Traydex

A native drop shelf for Windows, written in Rust.
It appears when you start dragging a file and keeps files, images, text and links at hand.

English | Русский

Traydex is a panel that opens as soon as you start dragging something in Windows. Drop files, folders, images, text or links on it to keep them for later, then drag them out into any folder or app, one by one or all at once. Dropping on one of the action tiles instead processes the files right away: zip, convert, compress, make a PDF, recognize text, upload and more.

Native, with no web engine inside. Traydex is written in Rust on GPUI, the GPU-accelerated UI framework of the Zed editor. It doesn't use Electron, Tauri, WebView or any other browser engine: the interface is drawn directly with DirectX. It's a single executable that starts quickly and stays light while it waits in the tray.

Note: this is an alpha version. I use Traydex every day, but there will be bugs. If you find one, please report it.

The latest version is on the Releases page:

If you're not sure, choose x64. Your system type is shown in Settings → System → About.

• Installer: installs for the current user without admin rights, adds a Start menu shortcut and an entry in Installed apps.
• Portable: a folder that can live anywhere, including a USB drive. All data stays in the data folder next to the exe, and Traydex doesn't start with Windows unless you turn that on.

After launch Traydex runs in the tray. Start dragging any file to open the shelf.

Traydex checks GitHub for a new version at startup and once a day and offers it at the bottom of the window. Update downloads the file for your system (installer or portable, x64, ARM64 or x86), verifies its SHA-256 checksum, installs it and restarts Traydex. Alpha builds are offered alpha and stable releases; stable builds only stable ones. Check by hand with the button next to the version at the bottom of Settings, or turn automatic checks off there.

Requirements: Windows 10 (1803 or newer) or Windows 11.

The app isn't code-signed yet, so Windows may show "Windows protected your PC" on the first launch. Click More info → Run anyway. Releases are built from this repository by GitHub Actions and include SHA-256 checksums.

The shelf opens when a drag starts and hides when you click outside it. It can also be opened with a hot corner, Ctrl+Shift+Space (configurable) or the tray icon. With Only on shake enabled, it opens only when you shake the cursor during a drag.

During a drag, the shelf shows action tiles. A photo dropped on Compress gets a smaller copy next to it; several images dropped on To PDF become one document. Progress is shown in the title bar, and the result is added to the shelf.

Choose which tiles to show, change their order and configure each one: target folder, search engine, upload server and so on. All available actions are listed below.

Dragging out Select several cards and drag them into a folder or an app. Drag everything moves the whole shelf at once.	Preview Double-click a card or press Space. Images, text, code, folders, archives, PDF and Office files open inside the panel; the arrow keys switch between them.
Notes and search Ctrl+N creates a note that saves as you type. / searches the shelf, tolerating typos and text typed in the wrong keyboard layout.	Text recognition Drop a screenshot, a photo or a scanned PDF on Recognize text to copy its text. It uses the OCR built into Windows and works offline.
QR codes Show a link or a note as a QR code. To phone does the same for files: scan the code to open them on a phone over Wi-Fi.	Appearance List or grid view, light or dark theme, transparency and blur. Available in English, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish and French.

Add folders such as Downloads in Settings, and their files and subfolders appear on the shelf by themselves, new ones included. A card goes away when its file is deleted or moved; a card you remove yourself doesn't come back.

Explorer's context menu also gets a Send to Traydex shelf item (on Windows 11, under Show more options).

All data is stored locally: in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Traydex, or in the data folder of the portable version. There are no accounts and no telemetry. Traydex connects to the internet only for tiles that need it (uploads, web search, VirusTotal and downloading ffmpeg) and to check GitHub for updates, which can be turned off in Settings. Files from Explorer aren't copied; the shelf stores a link to the original, and a card shows the folder the file is in. Pasted images and files from browsers are kept in Traydex itself: their cards say Stored only in Traydex. Removing such a card sends the file to the Recycle Bin, and restoring it there brings the card back; with that setting off, Traydex asks first, because the file is deleted for good. Logs are in the logs subfolder.

How do I disable autostart? Settings → Start with Windows.

The shelf opens too often. Enable Only on shake, or disable Show while dragging and use the shortcut or a hot corner.

How do I uninstall it? Installer version: Settings → Apps → Installed apps. Portable version: turn off Start with Windows and the Explorer menu item in Settings, quit from the tray icon and delete the folder.

Is there a macOS or Linux version? No. Traydex is built around Windows drag-and-drop, Explorer and the tray.

A plugin is a tile backed by your own script in PowerShell, Python, .bat or any .exe. Add an action.json, pack the folder as .tdx and drop it on Traydex to install. See docs/plugins.md and the examples in examples/plugins. The complete description of every feature is in the manual.

Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome. Build instructions and code rules are in CONTRIBUTING.md.

MIT. Third-party licenses are listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt, included in every release.