Stexbar Fixes Glaring Omissions to Windows Explorer

Filed under: Windows, Microsoft, Freeware

Stexbar Fixes Glaring Omissions to Windows Explorer

by Lee Mathews Jul 30th 2008

I've always been a little pissed off that Windows Explorer doesn't include buttons to do two very simple things: create a new folder and toggle hidden/system file display. Fortunately for me, StExBar adds that missing functionality - along with some other killer features.

What about a button to add a new folder? Oh, hell yes. StExBar supports hotkeys as well, so now I can ctrl + shift + N (though that's really no easier than alt - w - n). You can also copy file and folder names and paths as plain text to the clipboard and click console to open a command prompt window in the current folder.

That's it for the basics, but StExBar doesn't quit there. It also does bulk renaming with regular expression support and allows you to set up your own, customized buttons. You can tweak new commands a number of ways, applying them only to selected files or folders or when nothing is selected. Don't want your new command to function in a vital area? Just check off "enabled when showing system files" to prevent accidentally screwing up important folders like System32.

And don't ignore the edit box on the right of the bar. It'll match expressions in your current folder and select all matching files and folders. Want to move all your MP3s containing the word "Manilow?" Type *manilow* in the box, hit enter, and StExBar highlights them all for you. If you have any.

Which I don't. I swear.

StExBar is freeware, 32 and 64-bit Windows only, and it packs a wallop for a 370k download.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

gshell said 12:43PM on 7-30-2008

Is this Vista compatible? Their website doesn't specifically say.

DiRT said 1:18PM on 7-30-2008

Is it that hard to right-click?

Lee Mathews said 1:24PM on 7-30-2008

Meh, a fraction of a second vs. two seconds. I like the button.

Lee Mathews said 1:34PM on 7-30-2008

I've tried it in Vista, and while it DOES show up in the toolbars menu, it won't activate. Then again, the AVG toolbar won't either, so I assume this is a Vista Explorer limitation...er, feature.

Chris ORourke said 9:27PM on 7-30-2008

It does activate in Vista it just shoves it off the toolbar to the right. Works quite handily as well.

Lee Mathews said 9:14PM on 7-30-2008

Pro tip, thanks Chris!

MrMuggs said 10:25PM on 7-30-2008

What i like most about this is being able to hit CTRL+SHIFT+N for a new folder. It's a small detail but I love the quick shortcut. You can also redefine the hotkeys so I changed mine to CTRL+N.

Lee Mathews said 10:26PM on 7-30-2008

That's one more vote for efficiency and/or laziness...Maybe right click->new really is too much work?

superrrguy said 5:00PM on 7-31-2008

It does work on Vista. You need to enable the menu bar which has the File > Edit > View > Tools menus.

I just want a "new folder" button on the vista tool bar. It's in save as dialog windows, why not explorer?

Bobz said 5:24PM on 7-31-2008

The option is grayed out and unavailable in the Toolbars menu in Vista x64 SP1.

:-(

Sridhar said 8:50AM on 8-18-2008

Download link doesn't work any more. Any mirror?

Lee Mathews said 8:51AM on 8-18-2008

try Softpedia: http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Stexbar-Download-105573.html

Gol said 1:17PM on 10-23-2008

I have same problem with the toolbar name being greyed out in the toolbar menu.

Also download, issues, wiki seem to be here now:

http://code.google.com/p/stexbar/

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