Quick Access Dock

A lightweight, always-on-top floating shortcut dock for Windows 11. Pin apps, files, folders, URLs, and shell commands to a compact bar that sits anywhere on screen — or snaps flush to any screen edge with auto-hide.

Features

• Shortcuts to anything — apps, files, folders, URLs, UNC paths, shell commands
• Drag and drop — drop a file or URL onto the dock to instantly add a shortcut; drag tiles to reorder
• Edge snapping — drag the dock near any screen edge to snap it flush; it auto-hides to a thin notch and slides back when the cursor enters the zone
• Horizontal and vertical layouts — automatically switches orientation when snapped to a left/right edge
• Dynamic width — the dock never uses a fixed width; it always hugs its content
• Windows 11 styling — rounded corners, immersive dark/light mode, DWM acrylic in dark menus, per-monitor DPI aware
• Favicon sync — URL shortcuts automatically update to the site's favicon the first time you open them
• Keyboard support — Insert or Ctrl+N to add; Delete to remove; F2 to rename; full tab/arrow navigation
• Modern settings — clean grouped interface with toggle switches, dropdowns, and an About section; auto-saves on close
• Single-instance — launching a second copy is a no-op

Requirements

• Windows 10 (19041+) or Windows 11
• .NET 10 Runtime (or self-contained publish, see below)

Getting Started

Run from source

dotnet run --project QuickAccessDock.Standalone.csproj

Debug build

dotnet build .\QuickAccessDock.Standalone.slnx -c Debug
.\bin\Debug\net10.0-windows10.0.19041.0\QuickAccessDock.exe

Release build

dotnet build .\QuickAccessDock.Standalone.slnx -c Release
.\bin\Release\net10.0-windows10.0.19041.0\QuickAccessDock.exe

Self-contained single-file publish

Bundles the .NET runtime — no installation required on the target machine.

dotnet publish .\QuickAccessDock.Standalone.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true /p:PublishSingleFile=true /p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true

Output: bin\Release\net10.0-windows10.0.19041.0\win-x64\publish\QuickAccessDock.exe

GitHub Actions build

This repository includes a workflow that publishes the same self-contained Windows .exe and uploads it as a build artifact.

• Workflow file: .github/workflows/build-exe.yml
• Artifact name: QuickAccessDock-win-x64
• Artifact file: QuickAccessDock.exe

MSIX packaging

Produces an unsigned local MSIX for sideloading or Store submission.

.\Packaging\Build-Msix.ps1

Output: artifacts\QuickAccessDock\QuickAccessDock-1.0.0.0-win-x64.msix

For Store submission, complete Partner Center identity, listing assets, signing, and certification first.

Usage

Adding shortcuts

Method	How
Click "Add new" (empty dock)	Opens an input dialog
Click ⋯ → Add new	Opens an input dialog
Drag and drop	Drop a file, folder, URL, or text onto the dock
Keyboard	Insert or Ctrl+N

The target field accepts anything: C:\path\to\app.exe, https://example.com, \\server\share, cmd /c ..., or a plain file/folder path.

Managing shortcuts

Right-click any shortcut tile for its context menu:

Action	Description
Open	Launch the shortcut
Edit	Change the target path or URL
Rename	Change the display name
Move left / Move right	Reorder within the dock
Remove	Delete from the dock

Drag a tile left or right to reorder by drag-and-drop. Press Delete on a focused tile to remove it, F2 to rename.

Edge snapping and auto-hide

Drag the dock near any screen edge — top, bottom, left, or right — and release. The dock snaps flush to the edge. When idle, it slides off-screen leaving only a thin notch; hover over the notch to reveal it.

Drag away from the edge (or use ⋯ → Reset position) to return to floating mode.

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
Insert / Ctrl+N	Add a new shortcut
Delete	Remove the focused shortcut
F2	Rename the focused shortcut
Tab / Shift+Tab	Move focus between tiles
Enter / Space	Launch the focused shortcut

Settings

Open via ⋯ → Settings. The settings window uses a modern grouped interface with toggle switches for on/off options and dropdowns for multi-choice settings. All changes are automatically saved when the window closes.

Available Settings

Setting	Default	Description
Theme	Light	Light or dark mode
Auto-hide when snapped	On	Slide off-screen when idle at a snapped edge
Auto-hide delay	1000 ms	How long to wait before hiding (200–10 000 ms)
Snap threshold	32 px	How close to an edge before snapping (4–160 px)
Sync website icons	On	Fetch the site's favicon the first time a URL is opened

The settings window also includes an About section with version, copyright, license, terms of service, source code link, and .NET runtime information.

Data files

All data is stored under %LOCALAPPDATA%\QuickAccessDock\:

File	Contents
settings.json	Theme, auto-hide, snap, and icon-sync preferences
state.json	Window position, snap edge, and the shortcut list
IconCache\	Cached favicons for URL shortcuts

Settings are watched for external changes — editing settings.json in a text editor reloads the dock live.

Future Changes

Planned Features

• Dropdown folder support — Pin folders to the dock that expand into a dropdown menu of their contents, allowing quick access to nested files and subfolders without cluttering the dock with individual shortcuts.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.