TrayToolbar

Creates a menu with all your favorite shortcuts within easy reach just by putting them in a local folder.

• Replaces the feature removed from Windows 11 for custom toolbars on the taskbar
• Choose the folder(s) and customize the file filter
• Launches links, files and apps from this menu which exist in the chosen folders and subfolders
• Automatically updates the menu with changes in the folder
• Quick access to this menu with configurable global shortcut keys
• Custom icons for individual folders
• Choose your preference for icon and font sizes
• Windows 11 "Dark mode" support
• Includes support for English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and Korean

Download

Check the releases or compile the source code in any modern version of Visual Studio.

For the canonical release history, see CHANGELOG.md. For supplemental narrative release notes, packaging callouts, and rollout context, see docs/release-notes.md.

Requirements

This application runs on .NET Desktop Runtime 8. Download and install the runtime here:

Download .NET 8.0

Arm64 | x64 | winget instructions

Installation

This application is "portable" so there is no setup package, just extract and go!

• Download and extract the zip file to a writable folder such as C:\tools\TrayToolbar or C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Local\TrayToolbar
• Run TrayToolbar.exe from this folder
• Select a folder containing your shortcuts
• Select Run on log in to start the application every time
• Click Save
• If you don't see the icon in your system tray, open Settings → Personalization → Taskbar → Other system tray icons and turn on TrayToolbar

Configuration and launch policy

TrayToolbar stores its current configuration in %LOCALAPPDATA%\TrayToolbar\TrayToolbarConfig.json.

The default launch policy trusts items that originate from your configured folders and always allows TrayToolbar GitHub Releases URLs for update flows.

For the full configuration schema, command-line reference, and launch-policy details, see docs/developer-guide.md.

More docs

• Contributor workflow, release tagging, labels, and PR guidance: CONTRIBUTING.md
• Build, packaging, CLI, configuration, localization, and troubleshooting details: docs/developer-guide.md
• Release history: CHANGELOG.md
• Supplemental release notes: docs/release-notes.md
• Update and launch trust boundaries: docs/update-security.md
• Private vulnerability reporting: SECURITY.md