The Power Menu

If you middle-click either the icon or top-left corner of any window, the Power menu appears for it (Figure 1 for apps, and Figure 2 for folders). This is used to do things to the window (such as keep it always on top, auto-open it in that position in future, make it transparent, etc). This is one of AlomWare Toolbox's major features and makes manipulating your windows very easy.

Important: The Power menu is only usable on windows that have the same (or lower) running privileges as AlomWare Toolbox. This means if AlomWare Toolbox was run with Limited user rights, then the Power menu won't work on windows of apps that were run with higher Administrator user rights. To get around this, click the "General" menu of AlomWare Toolbox and select "Restart Toolbox as admin" from the menu so you can use the Power menu on them.

When AlomWare Toolbox has a dialog window or message box open, such as its "About" dialog, the Power menu will be temporarily unavailable for use. Close the dialog or message to use the Power menu again.

The Power menu might not be available with some windows (such as web browser tabs or folder tabs) due to not being clickable with the middle mouse button in their top-left corner, so to show it in these cases you can set a hotkey to do it for the Window \ Show the Power menu action. See the section titled "The Power menu isn't opening for a window" in the Support chapter for how to do this.



The Power menu for apps


Figure 1


Here's what the Power menu options do for app windows:

  • Always on top - Keeps the window on top of all others at all times (unless another window is also set this way). Tip: If you hold down the [Shift] key when setting a standard window on top (not Win 10+ app windows), then it should also always stay visible; even if you press [Win]+[D] to show the desktop. The downside is that you temporarily lose the minimize and maximize buttons on the window's title bar during this state. Also please note that some windows might ignore this "always visible" request and just auto-minimize anyway.
  • Move into zone - Lets you automatically move and resize the window into a pre-made zone that you made. You can also create a new zone (based on the current window size/position) by selecting "Set as zone" here.
  • Opening state - Lets you specify how the window will automatically open in future, or even not open at all (auto-close).
  • Action creation - Creates an automated action (in the Automation tab) to launch the app for this window, or to open the doc if the window is a document, or to restore its current state (on-top, position, size, etc).
  • CPU priority - Changes the process priority of the window's app. Selecting "Realtime" is not always possible as the OS may deny it.
  • Dim toggle - Toggles dimming of the window with a dark overlay. Won't affect any menus that the window opens.
  • Dock window - Lets you select which edge of another window to dock the current window to, so that moving any window moves the others with it.
  • Keep locked here - Stops the window being moved or resized by automatically snapping it back after you release the mouse. Select this option again to unlock it.
  • Freeze the focus - Locks the mouse into the window and stops other apps from stealing the focus from it. Even the [Win] key and [Alt]+[Tab] can't get you out of it! Select this option again to unfreeze it (or just close the window if no longer needed).
  • Minimize to tray - Minimizes the window to an icon in the system tray (near your PC's clock). Click the icon to unminimize. Note: Some apps have a native way of doing this themselves, so this option is intended for apps that don't (such as Notepad).
  • Roll up to title - Hides the window by "rolling it up" (also known as a "window shade") so that only its title bar is showing. Unlike other tools that do this, AlomWare Toolbox also has a real-time thumbnail of the window at the left of the title bar, so you can still keep a general eye on what the window is doing despite being hidden. Click and hold the thumbnail to view the full window again temporarily. In the Settings you can change how tall and wide the title bar should be, and whether the real-time thumbnail is shown or not.
  • Set as target - Sets this window as the current "target" window for use with the automated action step called Window: Activate target. Basically you set a hotkey to an action that switches to whatever window is the target at the time.
  • Taskbar button - Sets whether window has a button in the taskbar or not. Note that this only works with standard exe windows, and not Win 10+ app windows like the Calculator, Clock, Microsoft Store, and so on.
  • Thumbnail view - Creates a small thumbnail view of the window, so that you can keep an eye on it after dragging it to a more convenient location. The thumbnail window has "[Th]" prefixed in its window title, and can be closed to restore the real window again. You can resize the thumbnail like any other window, but not to larger than the real window that it represents. You can click the left mouse button on the thumbnail to send the click to the real window, and also scroll the mouse wheel on it, and type to it. For technical reasons, right-clicking and middle-clicking the thumbnail is not supported.
  • Title rename - Lets you temporarily rename the window title, so that you can more easily and quickly identify it in the taskbar or elsewhere. Note: Some windows might auto-update their titles, making this feature pointless to carry out on them.
  • Transparency - Sets the window transparency level from 10% to 100% (with 100% being not transparent at all). When you select this option, a small pop-up window with a slider will appear; so drag the slider to choose the transparency and then click away or wait for the window to self-close after a brief pause.
  • Quit forcibly - Lets you force-quit the window and its app, similar to how you would by doing it manually from the Task Manager. AlomWare Toolbox has extra benefits though: you can force quit just that window and its app, or all apps of that window type (for example, all Notepad windows at once). You can also force-quit and re-launch the app with Admin rights, or force-quit and uninstall it.
  • When closed - Lets you perform an action when the window closes or gets hidden. The options presented are self-explanatory (such as "Play a whistle sound", so that you can hear when a long task has finished if you're in another room).
  • Properties - Shows info about the window and its app, such as its size and position, how long it's been open, its executable name, its installation folder, etc. Clicking a property will either copy it to the clipboard (such as its title), or action the item (such as opening its folder if you clicked "Folder").



The Power menu for folders


Figure 2


Further to the above Power menu options, here's some additional Power menu options specifically for folder windows:

  • Bulk rename - Opens AlomWare Toolbox's "Files > Rename" tab, so you can bulk rename the files in that folder (but not sub-folders).
  • Copy file list - Copies a list of files in that folder to the clipboard in various formats. Only the "Tree layout" option will include files in sub-folders.
  • DOS prompt - Opens a DOS prompt at the folder.
  • New folder(s) - Lets you bulk-create new sub-folders in the folder. You can choose from various formats such as A-Z, numerical, months, from a text file list, or from a list in the clipboard. You can also specify your own style. If choosing your own style, use | to separate each new folder name, and \ if you want to create child (and grandchild) folders. For example, one|two will create two new folders named one and two; and parent\child\grandchild will create three new sub-folders named parent, then child under that, and then grandchild under child.
  • Search files - Opens AlomWare Toolbox's "Files > Search" tab, so you can search for files in that folder and sub-folders.
  • Watch folder - Opens AlomWare Toolbox's "Files > Watch" tab, so you can bulk rename the files in that folder and sub-folders.