P
PBear
Guest
Recently, I became aware that I had unwittingly created two different kinds
of folder shortcuts in my Favourite Links (C:\Users\<username>\Links) folder
in Windows Explorer. I noticed this after I created a new toolbar for the
folder in my taskbar, where clicking on the toolbar would bring up a
cascading menu of the folders in Favourite Links - most of which were
displayed as menus (with arrows next to them that would show the contents of
each folder in still another cascading menu), but the two most recent entries
I'd added were just simple folder links that would only open the folder in a
separate window.
When I looked at the contents of C:\Users\<username>\Links, I could see that
the last two folder shortcuts I had dragged into the folder were designated
as "shortcuts" while the first series of folders I had dragged there were
identified as "files"! (How could a folder shortcut be a "file," I wondered,
but these were the shortcuts that created the cascading menus in the taskbar
toolbar.)
I wanted all of the folders to appear as menus in the toolbar, so I wracked
my brain trying to remember what I did differently the two different times I
populated my Favorite Links folder. It took me a lot of trial and error
before I finally discovered that the different behaviour was dependent on
which key(s) I hold down when I drag a folder into Favourite Links.
If I drag a folder to Favourite Links holding down the <Alt> key (or by
right-dragging and choosing "Create Shortcut" from the pop-up menu), a
regular shortcut is created; if I, instead, hold down the <Ctrl> and <Shift>
keys simultaneously while I drag the item, the resulting shortcut is a "file"
with a cascading menu.
I can't remember where I learned these two different keyboard combinations
for creating shortcuts (both have stuck in my head for years, probably going
back to the days of Windows 3.1, or at least Windows 95), but I was never
taught that there was any difference in the kind of shortcuts they created.
I haven't been able to find any sort of documentation about this difference
anywhere and I was wondering if anybody knows more details about it, such as
what other types of objects (besides folders) are affected and in what ways
(basically, more about the intended purpose of the <Ctrl-Shift> method of
dragging).
Thanks.
of folder shortcuts in my Favourite Links (C:\Users\<username>\Links) folder
in Windows Explorer. I noticed this after I created a new toolbar for the
folder in my taskbar, where clicking on the toolbar would bring up a
cascading menu of the folders in Favourite Links - most of which were
displayed as menus (with arrows next to them that would show the contents of
each folder in still another cascading menu), but the two most recent entries
I'd added were just simple folder links that would only open the folder in a
separate window.
When I looked at the contents of C:\Users\<username>\Links, I could see that
the last two folder shortcuts I had dragged into the folder were designated
as "shortcuts" while the first series of folders I had dragged there were
identified as "files"! (How could a folder shortcut be a "file," I wondered,
but these were the shortcuts that created the cascading menus in the taskbar
toolbar.)
I wanted all of the folders to appear as menus in the toolbar, so I wracked
my brain trying to remember what I did differently the two different times I
populated my Favorite Links folder. It took me a lot of trial and error
before I finally discovered that the different behaviour was dependent on
which key(s) I hold down when I drag a folder into Favourite Links.
If I drag a folder to Favourite Links holding down the <Alt> key (or by
right-dragging and choosing "Create Shortcut" from the pop-up menu), a
regular shortcut is created; if I, instead, hold down the <Ctrl> and <Shift>
keys simultaneously while I drag the item, the resulting shortcut is a "file"
with a cascading menu.
I can't remember where I learned these two different keyboard combinations
for creating shortcuts (both have stuck in my head for years, probably going
back to the days of Windows 3.1, or at least Windows 95), but I was never
taught that there was any difference in the kind of shortcuts they created.
I haven't been able to find any sort of documentation about this difference
anywhere and I was wondering if anybody knows more details about it, such as
what other types of objects (besides folders) are affected and in what ways
(basically, more about the intended purpose of the <Ctrl-Shift> method of
dragging).
Thanks.