StandaloneStack

StandaloneStack is a lightweight desktop enhancement program built specifically for helping you design shortcuts for user-defined locations and stack them on the Windows taskbar.
It may prove to be particularly useful especially if you intend to free up the clutter from your desktop and organize your directories in stacks for a quick and easy access.

The advantages of being portable

Since this is a portable program, it is important to mention that it doesn’t leave any traces in the Windows Registry.
You can copy it on any USB flash drive or other devices, and take it with you whenever you need to organize your folders in stacks on the fly, without having to go through installation steps.

Layout and new stacks

The tool doesn’t offer support for a user interface that allows you to tweak the process. However, you can rely on the configuration panel for setting up the dedicated parameters.
Creating a new stack can be done by providing a name for the stack, picking the path, choosing the direction (up, down, left, right), sorting items by name, type, creation and modification time in an ascending or descending order, as well as setting the stack position by specifying the values for x and y coordinates.

Viewing modes and several adjustments

StandaloneStack gives you the possibility to switch between two different viewing modes: fan and grid. If you opt for the first one, the items are displayed in an arch, while the second reveals the files in tiles.
Depending on the desired mode, there’s support for several tweaking parameters, such as icon size, duration, font, text and background color, transparency, text spacing, text margin, icon spacing, hover text color, and other handy options.
What’s more, you can show video preview, activate the animated video thumbnails, start the video previewing mode after a custom time, use custom icons (PNG file format), stretch icons, and remember the stack position when it is closed.
You may configure the mouse behavior when clicking on a folder in order to trigger some actions (open folder in the stack or Explorer), as well as show hidden files.

Bottom line

All in all, StandaloneStack comes bundled with a handy suite of features for helping you organize your folders in stacks on the Windows taskbar, and targets all types of users, regardless of their computer skills.