replace document icons after editing

Hello,

I have forwarded your request to the Stardock support team for their review and recommendations. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We really do appreciate your feedback, Thanks.

Basj

Stardock Community Assistant

basj - Does your reply mean there is currently no way to do what I want?

Where does the document exist within Windows on the Desktop?  or in the Documents Folder?

If you used a shortcut to your document that would keep it in the Fence (or should).

From my understanding/observation of using Fence, whenever I edit a file that in one of my normal fence, not portal fence, it stays there when I saved it. It never moved to desktop or anywhere else.

I guess this is how Fences sorting work. It just apply its rules when files coming in into desktop area, and it will send it to it preset fences according to user rules. But once the files already inside desktop area, the rules no longer applies. But this might be just me.

Now from reading you question again, in your system it moved out from its fences once you saved it?

Thank you,

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant

Based on the posts from BigDogBigFeet and from Basj, I did an experiment.  I created a Word file and saved it to my Windows 10 Desktop folder.  The icon for the file appeared on my desktop screen outside any of my Fences.  I then dragged the file icon into an ordinary Fence on my desktop screen.  I reopened the file by clicking on the icon, made a small edit, and saved the changed file.  Back on my desktop screen the icon had disappeared from its Fence and appeared in the unfenced area.  This is the behavior I posted about.

Then I created a new Word file and saved it to my Documents folder.  I created a shortcut for this file and placed it on my desktop, then dragged it into the same Fence.  Now when I opened the file by clicking on the shortcut, then edited and resaved it, the shortcut icon was still in the Fence where I had put it.

So BigDogBigFeet was right:  files in the Desktop folder do not stay in their Fence after editing, but files located in a different folder with a shortcut in a Fence will keep the shortcut there after editing.  This gives me a workaround, but I suggest that in Fences 4 files located in the Desktop folder with their desktop icon in a Folder remain in the folder after editing.  I cannot see why anyone would want them to migrate back to the unfenced area just because they had been edited. 

It's Windows that is re-writing the file location when you save it.  That's what is causing it to pop out.  Windows "sees" the file as located on the Desktop and "refreshes" your desktop accordingly.

The reason the workaround works is the shortcut is a different object from the file.

I never (or only temporarily) place files directly to the Desktop.

This issue seemed to start with Fences version 3.  I had Fences 2 and windows 8.1 and it was never an issue to have files on the desktop and save them.   It is not reasonable to expect people to create a shortcut for every document they have on their desktop as a workaround.  Some people have a lot of documents. And the purpose of Fences is to organize the documents!

This issue is related to the "feature" to "Place all new icons in this Fence by default".  I have a Document fence and a New Icons fence which is where I have all new icons place.   What happens to me is when Microsoft Word documents are saved, they apparently create a new temporary file.  I can see the temporary file appear briefly in the New Icons fence, then when the save is complete, the document moves from the Documents fence to the New Icons fence.  

Please Stardock!  Fix this bad behavior or at least allow us to turn off that "feature" so it worked as before.   Using shortcuts is not an acceptable answer in my opinion.  

For those that are struggling with this, what I have done is to make new icons appear in the Document fence by default,  then I move them out to the New Icons fence manually.  This is much easier to manage than creating shortcuts to hundreds of documents.  

I have used Fences for many years and really do like it.  But this is one very annoying bug!