Quick Lists with Launchy
Learn to make a quick list of notes or manage a custom to-do list using Launchy. For this tutorial, you’re going to need Launchy.
This is very basic functionality, as the actual list is a folder containing files with the names being your notes/to-do items. As a result, you will not be able to use symbols denied to you by Windows (such as /). Also, these to-do list items do nothing when clicked. This tutorial is rather meant to be a replacement for sticky note widgets by providing a simple list instead of cluttering your desktop with yellow boxes.
The BAT File
Launchy will be configured to send statements to a bat file. Write the following code in todo.bat (or whatever you wish to name it):
echo > %1
This code will create a new file named whatever argument you pass to it. Make sure you have not hidden file extensions for known file types, or otherwise your file will be named todo.bat.txt. We’ve saved it into My Documents\To Do\.
Or you can download my todo.bat right here.
Configuring Launchy
Open up Launchy with your hotkey (default is Ctrl+Space). Right click it and select Options. Click the Plugins tab, then click Runner. Add a new entry by clicking the + button.
- Under Name, put what you want your command to be (we chose todo).
- Under Program, put the path to the todo.bat file you wrote (our path is H:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\To Do\todo.bat).
- In Arguments, put “$$” (with the quotes).
Hit OK.
Making the Taskbar Toolbar
To make the most of your new list, you’ll need to be able to see it without opening an Explorer window:
- Right click the taskbar.
- Toolbars → New Toolbar…
- Select the folder you put todo.bat in. Again, ours is H:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\To Do\.
A new item called To Do should popup in the taskbar near your system tray. Click it, and you should see todo.bat. If you need more detailed instructions, take a look at our custom start menu tutorial, which uses the same concept.
Test the new functionality by opening Launchy and inputting todo [tab] This is a test of the list. Click To Do on the taskbar, and check for a new file named This is a test of the list. If you see it, you’re done.
I'm Jason, the main author of Third Error, and many of the topics I'll focus on concern Windows (and applicable software), web applications, web design, and a bit of *nix (Ubuntu mainly). My computer runs Windows XP, with virtualized Ubuntu and OS X handy.