they are different- other than Winstep's explanation above about the folders which is completely understandable.

All that I have been trying to do is rearrange the icons (under the 'Quick Launch" tab) on the standard shelf that was created on install. I haven't even created any other Shelf tabs. I'm just trying to understand the program first.

2. Is there a manual (yes, I'm one of those that uses them) that is available for the program as the FAQ's don't cover all aspects of the program? - i.e another item I'm just now trying to understand is custom menu's that are discussed in the Xtremes features web page but which I haven't been able to find info on in the FAQ's or looking through the various preference or setup areas, etc. (I'm beginning to think that some of the information that I've read refers to older versions of Xtreme but which are no longer part of the program - maybe like the Start Menu Organizer which you can now buy as a separate purchase.

I'm sure that this information is available somewhere but obviously I'm having a bad day in trying to locate it or understand what's being explained.

While most Windows customization programs don't have anything that could be called a manual or User Guide, Winstep Xtreme had a very detailed one up until v9.5.

The problem is that after v9.5 Winstep Xtreme's User Interface was completely rebuild from scratch, invalidating the old User Guide. The new one is still under construction, which is why the Help button currently points to an online FAQ (writting documentation is a huge pain, which is why most programs will skip having one if they can get away with it).

Anyway, if it helps have a look at the old User Guides. You can find them online here (WorkShelf) and here (NextSTART).

Obviously, a lot of what is written there will no longer apply.



Which part of the information made you think that?

The Start Menu Organizer is sold stand alone and is also a part of Winstep Xtreme, but not Nexus/Nexus Ultimate.

1. Both of you and the FAQ refer to different types of shelf's (or shelf tabs) but there doesn't seem to be anything on exactly what they are and how they are different- other than Winstep's explanation above about the folders which is completely understandable.

All that I have been trying to do is rearrange the icons (under the 'Quick Launch" tab) on the standard shelf that was created on install. I haven't even created any other Shelf tabs. I'm just trying to understand the program first.

Let me illustrate it with a picture:

(click the picture to view full size)

Basically the Quick Launch tab shows the contents of what is in the Quicklaunch section of the NextSTART taskbar

I'll put up a description of the different types of shelf tabs available later if you want


2. Is there a manual (yes, I'm one of those that uses them) that is available for the program as the FAQ's don't cover all aspects of the program? - i.e another item I'm just now trying to understand is custom menu's that are discussed in the Xtremes features web page but which I haven't been able to find info on in the FAQ's or looking through the various preference or setup areas, etc. (I'm beginning to think that some of the information that I've read refers to older versions of Xtreme but which are no longer part of the program - maybe like the Start Menu Organizer which you can now buy as a separate purchase.)

The Start Menu Organizer Pro is still included with the Winstep Xtreme suite And I don't think there is an up-to-date manual available at the moment.
However if there is something you want/need to know there is a small community here willing to help you out, including the developer

Edit: Ninja'ed by Jorge.

Three things:

First, the Start Menu Pro info is included in the Xtreme details page as shown on this page:

http://www.winstep.net/xtreme.asp

but the frame on the right indicates that Star Menu Pro is a separate purchase link, therefore it wasn't clear that it came with the Xtreme version - My own visual confusion I guess!

Second, I hadn't seen anything on the Start Menu Pro in the menus, tabs or preference/setup information on it until you both stated that it came with the Xtreme version and I found it in the Winstep installation folder as a separate program.

Third, I was still looking for where custom menus where created at and hadn't found it until I looked again under the NextStart preferences and saw the 'Add Menu's' button - this made me think that it was a removed feature. Again, my lack of attention and misunderstanding.

In regards to the icon organization, just after I posted the second time about the quick Link issue it finally dawned on me that the quick link tab was the same thing as the quick link area of the task bar and therefore not readily organizable. I think I'm finally understanding the program structure - I'm obviously getting a little older and a lot slower.

Thanks for the User Guide links - and I agree that they are a major pain to create so I completely understand it's current lack of availability.

Thanks for all the quick replies and information.

JJ

Added a few more questions related to this thread to the Winstep Xtreme and Nexus Ultimate FAQs, including links to the old User Guides.