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 Post subject: Have pity on the newbie...
PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 6:07 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:27 am
Posts: 5
Hey there folks, hope you're all staying healthy and safe...

Haven't used a dock since the glory days of Rocketdock and am trying to get into the groove again. Nexus seems pretty cool, but I have a few issues that I'd like your help with...

1. How to get a shortcut to Windows File Explorer on the dock that will actually shows open explorer windows as running tasks

Yes I know how to right-click the dock and add "My Computer". However, when I do this & open either one or several explorer windows, none of these open windows shows up as running process icons on the dock.

I've tried disabling and enabling "Show minimized applications only" and then minimizing the explorer windows and bringing them back to the desktop again. No luck.

Clicking on the explorer icon in the dock just opens more explorer windows, it doesn't bring the minimized windows back.

Surely I'm not the only one who is frustrated by this?

2. Process capturing

If I open an application which doesn't have a shortcut on the dock, then Nexus refuses to acknowledge its existence - no icon for this new running process showing up in the dock, nada. This basically means that if I want Nexus to show a running process icon for an open app, then I have to create a shortcut for this app on the dock first.

So what I'm asking in my own convoluted way is: isn't it possible for Nexus to "capture" opened processes and display an icon for these on the dock? It's been 600 years since I used a Mac, but I'm pretty sure that's how it worked in the OSX dock... Surely I'm not the only one missing such a feature?

These 2 features are a deal-breaker for me. I often have a whole bunch of apps open & several file explorer windows open, and if the dock doesn't allow me an overview of all these windows & the possibility of switching to one of these via the dock, then there's not much reason to use the dock in stead of the Windows taskbar - which easily gives an easy overview of all open explorer windows. Likewise: I don't want to have a shortcut to every single app I use on the dock - but I do want the dock to be able to capture any new process when I open the app - regardless of whether I have a shortcut for this app on the dock or not - and display an icon for this app in the tasks area of the dock... If this isn't possible - which it is for the Windows taskbar - then that's another big reason to stay with the taskbar in stead of just using the dock...

3. Oh - and I remember "stacks"...

Back in the day, I was a member of the aqua-soft community, where this awesome guy from Argentina, Matias Moreno aka. matonga, made an awesome "stacks" docklet - google it...

We're now in 2020 - about 10 years later, I'd take it as a given that such an awesome thing was a staple part of docks nowadays... Can someone explain to me how this works in the current version of Nexus...?

Edit: Just read that all kinds of cool stacks are available in the paid Ultimate version. My bad. :)


Happy skinning. 8)


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 Post subject: Re: Have pity on the newbie...
PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:22 am 
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Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2004 8:30 pm
Posts: 11930
I'm assuming you're running the free version of Nexus, right? Make sure it's v19.2 or later.

PoulNyrup wrote:
1. How to get a shortcut to Windows File Explorer on the dock that will actually shows open explorer windows as running tasks


First, 'My Computer' is a virtual folder OR an internal command, not a shortcut to Windows Explorer.

Second, not sure what the problem is there. Do you have the 'Show running applications in this dock' setting enabled in the Content tab Preferences?

If so and if grouping is set in the Tasks tab of Preferences as 'Group similar windows into a single icon' then each time you open a new Explorer window an icon should appear on the right side of the dock. The second window you open will be grouped with the first icon (the counter badge will increase by one). You can hover this icon with the mouse pointer to get live window thumbnails of the Explorer windows currently open.

If 'Combine dock icons with running applications' is enabled and you actually have a shortcut to Explorer.exe on the left side of the dock, then this live window thumbnails will appear under this icon instead of on the right side of the dock (and no extra Explorer icon will appear on the right side of the dock).

PoulNyrup wrote:
2. Process capturing


Again, it seems to me you have just failed to enable the 'Show running applications in this dock' setting.

PoulNyrup wrote:
3. Oh - and I remember "stacks"...


As you read, lots of cool features on the paid version, from Grid Stacks, to Drawers, to tabbed docks, to sub-docks, to multiple docks, etc... :)

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Jorge Coelho
Winstep Xtreme - Xtreme Power!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies


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 Post subject: Re: Have pity on the newbie...
PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:15 am 
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:27 am
Posts: 5
Hi Jorge - thank you so much for your reply!

The setting "Group similar windows into a single icon" was the missing link - now the shit just works!

All opened file explorer windows displayed in the running tasks section of the dock, whether I open them via the dock or the good old Win+E... Check.

Any app opened without using a shortcut from the dock being shown in the running tasks section of the dock... Check.

A nice little badge telling me how many windows of the file explorer are open, with a nice hover-over display thing going... Check.

Thank you! Now the eye candy isn't just candy but also a well-functioning tool... :)

Also - upgrading to the 20.3 beta seemed to help with an initial problem I had with getting indicators lighting up for certain running apps...

As soon as I find the time I'll get stuck into a translation of Nexus into Danish. Hard up for cash at the moment, so that's the only way I can get my hands on the Ultimate version... ;)

Thanks for making such a great app!

Regards, Matthew Adams aka. PoulNyrup


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