FolderIcon

A lightweight Windows utility that displays folder contents in a popup window with icons. Perfect for creating custom taskbar launchers.

Features

• Clean popup interface - Displays folder contents as clickable icons
• Dark/Light mode - Automatically matches your Windows theme
• Windows 11 styling - Rounded corners and modern appearance
• Single-click launch - Open files and applications instantly
• Smart positioning - Window appears near cursor, respects taskbar location
• Fade-out animation - Smooth close animation
• Tooltips - Hover over icons to see file names

Screenshots

Dark Mode	Light Mode

Usage

FolderIcon.exe [--folder|-f] <path>
FolderIcon.exe <path>
FolderIcon.exe              # Opens Desktop folder by default

Tutorial: Create a Custom Taskbar Launcher

Transform FolderIcon into a powerful app launcher pinned to your taskbar.

Step 1: Create a Launcher Folder

Create a folder somewhere on your system to hold your application shortcuts. For example:

C:\Users\YourName\MyLauncher

Step 2: Add Application Shortcuts

Inside your launcher folder, add shortcuts to your favorite applications:

1. Navigate to the application you want to add
2. Right-click the .exe file and select Create shortcut
3. Move the shortcut to your launcher folder
4. Repeat for all applications you want in your launcher

Tip: You can also drag applications from the Start Menu into your launcher folder.

Step 3: Create a FolderIcon Shortcut

1. Right-click on FolderIcon.exe and select Create shortcut
2. Move the shortcut to a convenient location (e.g., Desktop)

Step 4: Configure the Shortcut

1. Right-click on the FolderIcon shortcut and select Properties

2. In the Target field, add your launcher folder path as an argument:

   "C:\Path\To\FolderIcon.exe" "C:\Users\YourName\MyLauncher"
   

3. (Optional) Click Change Icon... to customize the shortcut icon

4. Click OK to save

Step 5: Pin to Taskbar

1. Drag the configured FolderIcon shortcut to your taskbar
2. Drop it where you want it to appear

Step 6: Use Your Launcher

1. Left-click the taskbar icon to open the launcher popup
2. Single-click any icon to launch that application
3. The popup closes automatically after launching
4. Click outside the popup or press Escape to close without launching

Tips

• Organize by category: Create multiple launcher folders (Games, Dev Tools, Office) with separate taskbar shortcuts
• Use descriptive names: Rename shortcuts in your launcher folder for clearer tooltips
• Add folders: You can include folder shortcuts to quickly access directories
• Drag the header: Click and drag the header bar to reposition the popup window
• Double-click header: Opens the launcher folder itself in Explorer

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11 (x64)
• Visual Studio 2019+ with "Desktop development with C++" workload
• Windows SDK 10.0+

Build with Visual Studio

msbuild FolderIcon.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

Build with CMake

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --config Release

Output Locations

Configuration	Output Path
Debug	bin\Debug\FolderIcon.exe
Release	bin\Release\FolderIcon.exe

Technical Details

• Written in pure C (C17)
• No external dependencies beyond Windows SDK
• Single-file implementation (~550 lines)
• Uses Win32 API directly (no MFC/ATL/WTL)

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details.