Stardock has a new killer app: Groupy - organize your windows together
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 by Draginol | Discussion: Object Desktop blogs
From the people who brought you Fences, Start8, ObjectDock, DeskScapes, and countless other amazing programs comes a new one that will transform the way you use your PC: Groupy.
At any given moment, people have a lot of windows open.
Maybe it's a few Explorer windows, a couple of Excel spreadsheets, maybe a a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation. Maybe they're working with Adobe Premiere and After Effects and a few other windows. In any event, dealing with all these windows can get to be quite a mess. So what's the solution?
The answer is: Stardock Groupy, the program that lets you treat all your windows the same way you are now used to treating browser windows -- put them them together with each window given its own tab.
Example 1: Got lots of Explorer windows?
No problem:
Example 2: So many spreadsheets
Lots of people end up with several Microsoft Office apps running that can easily get misplaced, especially if you have multiple monitors. Groupy fixes that.
Just put them together.
Example 3: For the Adobe power user
Many artists are familiar with working between the various amazing Adobe applications. Navigating between them adds up over time.
Instead, just put them together. Now you can switch between tabs with the Win-~ key instantly.
Now it acts as a single app. If you need to pull them apart, no problem - just drag the tab off like you would with a browser window.
Example 4: Chrome and Edge living together in harmony
Do you find yourself using multiple web browsers occasionally? Groupy can help with that, too.
Groupy supports tabs within tabs.
Edge and Chrome are now acting as a single web browser.
Example 5: Mix and Match
Maybe you are a power user or developer who has a diversified mix of applications in use to get a job done. No problem, Groupy will let you group any window with another window.
And to ungroup, just drag the tab off from the group.
It's both the simplest app and most useful app you may ever buy. Get it now as part of Stardock's award-winning Object Desktop suite of utilities at www.objectdesktop.com today.
Are you an active Object Desktop owner?
Get access to the Groupy beta today by logging into your Stardock Account. If you can't remember the email you used to purchase Object Desktop with, check out this helpful post.
Reply #2 Tuesday, November 14, 2017 10:13 PM
I do not know if I can post that here but GroupBy slow down the tabs switching in Edge. Chrome is not affected nor Firefox. It's a very nice application. It's a must have app.
Martin.
Reply #3 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 5:39 AM
I bought Object Desktop and can't find Groupy in the list of software to install... any clue how?
Thanks.
Reply #5 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 7:43 AM
I bought Object Desktop and can't find Groupy in the list of software to install... any clue how?
Thanks.
https://forums.stardock.com/484254/
Reply #7 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 10:57 AM
Now if only WindowBlinds would skin the tabs....
Reply #8 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 2:00 PM
This is a pretty cool tool, I'll get some use from this.
I agree that it would be good if it were more WB receptive, I'm guessing you'll get to that. Maybe something similar to the way you replace the explorer ribbon in Win10?
I'd also like an overall "On/Off" button in the configuration window like you have for WindowFx, I like to be able to flip a switch sometimes.
Thanks!
Reply #9 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 3:20 PM
You have to activate "Show Beta" in the settings of The Object Deskop application.
Reply #10 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 3:48 PM
I know some will choke at this statement coming from me....
Since W10 the ONLY Stardock app that I use is Start10.
I just installed Groupy and I've got to say that this is one fine damn piece of software!! THANK YOU!!!
You've now given me ample reason to re-up my subscription.
Reply #11 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 5:19 PM
Just installed Groupy to try it out. First impression is that Stardock has another winner.
Reply #12 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 6:06 PM
Apparently no one is having the same problem I referenced in the original post by Island Dog ? I'll repeat it here :
I installed this program to test it out. Explorer windows stack and tab easily and you can minimize the entire stack to the taskbar. No such luck with stacked applications. I use at least 4 different software programs when creating graphics projects. All these programs can be minimized to the taskbar when they are not stacked, but when you stack them you cannot minimize them to the taskbar either individually or as a stack. I use Win7 x64 and Opera browser. Don't know if this is specific to just me or the characteristics of the Groupy App itself. --Ace --
Reply #13 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 7:17 PM
Apparently no one is having the same problem I referenced in the original post by Island Dog ? I'll repeat it here :
I installed this program to test it out. Explorer windows stack and tab easily and you can minimize the entire stack to the taskbar. No such luck with stacked applications. I use at least 4 different software programs when creating graphics projects. All these programs can be minimized to the taskbar when they are not stacked, but when you stack them you cannot minimize them to the taskbar either individually or as a stack. I use Win7 x64 and Opera browser. Don't know if this is specific to just me or the characteristics of the Groupy App itself. --Ace --
I believe this may be an interaction between your WB theme and groupy. Please ensure you are running the very latest WB release (check file dates in About)
Reply #14 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 7:20 PM
No such luck with stacked applications. I use at least 4 different software programs when creating graphics projects.
You are going to need to list the specific apps you have trouble with as it might be a case of "specific to just me"..
Reply #15 Wednesday, November 15, 2017 7:46 PM
Hello there!
I really like the new Tool. It works fine for me so far - no crashes or errors encounter
The biggest problem I currently have is the lack of support for areo-snap (magic corners..)
if a window is a fullscreen size, Groupy attaches a window draged to the top to the existing window. it would be very nice to be able to disable this. especially if you are used to drag windows to the top of the screen to maximize them, like me.
Some things i would like to see in the Future:
• Allow close with Middleclick
• Allow set height of Tabs (i also modified the height of my window's title bar - so its a bit clunky)
• make it possible to switch the blacklist to a whitelist alternatively
Reply #16 Thursday, November 16, 2017 12:08 AM
Stardock sent me an email inquiry corcerning this issue. I sent them the list of specific programs in question , along with about 4 screenshots with annotations. I'll probably hear back from them soon. I'm sure we will figure it out.
-- Ace --
Reply #17 Thursday, November 16, 2017 12:45 AM
I found the problem ! Those particular apps were set in windowblinds as "per application" to ignore and not skin. This was an old setting from an older version of windowblinds and apparently carried over to the newer install of the latest version. Sorry about that. As soon as I enabled skinning of those apps ,the control buttons and tabs were properly placed and functional. All seems to be working fine now. Thank-you Kris @ Stardock -- Ace --
Reply #18 Thursday, November 16, 2017 8:14 AM
An excellent application. I like it a lot.
I have found one problem: it conflicts with the auto-placement of Windows on Windows 10: if I move a window to the screen edge to have it on half of the screen, the window I am moving gets grouped with the application window that was below.
I solved it by preventing the grouping of different applications
Reply #19 Thursday, November 16, 2017 9:44 AM
An excellent application. I like it a lot.
I have found one problem: it conflicts with the auto-placement of Windows on Windows 10: if I move a window to the screen edge to have it on half of the screen, the window I am moving gets grouped with the application window that was below.
I solved it by preventing the grouping of different applications
You can also set groupy to only group when shift / ctrl is pressed and in fact if you hold shift if it looks like it is going to group when you don't want to it will also block that.
We are looking into tweaking the grouping behaviour, but depending on window positions there is always a risk. You could also avoid the issue by moving the window you are dragging so you are not dragging it over the top of the window of the window below.
Reply #20 Thursday, November 16, 2017 11:26 AM
You can also set groupy to only group when shift / ctrl is pressed and in fact if you hold shift if it looks like it is going to group when you don't want to it will also block that.
We are looking into tweaking the grouping behaviour, but depending on window positions there is always a risk. You could also avoid the issue by moving the window you are dragging so you are not dragging it over the top of the window of the window below.
I tried the control/shift option and it does help. But you are right, it depends on the windows position and what is below.
Another minor annoyance in the frame of half maximized windows, I have a notepad window half maximized on the left edge of screen. If I move an other notepad to the left edge of the screen, the two notepad are grouped by Groupy but the resulting Notepad group is not updated.
If I move my second notepad over the half maximized first notepad title bar to trigger the group, the Groupy top tab list is properly visible.
That said, after adding Microsoft Edge has an excluded application and fiddling with the options to my linking, I am pretty much very happy with Groupy.
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Reply #1 Tuesday, November 14, 2017 9:58 PM
I had a need for this one....having 9 instances of Excel open at the time...[keeping track of my bike-building expenditure]...and it works a treat.
Being tabbed together is far more 'logical' than just being dumped on the taskbar as they were...