I wish for the ability to assign a keyboard shortcut in XYplorer that will restore my XYplorer window that I have minimized to the tray.
Background
For programs that I use very frequently I prefer to keep them open all the time. Additionally, I prefer to minimize them to the tray because there always running, so there's no value (to me) in showing them in the taskbar. This arrangement means that my taskbar only shows the programs I'm working on at the moment, which is great for me. In addition to XYplorer, other programs I use in this same way include X1, MediaMonkey, WinAmp, VirtuaWin, and Dexpot. All of these programs (except XYplorer) have the option of providing keyboard shortcuts that are truly global (they work regardless of which application is in focus), and this allows me to access these applications that normally live in the tray without having to use the mouse. It would be nice if XYplorer, too, had such a functionality.
Workaround
To workaround this need I've configured XYplorer to only allow a single instance, and I've modified a shortcut on my desktop to XYplorer to have a "Shortcut key". The net effect is that when I press "Ctrl + Alt + Y" explorer.exe runs "C:\Program Files (x86)\XYplorer\XYplorer.exe", which detects that it's configured to only allow one instance and that another instance is already running, so it brings the existing XYplorer window into focus.
Final comments
I have a workaround, though it's not ideal for three main reasons:
- It requires that I disable multi-window mode (this makes XYplorer a tad harder to use as an explorer.exe replacement, at least until the dual-pane functionality is built).
- It's not as easily portable to other systems as I'd like -- if XYplorer was configured to have a global shortcut, and it could automatically register itself the first time it was run, this would make it easier to transport my XYplorer configuration to other systems (i.e. eliminate the requirement that I create a windows shortcut and configure the keybinding there).
- It requires that my shell be explorer.exe, or a shell with functionality to bind keyboard shortcuts to start applications