QuickLaunchBar

A lightweight Quick Launch toolbar for Windows 11, built with Python and tkinter.

Displays shortcuts from the Windows Quick Launch folder as a compact icon grid — always on top, auto-hides on focus loss, lives in the system tray.

Features

• Reads all .lnk, .rdp, .exe, .bat, .cmd, .url files from the Quick Launch folder
• Icons loaded via Windows Shell API with true alpha transparency (DIB section, RGBA compositing)
• Configurable grid layout (columns × rows)
• Auto-hides when focus is lost
• System tray icon — left click to show, right click for menu
• Draggable borderless window
• Appears on the monitor where your mouse cursor is
• Drag & drop icon reordering — order saved automatically
• Ctrl + Scroll to resize icons on the fly
• Fully customizable colors (background, icon background, hover, borders)
• Portable — all settings saved to settings.json next to the EXE, no registry

Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• Python 3.10+
• Dependencies:

pip install pillow pywin32 screeninfo

Usage

python QuickLaunchBar.py

Or build a standalone EXE:

pip install pyinstaller
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --icon=quicklaunch.ico --add-data "quicklaunch.ico;." --name QuickLaunchBar QuickLaunchBar.py

Quick Launch folder

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Settings

Right-click the tray icon → Settings... to configure all options.
Settings are saved to settings.json next to the script / EXE.

Setting	Default	Description
Columns	8	Icons per row
Max Rows	0	Max rows (0 = auto)
Icon Size	32	Icon size in pixels (8–48)
Icon Spacing	2	Spacing between icons in pixels
Taskbar Position	bottom-right	Where the bar appears (4 corners)
Offset X / Y	8 / 50	Distance from screen edge in pixels
Icon Background	Auto 15%	Auto = derived from background color by brightness offset; Manual = custom color picker
Background Color	#000000	Window background color
Hover Color	Auto	Auto = derived from background color; Manual = custom color picker

Auto-start with Windows

1. Press Win+R → shell:startup
2. Place a shortcut to QuickLaunchBar.exe (or QuickLaunchBar.py) there

Changelog

Version	Changes
v1.1	Settings moved from registry to portable settings.json
v1.2	Window starts hidden on startup; tray icon removed cleanly on exit
v1.3	Drag & drop icon reordering with ghost image and blue drop indicator
v1.4	Ctrl+Scroll to resize icons; extended icon size list
v1.5	Click app name in tray menu to open Quick Launch folder in Explorer
v1.6	Tray context menu closes correctly when clicking outside
v1.7	Background color configurable in Settings
v1.8	Icon background: Auto (brightness offset %) or Manual (color picker)
v1.9	Border color now visually distinct from button background
v2.0	Hover color: Auto (derived) or Manual (color picker)

License

MIT