PowerToys
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microsoft
quick action to hide/show icons on the desktop
Summary of the new feature/enhancement
In the desktop's Right click context menu there is an option to hide/show desktop icons, this power toy could let the user set a quick action like a double click on the desktop or a keyboard shortcut to toggle this option
Could this be maybe part of a larger "presenter" mode PowerToy? '
For those who don't know, right click on desktop and the option is under 'View'
@dantower suggested same in #1151. Here is my thought for double clicking the desktop, it is a bad metaphor as double clicking is used to open files. you miss the icon slightly and then you get a behavior that is pretty drastic
yes it would be very confusing if the user don't know about it, but what about biding to a more tradicional keyboard shortcut by default and making it so that the user has to specifically bind the double click to this action? so there would be no way he wouldn't know
i mainly lurk around here, but i'd like to add that i actually use this functionality almost daily. Stardock's Fences application has this feature available, and it's the only part of the app that i use at this point.
I would also use it daily! I like a clean Desktop with a pretty wallpaper, but still would like to use space from time to time. I use a mac-like dock and use the desktop as a temporary bin for work files.
I think if it were to be a double-click action it would have to be off by default.
https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/wiki/Roadmap
We are focusing on stability and wrapping up current utilities.
Does such a utility already exist? Or could anyone point me in the right direction in order to implement this myself? This feature is really useful to me.
@nahomebssa
Does such a utility already exist? Or could anyone point me in the right direction in order to implement this myself? This feature is really useful to me.
See the above comment
i mainly lurk around here, but i'd like to add that i actually use this functionality almost daily. Stardock's Fences application has this feature available, and it's the only part of the app that i use at this point.
@tajetaje It's a paid app and I only need this one feature. I would much rather just make it myself.
@nahomebssa
It's a paid app and I only need this one feature. I would much rather just make it myself.
I would see what powershell has available then, if it does not then I am certain that autohotkey will be capable of it.
For anyone looking for pointers, here's a good start: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38544939/i-found-some-code-that-shows-hides-desktop-icons-but-it-moves-the-icons-in-the
@tajetaje It's a paid app and I only need this one feature. I would much rather just make it myself.
i just found this piece of freeware. doesn't utilize double-click to show/hide, but it has a couple of options that are comparable, and it seems to be working well enough for my needs so far.
AutoHideDesktopIcons from softwareok.com
@tajetaje It's a paid app and I only need this one feature. I would much rather just make it myself.
i just found this piece of freeware. doesn't utilize double-click to show/hide, but it has a couple of options that are comparable, and it seems to be working well enough for my needs so far.
This ShowHide software also let you double click to hide desktop icons
Is this feature request in the roadmap?
Example app: VB tiny app that only shows/hides with a double-click: https://download.cnet.com/ShowHide/3000-2072_4-76472002.html Unfortunately, it crashes on my recent install of Win11 & dev is MIA
I've made a program called DeskHider that allows you to toggle desktop icons with a double-click.
Thanks man, you've made my day! Works great so far :)
I've made a program called DeskHider that allows you to toggle desktop icons with a double-click.
Great little app, I really dislike how slow windows is to show the icons again and the lack of options, hope to see it get more features going forward.
In the meantime I found an app that does the same but has all of the features I was looking for; AutoHideDesktopIcons
