Feature request: making the PowerToys app tray menu more useful

[niels9001]

Summary of the new feature/enhancement

Clicking the PowerToys systray icon opens the settings screen, while right clicking brings up the context menu that provides a way to close the app, open settings or an about dialog. Not super useful.

Proposed technical implementation details

A new context menu could contain shortcuts to various PowerToys tools. This makes it easier for mouse users to access certain features.

The context menu should:

• Provide the list of features (such as the Shortcuts Guides) that can be clicked to open it.
• The context menu should list the keyboard shortcut of the feature as well so users can use it as a cheatsheet as well
• Icons can be used to make the context menu more glanceable.
• The about box is redundant, since it will be part of the settings screen (Privacy Report link in about screen #1086 )

Nice to have:

• Use WinUI 3.0 to modernize the context menu so it's more in line with the shell (Modernizing Look / Feel across all PowerToys #891 )
• Make the left-mouse click customizable? (E.g. clicking it might bring up the power launcher instead of the default Settings screen?).

UX mock-up:

[crutkas]

xref #891 master tracking item. Good idea

[crutkas]

Things we should think about here.

• the context menu has icons
• WinKey should be an icon too
• Utilities disabled should not appear here.

[niels9001]

To circle back on #3514 . It would be nice if some features can be quickly turned on/off (like FancyZones or KBM) in the context menu.

[crutkas]

Yes i agree, lets scope this to just getting new menu look / feel system online and we can move on from there

[Jay-o-Way]

Some thoughts from me:

• Settings (bold if default action)
• Open FancyZones Editor (and include the hotkey)
• Open Keyboard Manager (related to PowerToys Run & Keyboard Manager Off on Windows 10 2004 (10.0.19041.264)  #3925?)
• Open PowerToys Run (and include the hotkey)
• Open Color Picker (and include the hotkey)
• Check for updates
• Open Website (GitHub?)
• Exit

Apart from that - I searched for this using the words "tray icon menu" but that didn't bring me to this issue. Maybe having those words in the title might help future searches?

[Poopooracoocoo]

I would really like it if the tray icon acted like Instant Eyedropper! It'd be great if PowerToys could fully replace it.

Seeing that context menu makes me reminds me of how MS closed my Project Reunion issue to update the styles of other UI frameworks. Elements used to have rounded corners and radio buttons used to look the way they do now but they can't be bothered updating the styles again (it's been 5 years since the launch of W10 and it is still far from cohesive). WPF still has the Windows 8 style.

[niels9001]

Closing this in favor of #6751

[Poopooracoocoo]

what should I do with my comment above?

[niels9001]

@Poopooracoocoo This issue is tagged in the new one, so no information is lost :).

Have you checked out #6751? It should address all your concerns?