SystemTrayMenu 3SystemTrayMenu 3
Help
Set up, use, adjust. Where a system differs, it says so.
First steps
Install
Download and open it. Windows and Linux: at the first start the program sets itself up, with an entry in the Start menu or app list. Mac: drag SystemTrayMenu to “Applications” and start it there, the first time this guide helps.
Open the menu
Click the icon in the notification area (Mac: in the menu bar) or use the shortcut: Windows Ctrl+Win, Mac ⌃⌥, Linux Ctrl+Win+M. Press the two modifier keys together and let go.
Choose the menu folder
At first the menu shows your desktop. Your own folder: Settings → General → Menu folder → “Change …”. Keep it in OneDrive, iCloud or Dropbox and every computer has the same menu.
Settings
Right-click the icon → “Settings …” or the gear at the top of the menu. Changes apply when you close the window.
Start with the computer
Settings → General → Startup → “Start at login”. It is off out of the box.
Enter the license
For 14 days everything works without one. Then: Settings → About → License → “Paste” (text from the purchase mail) or “Choose file …”, or drop the
.licfile onto the window. In your Downloads folder the program picks it up at start by itself.
Using the menu
Every folder opens as a column of its own. The menu stays open until you open something, click elsewhere or press Esc.
Keyboard
| Key | What happens |
|---|---|
| ↑ ↓ | Select an item, at the end it wraps around. A selected folder shows its contents right next to it. |
| → ← | Into the selected folder or back. With submenus opening to the left (Mac) it is the other way round. |
| Enter | Open the file. A folder opens in Explorer or Finder, with nothing selected the menu folder itself. |
| Typing | Search, see Search. |
| Esc | Clear the search, a second press closes the menu. |
| Tab, Shift+Tab | Next or previous column. With a search, the first Tab selects the search text. |
| Home End | First or last item, Page Up Page Down jump 10 items (Mac: fn and an arrow key). |
| Ctrl+F (Mac ⌘F) | Select the search text, typing replaces it. Ctrl+A works too. |
| Ctrl+V (Mac ⌘V) | Paste text into the search. |
| Ctrl+P (Mac ⌘P) | Pin or unpin the menu. |
| Ctrl+↑ ↓ (Mac ⌘↑ ⌘↓) | Move an item when sorting is “Own order”. |
| Space (Mac) | Quick Look like in Finder, ↑ ↓ keep browsing. |
| Menu key, Shift+F10 | Context menu of the selected row (Linux: the short menu, as with a right click). |
| Shortcut | Opens the menu, a second time closes it. |
Mouse
- Click
- One click opens a file or a folder. Rest the mouse on a folder for a moment and it opens by itself.
- Double click
- On a folder: opens it in Explorer or Finder.
- Right click
- Context menu like in Explorer (Windows 11, “Show more options” leads to the classic one) or like in Finder. Linux: a short menu with “Open” and “Show in file manager”.
- Move
- Drag the header at the top. The place is remembered, submenus open to the side with more room.
- Buttons at the top
- Gear: settings. Folder: open the menu folder in Explorer or Finder. Pin: keep open. Circular arrow: restart. Which of them show is set under Menu → Header and footer.
- Close
- Click elsewhere, Esc, the shortcut or a click on the icon. When another window has the focus, the menu turns see-through and closes once the mouse leaves it.
Dragging
- Drag out
- Drag an item to the desktop, into a folder or into a program. It is copied, the original stays.
- Own order
- Choose the sorting “Own order (drag entries)” (Settings → Menu → Content, or for one folder only), then drag items up or down. A blue line shows the place.
- Drop in
- Drop files and folders onto the open menu: they are copied into the folder of the column below, nothing is overwritten. Drop a link from the browser: it is saved with the website’s icon, a small window suggests a name and warns about duplicates. Windows and Mac.
Search
- Just type
- With the menu open, simply type, the active column filters right away. Case does not matter, hits at the start of a word come first: “calc pro” finds “Calculator Project”.
- Subfolders
- The search also finds items in subfolders, the folder shows in grey behind them. It goes as deep as preloaded (Settings → Advanced → Preloading).
- Wildcard
- * stands for any number of characters: “inv*2026” finds “Invoice March 2026”.
- Open
- Enter opens the selected hit, Esc clears the search. Custom names (Settings → Menu → Custom names and icons) are found too.
Pinning
The pin at the top of the menu or Ctrl+P (Mac ⌘P): the menu stays open, even when you click elsewhere or open something, until you close it with Esc, the shortcut or the icon.
Touch
Tap to open, swipe to scroll, press and hold, then drag to move an item. To search, tap the search field at the top and the on-screen keyboard appears (keep “Search text at the top” on for that). Bigger rows on touchscreens: Settings → Menu → Appearance → “Row height with touchscreen” (Windows).
Gamepad
Turn it on under Settings → Behavior → Clicking → “Gamepad controls the menu”. The D-pad or left stick selects like the arrow keys, A opens like Enter, B goes back like Esc. Open the menu itself with the shortcut or the icon.
Settings
Right-click the icon → “Settings …” or the gear in the menu. Everything applies when you close the window. The pill shows the default.
General
- Menu folder
- The folder the main menu shows. Desktop
- Additional folders
- Their contents also appear in the main menu. Per folder: “Include subfolders” (everything right in the main menu), “Files only”, “Show only when searching” (appears only while typing).
- More menu folders
- Menus of their own for more folders, opened from the icon’s context menu. Each can have its own icon and shortcut, taking effect after the next start.
- Keyboard
- Shortcut to open and close the menu: click the field and press the combination, Esc cancels, “Default” restores the default. Ctrl+Win · ⌃⌥ · Ctrl+Win+M
- Start at login
- Starts SystemTrayMenu after you log in. off
- Show icon in the notification area
- Mac: “Show icon in the menu bar”. Without the icon only the shortcut opens the menu, the gear in the menu then always shows. on
- Show in the taskbar
- Mac: “Show icon in the Dock”. A click on it opens the menu. Not on Linux. on
- App icon
- Default, the icon of the menu folder or a picture of your own. Mac: optionally monochrome in the menu bar like the system icons.
Menu
Appearance
- Language
- Twelve languages. like the system
- Theme
- Automatic, Light or Dark. automatic
- Accent color
- Color of the selection.
- Size
- Text, rows and icons together. Finer: icon size, row height and width (for long names). 100 %
- Row height with touchscreen
- Used instead of the row height when the device has a touchscreen. Windows. 150 %
- Maximum height
- Share of the screen height, longer menus scroll. 70 %
- Style
- Cards (opaque) or Glass (translucent). With glass: Liquid Glass, Clear, Frosted or Off, plus the transparency. Cards
- Open submenus
- To the left or to the right. Mac left, else right
- Overlapping submenus
- Submenus lie slightly over the previous one instead of next to it, the offset sets how far. off
- Open at the mouse position
- The menu appears at the mouse pointer instead of at the icon or the dragged place. off
- Fade in and out
- The menu opens and closes smoothly. on
Header and footer
- Folder name at the top
- Name of the folder above each column. on
- Search text at the top
- Shows what you type. Off: search still works, just without display. on
- Count at the bottom
- “3 folders, 5 files”, notices still appear. on
- Icons only
- Narrow bar, the name of the selected item shows at the bottom. off
- Buttons
- Show or hide “Pin”, “Open folder”, “Restart” and “Send feedback” one by one, plus their place: top, bottom or automatic (bottom when the menu opens upwards).
Content
- Sorting
- Folders first or files first, by name, date or type, or your own order. “Photo 2” comes before “Photo 10”. Folders first, by name
- Save own order in the menu folder
- It then travels with a cloud folder to other computers. off
- Save link icons in the menu folder
- Website icons travel with a cloud folder. on
- Show hidden files
- off
- Hide file extensions
- “Report” instead of “Report.pdf”, folders keep theirs. off
- Shortcut arrow
- Arrow on the icons of shortcuts and links. on
- Thumbnails
- Pictures show a small preview instead of the file icon. Windows and Mac. off
- Shortcuts to folders as submenu
- Shortcuts, aliases and links to folders open like folders. on
- Drives in the main menu
- Connected drives as submenus. off
- Only these file types
- For example
*.pdf | *.docx, empty = all. Folders stay visible. - Hide
- Names or full paths,
*and?as wildcards, for example~* | *.tmp. - Filter and sorting for single folders
- A folder shows only certain file types (programs, documents, pictures, music and videos or your own) and sorts its own way, also in its subfolders. Windows: also by right click → “Filter for this folder …”.
- Custom names and icons
- Changes only what the menu shows, the file stays as it is. Windows: also by right click → “Name and icon …”.
Behavior
- Open submenu after
- How long the mouse has to rest on a folder. 120 ms
- Close after
- How long after the mouse left the menu (when the menu has no focus). 1000 ms
- Open files with one click
- Off: double click needed. on
- Double click on a folder opens it
- In Explorer or Finder. on
- Gamepad controls the menu
- See Gamepad. off
- Close when focus is lost
- When another window becomes active. on
- Close after opening an item
- Otherwise the menu stays open for the next item. on
- Drag entries
- Dragging out and moving by dragging. on
- Ask for links
- When a link is dropped in, suggest a name and warn about duplicates. on
- Classic context menu
- The full Explorer menu like in Windows 10 instead of the compact one in the style of Windows 11. Windows only. off
Advanced
- Preloading
- Folders are read in the background at start so menus appear at once and the search knows subfolders: folder levels and at most this many items. 3 levels · 50,000
- Update automatically
- Downloads new versions, checks their signature and swaps itself when the menu is closed. From the Microsoft Store, the store updates. on
- Log timing
- Writes the time from the shortcut to the menu into the log. on
- Send error reports
- After a crash a report goes to the developer, without file or user names. off
- Log
- “Open …” shows the app’s messages and errors.
- Menu position
- Back to the corner at the icon.
- Configuration file
- Shows where the settings are stored (
config.toml) and opens it for editing. - Back up settings
- Export and import, also the settings of version 1.
About
- Version
- With “What’s new?” (What’s new in SystemTrayMenu) and “Help” (this page).
- License
- Who the license is for, or how many trial days are left. “Paste” or “Choose file …”, checked without internet.
Differences per system
| Windows | macOS | Linux | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Icon | Notification area of the taskbar | Menu bar, top right | Notification area of the panel |
| Shortcut | Ctrl+Win | ⌃⌥ (Control and Option) | Ctrl+Win+M |
| Menu appears | bottom left, submenus to the right | top right, submenus to the left | bottom left, submenus to the right |
| Right click | Explorer menu (Windows 11 style or classic) | like in Finder | Open, Show in file manager |
| Preview | Thumbnails | Thumbnails, Space for Quick Look | – |
| Drop in | Files and links | Files and links | not yet |
| Touch | Swipe, own row height | – | Swipe |
| Start with the computer | Task “At log on” | Login item | Autostart entry |
| Program lives in | %LOCALAPPDATA%\ | “Applications” | ~/.local/bin |
| Log | %LOCALAPPDATA%\ | ~/Library/Logs | ~/.local/ |
Linux with Wayland: SystemTrayMenu registers the shortcut with the system (KDE, GNOME 48 and later), you can then change it in the system settings under shortcuts. Portable on every system: with a config.toml next to the program it uses that one, for example on a USB stick.
Common problems
I cannot see the icon.
Windows: it often hides under the ^ arrow in the notification area, drag it from there into the taskbar. Mac: with a full menu bar, icons disappear behind the camera notch; from macOS 26 also check under System Settings → Menu Bar that SystemTrayMenu is allowed. Linux with GNOME: icons in the notification area need the “AppIndicator” extension (included with Ubuntu). The shortcut always opens the menu too, and so does starting the program again.
The shortcut does nothing.
Maybe another program uses the same combination. Choose another one under Settings → General → Keyboard. SystemTrayMenu keeps your choice and tries again at the next start. Shortcuts made of modifier keys only (Ctrl+Win, ⌃⌥) fire when you let go, and only if no other key was pressed with them. Linux with Wayland: the system asks once whether to allow the shortcut.
Mac: “Apple could not verify …”
Open it once via System Settings → Privacy & Security → “Open Anyway”. Step by step: guide in the FAQ.
The menu is gone or half off the screen.
Right-click the icon → “Reset menu position”, or Settings → Advanced → Maintenance → Menu position.
Submenus do not open, the bottom says “Trial over”.
After 14 days only the main menu opens without a license. In the last 3 days the bottom of the main menu shows how many days are left, afterwards “Buy a license”; a click opens the shop (not from the Microsoft Store). Buy a license and enter it under Settings → About. Already bought? Send the license again.
A file is missing from the menu.
Check “Show hidden files”, “Only these file types”, “Hide” and the filters of single folders under Settings → Menu → Content. Shortcuts of the other system (Windows shortcuts on the Mac, Mac aliases on Windows) are hidden because they do not work there. New files show up right away.
The search does not find a file in a subfolder.
The search only looks as deep as preloaded: raise “Folder levels” or “At most” under Settings → Advanced → Preloading. Or open the folder and type there.
“Target not found” or “Target does not respond”
“Target not found – moved or deleted?”: the shortcut points to something that is no longer there. Create the shortcut again or delete it. “Target does not respond – network drive unreachable?”: connect the network drive or VPN, the menu does not wait for it and stays usable.
The menu closes too fast or stays open too long.
Settings → Behavior → Timing and Closing. To keep it open longer: pin it with Ctrl+P (Mac ⌘P).
SystemTrayMenu does not start with the computer.
Settings → General → Startup → “Start at login”. Mac: also allow SystemTrayMenu under System Settings → General → Login Items.
How do I get the new version?
By itself: the app downloads it in the background and swaps itself once the menu is closed. Afterwards the menu says “Updated to … · What’s new?”. All changes: What’s new in SystemTrayMenu.
Take the settings to another computer or get them from version 1
Settings → Advanced → Maintenance → Back up settings: “Export …” and “Import …” on the other computer. At its first start Windows asks by itself whether to take over the settings of version 1; “Import …” also takes its file (user-….config).
How do I uninstall SystemTrayMenu?
Windows: Settings → Apps → SystemTrayMenu → Uninstall. Mac: quit the program and drag it from “Applications” to the Trash. Settings and license stay for a later installation.
Report a bug or ask for something
Right-click the icon → “Send feedback …”, with the log if you like. Or mail Markus@Hofknecht.eu.
Nothing found? Write to Markus@Hofknecht.eu. What is new: What’s new in SystemTrayMenu.