DRAGSTRIP® USER’S GUIDE

FOR WINDOWS®

Product Manager: Pauline Shumake

Lead Engineer: Christopher Evans
Testers: Randy Birch, Dylan Hobor, Wesley Herchkorn and Dave Castro
Technical Support Lead: Eric Hauptman
Documentation & Design: Pavica Alaga and Dean Compoginis
Press and Public Relations: Jennifer Watson
Marketing: Nicole Rowland

Contacting Aladdin
Telephone (831) 761-6200
Fax (831) 761-6206
Technical Support http://www.aladdinsys.com/support/

Aladdin Systems, Inc.

245 Westridge Drive
Watsonville, California 95076
October 2001

DragStrip® Copyright © 1997-2001, Poppybank Software. All Rights Reserved. DragStrip®

is a registered trademark of Poppybank Software. All other product names are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective holders. The Aladdin Logo is a trademark of
Aladdin Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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INSTALLING DRAGSTRIP 3.8

The DragStrip installer (DSSetup.exe) wizard will take you through the simple process of install-
ing the DragStrip application and its related files.

Once the installer has finished installing DragStrip, it will open a window containing a
shortcut to DragStrip itself. You can launch DragStrip for the first time by double-clicking
this shortcut. DragStrip will launch a wizard that will help you create a Strip.

USING THE WIZARD

The wizard walks you through several steps that allow you to create and configure your new Strip:

1) The wizard first prompts you to enter a name for your new Strip. Type the name in the
text field, and then click the “Next Button”.
2) The next screen allows you to configure the appearance of the buttons on your new
Strip. Choose between large or small icons, and tell DragStrip whether you want the name
of the item to appear on the button and in the tool tip window. Make your selections and
click the “Next” button.
3) The next window allows you to choose where on the screen your Strip will appear. You
can choose to anchor your Strip to the top, bottom, left or right or your screen, or you
can select the option to make it a free-floating window. The ‘autohide’ option is set by default and
will cause your Strip to stay hidden when the cursor is not over it. Make your selections and
click the “Next” button.
4) The final option that DragStrip provides allows you to add buttons for commonly-used
applications, folders and web pages to your new Strip. You can also choose to create your
new Strip as a task window that lists all the currently-open task windows.When you’re
finished, click the “Next” button.
5) Click the “Finish” button to create your new Strip.

Your Strip is now done. When you click ‘finish’ your first Tip of the Day will appear. You can
elect to not view these tips in the future. All of the tips can be found at the back of this Users
Guide.

REGISTERING DRAGSTRIP

To enter your registration number, click the menu button (the downward-facing triangle) and
then choose “About DragStrip”. In the “About DragStrip” dialog box click the “Enter Code”
button, and enter your name, serial number, and authorization code into the appropriate fields.

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If you purchased DragStrip on CD, the serial number and authorization code can be found on
the back or inside the CD sleeve. If you purchased DragStrip on the Internet, via Aladdin’s online
store, you should receive your serial number and authorization code in a confirmation email.

Remember to save your Strips before quitting. If you forget, DragStrip will ask you where
to save the file the first time; from that point on, it will always save it for you.

When you choose “Exit” from the DragStrip menu, DragStrip will remember which Strips are
open and the next time you start DragStrip, those Strips will automatically be opened for you.
DragStrip will add itself to your Startup Items list so that every time you start
Windows, it will open automatically.This means that your Strips will always be there for you.

USING DRAGSTRIP
WHAT IS A STRIP?
What exactly is a Strip? Strips are composed of buttons, a status bar, page tabs, and a title bar.

The buttons on a Strip display shortcuts for items you wish to make launchable from Strips
(a shortcut is an icon you can use as a representation for a document, program folder, or disk,
which “points” to that item.) Buttons can also hold URLs, or pointers to locations on the
Internet.

The title bar allows you to see the name of your Strips and move them around your desktop.

The status bar gives information about the names of Strip items.

Page tabs let you switch between different pages of buttons.

When you start up DragStrip for the first time, it will launch a wizard that will help you to create
a new Strip. After the first time you start up DragStrip, a new untitled Strip will only appear if you
close all of your other Strips and launch DragStrip.

You can create a shortcut by dragging items from an Explorer window to a button on your
DragStrip. When you open a shortcut, or click on a DragStrip button, the original item will
open. Let’s go through a simple process of making a new Strip and creating a new Strip.

TO CREATE A NEW STRIP:

1. Launch the DragStrip application by double-clicking on the icon from the DragStrip folder.
The DragStrip folder is located on your hard drive. You can also launch DragStrip by using
the Start menu and choosing Programs > DragStrip > DragStrip. If you want to create another
Strip when you already have a Strip open, you can click the menu button (the downward-facing

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triangle) then choose File > New from the menu.

2. The DragStrip wizard will open for you. Please refer to the Using the Wizard section for addi-
tional help.

TO INSTALL ITEMS ON A STRIP WITHOUT DRAG AND DROP

1. First right-click on a blank square of your new Strip.

2. Choose Add Button... from the menu

3. A new file item is created and the Properties dialog for that button is opened. You can
then enter the path to the new item, or you can click the ‘...’ button next to the path field
and select the file or folder that you want to add. When you click the “...” button
DragStrip will open the standard Windows “Browse for Folder” Dialog. If you hold down
the “Control” key while clicking this button DragStrip will open the “Choose File” Dialog
instead.

4. Click “OK” to save the new item you just added. Now your Strip has an item and you’re
ready to go!

SAVING YOUR STRIPS

By now it’s probably a good idea to save your Strip.

1. Click the menu button (downward-facing triangle) or right-click anywhere on the Strip.

2. Highlight the “File” menu and choose “Save” or “Save As.”

3. Pick the location where you want to save the Strip. It is a good idea to save your Strips in
the DragStrip folder. Having a DragStrip area on your hard drive will make it easier to
manage Strips.

4. After picking the location, type in the name of your new Strip and choose “Save.”

CLOSING A STRIP
Because DragStrip is an application, a Strip is simply an open document. In many word
processing programs, you can have multiple documents open at the same time and switch
between them; similarly, you can also have many open Strips. Remember, if you close a Strip
and then restart DragStrip, that Strip will not appear on the screen until you open it.

Only previously-saved Strips that you leave open will automatically appear on the screen when
you restart DragStrip, but your other Strips will still be available, just like any other document.

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If you want to close an open Strip, you can do this in two different ways:

1. Choose Close under the File menu, or:

2. Click on the close box in the upper right hand corner of the title bar of a Strip.

SELECTING A STRIP
Switching between multiple Strips can be accomplished by clicking anywhere on a Strip. If you
have the title bar showing on the Strip, it will generally become darker (depending on how the
colors are configured in the Windows Displays control panel.)

DELETING ITEMS FROM A STRIP

Right-clicking an item on the Strip, then choosing Edit > Delete from the contextual menu will
delete the item from the Strip, but not from your hard drive. Remember, items on Strips are
shortcuts to the real items.Therefore you are not deleting the original file, only the reference
to the file on that Strip.

You can also shift-click one or more items, and then choose “Delete” from the “Edit” menu, or
press the “Delete” key to delete the selected Strip items or press “Control-D.”

REARRANGING ITEMS FROM A STRIP

Now, let’s rearrange items on the Strip that you have just created. You can move an existing
item on a Strip by clicking on the item and dragging it onto a blank button on the Strip itself,
or you can drag to it to a blank button on another open Strip.

If you drag over a page tab, the Strip will switch to that page, then you can drop the item on a
different page. You can also copy an item by shift-clicking on it, selecting the “Copy” command,
clicking the pointer on the button or Strip you wish to move the item to, and choosing “Paste.”
Cut-and-paste works in this manner as well. Copying items from one Strip to another can also
be very useful in cleaning up Strips, or placing frequently-used applications, files, or folders
on many different Strips or different pages on the same Strip.

You should make room for the new items you are copying or cutting (see below) before you
paste them. If you don’t have room for all the items on the Strip you are moving them to,
DragStrip will only paste the items (consecutively) that it has room for on the Strip. If you find
that all the items you wanted to paste onto the new Strip aren’t there, resize the Strip and
paste them again.

RESIZING A STRIP
You can resize a Strip by dragging on the grow box in the bottom right hand corner of the

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Strip, or by dragging on any of the edges of the window. Strips can resize horizontally or
vertically by rows or by columns. Also, a Strip grows button by button; you can make a Strip
smaller than will allow all of the icons on a Strip to be visible. In this case, you can resize the
window to see the hidden items.

USING STRIPS
This section shows you all of DragStrip’s functions. You can place various types of items on a
Strip, including applications, documents, folders, volumes, and URLs. Depending upon the item
placed on the Strip, many different functions are available to you.

Applications
Click once on an application item to launch that application. Holding down the “Alt” key and
clicking once on the item opens the enclosing folder of the selected item in a browser window.

If you drag one or more documents from the Desktop (or from a Strip) and drop them onto
an application item on a Strip, the application will launch, attempting to open the documents
you selected. For example, if you have a word processor shortcut on one Strip, and your
memo template file is on another Strip, just drag your memo template shortcut to the word
processor button. DragStrip will then launch the application and open your document.

Documents
Clicking once on a document on a Strip will open that document with its associated application.
Holding down the “Alt” key and clicking once on the document button in the Strip opens the
enclosing folder of the selected item in a browser window.

Dragging one or more document items onto an application item opens the document(s) in
the selected application.

Folders
Clicking once on a folder on a Strip will open that folder in a browser window. Dragging items
onto a folder will copy those items into a folder.

You can click on a folder icon and hold the mouse button down to produce a list of items
enclosed in that folder in a hierarchical popup menu. Choosing one of the menu items will
activate that item (i.e., launch a selected application, open a selected document or folder.)

Note: The DragStrip popup menu will only list the first 500 items in your folder.

As with documents and applications, you can hold down the “Alt” and click once on the item
to reveal the selected item in its Explorer window.

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Disks
Volumes (such as your hard drive) work much the same as folders.You also can have shortcuts
to folders and volumes on other machines on your network.

Storing Urls On A Strip

You can drag URLs to a Strip and it will store them. You can either drag a link from Internet
Explorer, or the icon from the address bar to an empty button and it will add it to the Strip.

Clicking on a URL icon will open that site in your web browser.

CONFIGURING DRAGSTRIP
In dealing with Strips, there are preferences for the entire DragStrip program and Properties
for active Strips. Defining Strip styles allow you to determine how new Strips will appear.
Setting properties will help you tailor an active Strip. First, let’s discuss Strip properties; then,
we’ll customize a page and buttons.

STRIP PROPERTIES
You can access the Strip Properties dialog from the contextual menu. Right-click anywhere
in the Strip or click the menu button (upside down triangle), then choose “Strip Properties...”
The “Strip Properties” dialog lets you configure how the Strip looks and behaves.

Clicking the “Cancel” button exits “Strip Properties” without saving your changes. Clicking the
“OK” button exits the dialog and saves your changes. Clicking “Apply” will apply your changes
without closing the dialog.

WINDOW TAB

Icon Style
You can change the style of the Strip by choosing one of the Strip styles from the combo box. You
can view your choice by choosing the Buttons tab.

Choose Font
To change the font that is used for button names and tabs, click the “Choose Font” button,
then select the font, style and size that you want to use.

Show Status Bar

The status bar is a Strip along the bottom of a DragStrip window which will show you the
name of the item that the mouse is currently over.

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Show tool Tips
Tool tips are the little windows that appear over a button when the mouse hovers over it for
a little while. You can choose to show or not show tool tips with this checkbox. Usually, you
do not need to have both tool tips and the status bar on at the same time.

Show Titlebar
The title bar is the top part of the window where the name of the window and the close box
are. If you are trying to conserve space with your Strips, you can turn off the titlebar. If
you are trying to make a tall, narrow Strip, you might also want to turn this off since the
Strip has to be a certain width if the title bar is on. If you want to move the window when
the title bar is hidden, just hold down the “Alt” and “Control” keys and click and drag
anywhere in the window.

Show Page Tabs

You can show or hide the tabs that let you switch between pages. Since you can switch
between pages with the Control-Tab and Control-Shift-Tab keystrokes, you might want to
hide the tabs to save space. You can also put the tabs on the top or bottom of the Strip.
You might want to put the tabs on the bottom if you keep you Strip close to the bottom of
the screen.

Auto Hide
When “Auto Hide” is enabled, your Strip will shrink to a very small Strip unless it is the active
window, or the cursor is over any part of the Strip. This can help you save screen space
when you are not using your Strip, while making it very simple to still get to all of your
shortcuts. See the “Strip Tip” below.

Click To Show
By default, when a Strip is set to “Auto Hide”, you only need to move your cursor over the
Strip to make it expand to its full size. Sometimes, though, this is inconvenient and you
might want to keep it auto-hidden until you click on it. This checkbox turns on that ability.
When “Auto Hide” and “Click to Show” are both turned on, you need to either click in an
auto-hidden window to expand it, or make it the active window.

Always On Top
When “Always on Top” is enabled, your Strip will float above all other windows.This means
that it will cover other windows, possibly including the window you are working in.
This function works particularly well when combined with auto-hide.

BUTTONS TAB

Button Style
You can choose between any of the button styles on a Strip. A button style determines how
each button on a Strip looks.

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Button Size
Some button styles allow you to configure the width and height of the button. You can
drag the two sliders to determine the width and height, and the picture of the button will be
updated while you are dragging to show you what a typical button will look like. The “Variable
Icon Style” is particularly flexible in that it can be resized both horizontally and vertically.

OTHER TAB

Double-click To Open Items

If you are used to having to double-click to open files, you might want to turn this option on.
When it is enabled, the first click on a button selects it and the second click actually
opens it.

Allow Icon Dragging

You can disable the ability to drag an icon around on a Strip or between Strips. This is handy if
you sometimes find yourself accidentally clicking-and-dragging an item when you just meant to
click it to open it. If you want to rearrange items on a Strip, you may turn this option back off
and then move items around.

Draw Page Tabs In Bold Font

You can choose to have the page tabs drawn in either a bold font or a normal font for optimal
viewing and navigation.

Play Click Sound

You can turn on or off the click sound that is made when you click on a button with this option.

Strip Hotkey
You can set a “hot key” that allows you to immediately bring this Strip to the front. Configure
the hot key by clicking into the edit box labeled “Strip Hot Key”, then type the keystroke you
want to use to activate the Strip. If you want to get rid of a hot key that you have set, press
“Delete.” Hot keys are a very handy way of bringing your Strip to the front if it is not always
on top, or activating it if it is set to auto-hide and it is currently hidden.When you bring it to
the front with a hot key, you can then use the arrow keys and tab key to navigate around the
items on the Strip.

PAGE PROPERTIES
You can access the “Page Properties” dialog from the contextual menu. Right-click anywhere
in the Strip or click the menu button (upside down triangle), then choose “Page Properties...”
The “Page Properties” dialog lets you configure the name and appearance of a page and what
kind of items appear on that page.

Clicking the “Cancel” button exits “Page Properties” without saving your changes. Clicking the
“OK” button exits the dialog and saves your changes. Clicking “Apply” will apply your changes
without closing the dialog.

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APPEARANCE
Page Name
You can change the name of the page. This is the name that appears in the page tab. A page
name can be up to thirty-two (32) characters long.

Set Page Color

Click this button to open the Windows color picker dialog. From this dialog, you can choose
the color that will be used to draw the page tab and the buttons on that page. The current
color is shown in the box to the right of the button.

Set Text Color

Click this button to open the Windows color picker dialog. From this dialog, you can choose
the color that will be used to draw the page name and the names of all of the buttons on the
Strip. The current text color is shown in the box to the right of the button. It is a good idea to
choose a color combination that allows you easily read the text on the chosen background
color. You can try out color combinations by clicking on the “Apply” button and looking at
your Strip to see how the current combination looks.

Display Background Pattern

You can choose a bitmap (.bmp) file to display behind the buttons on a page. The bitmap is
tiled behind the buttons. Click this checkbox to enable the “Set Page Pattern” button and
allow a background pattern to be displayed on this page.

Set Page Pattern

Click this button to open the a dialog to let you choose a bitmap file (.bmp) that will be
displayed behind the buttons on this page. There are usually several bitmap files in the
Windows directory (WinNT directory for Windows NT users) which is usually located at the
top of your C: drive. You can, of course, choose any bitmap file on your computer.

TASKS
Display Task Window Buttons
DragStrip pages actually come in two varieties.The first variety is the standard button page.
This is what most of your pages will be. On standard button pages, you can drag files, folders,
URLs, etc. onto buttons and they will stay where you put them. Clicking on these buttons
opens the associated item.

You can also create a task window page which automatically fills itself with a button for each
top level window that is open at that time on your system. As you open and close applications
and documents, the buttons on your Strip will automatically be updated to show you the
current open windows.This behavior is a lot like the buttons that show up on the Windows
Taskbar. If you click on one of these buttons, the associated window will be brought to the
front.

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Turning on the “Display task window buttons” checkbox makes the current page a task
window page. You cannot put your own items on a task window page, since it is automatically
maintained by DragStrip, so if you already have some items on this page, you will be asked if it
is all right to remove those items before the page is turned into a task items page. To turn a
task items page back into a standard page, just turn this option off.

BUTTON PROPERTIES
This menu item will open the “Button Properties” dialog for the currently selected item. It is
not available if there are no currently-selected items, or if the currently-selected item is an
item from a tasks list page. If you have multiple items selected, you will only get the “Button
Properties” dialog for the first item that is selected.

If it does not appear as a menu item you can still access the “Button Properties” dialog from the
contextual menu. Right-click anywhere in the Strip, or click the menu button (upside-down trian-
gle), then choose “Add Button...”>File/Folder Button or URL Button. The “Button Properties”
dialog lets you configure the name and colors of a page and what kind of items appear on that
page.

Clicking the “Cancel” button exits “Button Properties” without saving your changes. Clicking the
“OK” button exits the dialog and saves your changes. Clicking “Apply” will apply your
changes without closing the dialog.

Most buttons have different settings that you can change. For some items, like file items and
URLs, you can change the actual path to the item that the button points to. For file items, you
can even set the default directory and parameters that are passed to the application when it is
launched.

Name
This is the name that shows up in the button, the status bar and the tool tips.

Path
This is the path for a file item or a URL. For many items that are dragged to the Strip, this
field cannot be edited. However, for file items or URLs that you add, you can change the path.
If you are using the “Path” field to add a file or folder to a DragStrip button, you can browse
for the item you want to select by clicking the button to the right of the field. If you click the
“...” button, DragStrip will open the standard Windows “Browse for Folder” dialog. If you
are using Windows 98, the “Browse for Folder” dialog will allow you to select files as well as a
directory.

Parameters
When you add an application to a Strip, the application might be able to take command-line
parameters to make it do interesting things. For example, if you launch the Windows Address
Book with the “/find” parameter, it will launch in a special mode called “Find People”, where
you can do searches for people on the Internet. If you wanted to do this, you could create a
shortcut to the Windows Address Book by dragging its application to the Strip, then choose
“Button Options” and enter “/find” in the “Parameters” field. The next time you click that link,

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it will start in the “Find People” dialog.

Start In
Some applications like to have their default directory set when the application is started. If you
would like to configure a specific directory to be passed to the application, enter it here. If you
want to browse for it by pressing the “...” button.

Hot Key
You can set a hot key that, when pressed, will open the shortcut with which it is associated.
For example, you might launch your e-mail application often, and rather than having to bring
your Strip to the front and click on the item, you can just set a hot key for that item and hit
that hot key from any application. Configure the hot key by clicking into the edit box labeled
“Strip Hot Key,” then type the keystroke you want to use to activate the Strip. If you want to
get rid of a hot key that you have set, press the “Delete” key.

DRAGSTRIP MENUS
DragStrip’s menus let you perform operations on the current Strip such as saving or opening
Strips, editing the contents of Strip, or configuring options such as icon or button style. This
section will describe the DragStrip menus in detail.

You can get to DragStrip’s menus several ways.The simplest way is to click the menu button,
which is the downward-facing triangle in the same area as the page tabs. Sometimes this is not
convenient though, such as circumstances where you have page tabs hidden and you can’t see
the menu button. In this case, you can also right-click anywhere in the Strip window to bring
up the DragStrip menu. Finally, if your computer’s keyboard has a contextual menu key on
it, you can press that key when a DragStrip is the front-most window, and the DragStrip
menu will appear.

THE FILE MENU

The File menu contains the common menu items for managing Strips.

New
Choosing “New” from the File menu will launch the “New Strip” wizard. See the Using the Wiz-
ard section of this guide for more information.

Open
Opens the standard Windows “Open File” dialog. You can navigate your hard drives, looking
for Strip files that you have already saved. Choosing the “Open” button in the dialog will open
that Strip in DragStrip.

Save
Saves changes to the current Strip. Strips are automatically saved when you exit DragStrip,
but if you have just made a lot of changes to your Strips, it is a good idea to save them

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manually.

Save As...
Opens the standard Windows “Save File” dialog. You can use this to save a copy of your Strip
to a different file, or to save your Strip for the first time, if it has never been saved.

Close
Closes the current DragStrip window. This will only exit DragStrip if this is the last Strip
that you have open. If you want to close all of the Strips at once, you should choose “Exit”
instead of “File > Close.”

THE EDIT MENU

The “Edit” menu contains the standard clipboard menu items for moving items between Strips
or deleting items.

Cut
Moves the currently selected items to the DragStrip clipboard and removes the items from
the Strip.

Copy
Copies the currently selected items to the DragStrip clipboard and leaves them in their
current location on the Strip.

Paste
Copies items from the clipboard and adds them to the new Strip at the first empty location.
The items that are one the clipboard are still there.

Delete
Deletes the currently-selected items from the Strip. If the currently-selected items are on a
task windows page, then the windows that they are associated with are sent the close message
which, in most cases, will close the windows and remove the items from the Strip. Note that
the delete operation cannot be undone.

THE “SELECTED ITEM” MENU

This menu contains commands that apply to the currently-selected button and will be named in
the menu with that button name.The contents of this sub-menu changes, depending on the type of
item you have selected and the shell extensions installed on your computer. The actual menu name
is the name of the selected item. Some of the menu items that are often in this menu include:

Open
Opens all of the items.This is the same as clicking them.

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Explore
Opens an Explorer window and shows the selected items in it.This only applies to items that
are available on disks. It does not apply to URLs.

Open Containing Folder

Opens a browser window to display the folder that contains the item. For example, if you
opened the containing folder of an item at C:\Program Files\DragStrip, you would see a
browser window of the C:\Program Files directory.

Properties
Opens the properties window for the item.This is different from the “Button Properties” in
that it doesn’t show the properties for the DragStrip button, but for the item that the
DragStrip button “points” to.

Cut, Copy, Delete

The menu items are different in this menu than in the “Edit” menu mentioned above. When
you choose “Delete” from the selected item menu, it will actually move the item to the
Recycle Bin. You can copy a file to a different folder by choosing “Copy” from the selected
item menu, then opening a different folder in an Explorer window and choosing “Paste.”
Be careful with these options, as it is possible to delete files with them.

THE ADD BUTTON MENU

Generally, you add items to a Strip by dragging them from a browser window or an Explorer
window. Sometimes, though, it is more convenient to just add a button and configure its
properties manually. You must have the Strip extended so that blank buttons are visible in older to
add a button.

File/folder Button
Adding a new file button presents the “Button Properties” dialog, where you can set the path
to the file and the name that will appear on the button. See the Button Properties section of this
guide for more information.

URL Button
Adding a new URL button presents the “Button Properties” dialog, where you can enter the
URL that you want to access and the name that will appear on the button.

Run...
Adds a button that shows the “Windows Run” dialog when clicked.The “Run” dialog lets you
launch an application or open a URL by typing its name or path.

Find File/folder
Adds a button that brings up the “Find File/Folder” dialog, so you can search for files or folders
on your computer.

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Find Computer
Adds a button that brings up the “Find Computer” dialog so you can search for a computer on
your network.

Task Manager (Windows NT Only)

Adds a button that brings up the “Task Manager” applications which lets you monitor how your
computer’s
resources are being used.

Minimize All
Adds a button that minimizes all open windows.This is a quick way to get to a file that is sitting on
your
desktop, but obscured by open windows.

Suspend (Windows 98 Only)

If your computer is capable of going into a suspended mode, this button will activate the
suspended mode. This is usually available on most laptop computers.

Shutdown Windows
Adds a button that presents a dialog offering to shut down or restart Windows.

Clock
The clock button shows you the current time of day. If you click on the clock button, it will
let you set the current date and time on your computer. Choosing “Button Properties” for the
clock displays the “Clock Properties” dialog, which allows you to set how the time is displayed
on the button.

Calendar
The calendar button shows you the current date. If you click on the calendar button, it will
open a window with a calendar in it.You can change the month and/or year that the calendar
displays.This is a handy way to quickly check for dates.

Unread Mail
This is only present if you are running Windows XP. Adding this button will enable you to see the
number of unread messages in your Outlook Express email program. Clicking the button will
launch Outlook Express for you.

THE BUTTON STYLES MENU

You can change the look of the buttons that appear on your Strip. There are several types to
choose from, including Raised, Double-Raised, Beveled and None.

THE ICON STYLES MENU

This menu lets you change the icon style immediately without having to go to the “Strip
Properties” dialog. See Strip Properties section in this guide for more information.

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THE STRIP STYLES MENU
DragStrip comes with several predefined Strip styles. Styles are groups of settings that are
remembered and can be applied to other Strips.

The “Default” style is the one that is used whenever you create a new Strip. You can create
other styles based on the settings in a Strip by selecting “Create Style From Current Strip...”
You can apply a style to any Strip by selecting that style’s name from the “Strip Styles” submenu.
You can redefine the “Default” style by creating another style called “Default”. This way, you can
set a Strip up the way you like it, then create a style called “Default” and all new Strips will then
appear just how you configured them.

THE CLEAN UP MENU

“Clean Up” allows you to shift the items on your Strip around without having to move them
each individually. You can access these “Clean Up” options from the DragStrip menu.

“Clean Up” choices are:

Alphabetically – This option sorts the buttons on the selected page alphabetically.

Collapse – This option causes the buttons on the page to be sorted so that they fill
successive buttons, starting at the top-left corner, finishing bottom-right.

Slide Items Left – This option slides all items to the left, eliminating any empty buttons
between them.

Slide Items Up – This option slides all items up, eliminating any empty buttons between them.

THE PAGES MENU

Strips can be broken down into multiple pages. Each page has its own page color and can
contain as many items as the Strip can hold. Pages are a great way of organizing your Strips
based on the projects you are working on, or the applications you use frequently.
When page tabs are visible, you will see the page’s name in a tab along one edge of the Strip.
Page tabs can be drawn along the top or bottom of the Strip, or they can be hidden entirely.
Even when page tabs are hidden, you can switch between pages by pressing the tab key or
the shift-tab key combination.

Add Page
Add Page allows you to add a new page to the Strip. Selecting this item will create the new
page, then immediately open the “Page Properties” dialog for that page where you can set the
page name and colors.

Delete Current Page

“Delete Current Page” will delete the active page and all of the items on it. You will be asked
to confirm that you really want to do this before the deletion takes place.

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Shift Current Page Left
“Shift Current Page Left” will move the currently selected page one page to the left, swapping
locations with the page tab that is to its left.This item is dimmed and unavailable if the current
page is the first page.

Shift Current Page Right

Shift Current Page Right will move the currently selected page one page to the right, swapping
locations with the page tab that is to its right. This item is dimmed and unavailable if the
current page is the last page.

THE DRAGSTRIP ON THE WEB MENU

There are several resources available on the Internet to help you use DragStrip. Links to these
resources are available in this menu.

Dragstrip Home Page

The home page of DragStrip. Here you will find the latest information about DragStrip, including
news and updates.

Aladdin Systems
The home page of Aladdin Systems, the developers of the full StuffIt line of compression products
and desktop solutions.

POPPYBANK SOFTWARE
The home page of Poppybank Software, the original creators of DragStrip.

Online Documentation
The online documentation link takes you to the online version of this documentation.

Register Dragstrip
Takes you to the online registration site for DragStrip. Please register your copy of DragStrip, if
you have not done so already, so we can continue to improve the product.

Tip Of The Day

Opens the DragStrip “Tip of the Day” window. This is how you can get back to the tips, even
if you turned them off at startup.

ABOUT DRAGSTRIP
This menu item opens the DragStrip “About” box, which will tell you which version of
DragStrip you are running. This is also where you can enter your DragStrip registration
information.

EXIT
When you choose “Exit,” DragStrip will remember which Strips are currently open so that
they can be automatically opened the next time you start DragStrip. Then it will close all of

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the currently-opened Strips and exit the program.

DRAGSTRIP FOR WINDOWS TIPS AND TRICKS

•You can get to the DragStrip menu bar by clicking on the downward-facing triangle in the
tabs bar, or just right click anywhere in the Strip window.

•Hold down “Alt” and “Control” together while clicking-and-dragging anywhere in a

DragStrip window to drag the window. This is how you can drag a window even if the
title bar is hidden.

•Enabling “Show tool tips” pops up a little window over items when the cursor sits there
for a little while. This is a great way of finding out which folder you are over if the status
bar is hidden, since folders often look alike. Tool tips work when you are dragging, too.

•If you really like the way a Strip that you have created looks, create a new Strip style based
on it, and name it “Default” (without the quotes.) Then, whenever you create a new Strip,
it will have the same properties and colors.

•The arrow keys also work for navigating around the buttons on Strips. Hitting the “Enter”
key opens the current selection.

•Pressing the “Tab ” key will switch to the next page on the front-most Strip. If the current
page is the last page, it will go to the first page. Pressing “Shift-Tab” will go to the previous
page.

•You can delete items from a Strip several ways. Shift-click to select the item, then press
the Delete key. You can also select multiple items and delete them all this way. You can
also just right-click an item and choose “Delete” from the “Edit” menu.

•You can make one of the pages on your Strip show all of the open windows on your
system by turning on “Display task window buttons” in “Page Properties.”

•Most operations that can be performed on a single button can also be performed on a
selection of buttons.

•Alt-clicking a file item reveals that item in a browser window. Shift-clicking a button selects it.

•You can drag files from a browser window and drop them on an application on your Strip
to have that application open the files you dropped.

•DragStrip windows can be placed anywhere, but it is really handy to have a Strip with
“Always on top” and “Auto hide” on, “Show Titlebar” and “Show Status” off, and right at
the edge of the screen.Then you can get to your shortcuts easily without taking up a lot
of screen space.

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•If you have a task buttons page set up, you can close an application’s window by deleting
the button with the window’s name and icon on it.

•You can add your favorite web site addresses to your Strips by either dragging a link to an
empty button or by choosing “URL Button” from the Add menu.

•If you have a task buttons page set up and you want to drag a file into an applications
window, but you can’t see the window, just drag it over the task button and wait a bit –
the window will pop to the front

•You can drag files from a browser window and drop them on a folder or disk icon on your
Strip to have those files copied to the folder.

•The “Variable icon style” lets you choose how tall and how wide the button is. As you
resize it, the icon position and size will automatically adjust its position.

•You can reorder pages by choosing “Shift current page left” or “Shift current page right”
from the pages menu.

•If you prefer double-clicking to open the button items, you can configure DragStrip to do
that in the “Other” panel of the “Strip Properties” window.

•You can click-and-hold on a folder icon and it will pop up a hierarchical list of the contents
of the folder. Choose an item to open it. To open a folder, choose the item with the same
name as the folder at the top of its submenu.

•When dragging an item to a Strip, if you drag over one of the tabs, the Strip will switch to
that page.

•If you drag a file or folder item from a Strip to an Explorer window, it will create a
shortcut to that item in the Explorer window.

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