Not grouping on boot?

Directory Opus 12 not Grouping upon Windows Start..

from Stardock Forums

This has been happing since I got Groupy a year ago..   And I'm tired of fixing them every time I start my pc.

I usually have several Directory Opus windows open when I shutdown, and when I boot up, only a few of them are grouped, and a few others are not.  I do have the checkbox checked to 'Automatically group dopus.exe windows together'.  And dopus.exe is in the Settings\Application Grouping list.  

Is there something at Windows Startup that is causing this?  

How can I fix this?

Thanks.

boot start not group directory opus groupy
16,799 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
I have forward your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Keeping an eye on this thread, but nothing is happening..

I noticed today that when I click on the 3 dot button and then click on 'Add to Group', the menu says 'All ungrouped windows of class 'dopus.lister'.".    Maybe that is why Groupy will not Automatically Group dopus.exe windows together??

Directory Opus(dopus.exe) creates windows called Listers.  Is it possible to "Automatically Group All windows of class "dopus.lister" together"???  

There is an option to Add to Group classes of dopus.lister...  Why is there no option to Automatically do it too??

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Sorry about that. I re-forward your issue to Support. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Thank you.

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Basj,

Has there been anyone even looking into this??  I bought Groupy mainly for grouping Directory Opus windows, but it won't Automatically do it!  Every time I boot up, my previous Directory Opus windows appear, but are not grouped.

If your Tech Support would just download the Free Trial of Directory Opus and try Automatically Grouping them, I'm sure they could figure out what Groupy is missing!!  It's probably just a few lines of code to add for this different situation.  

** The thing is, that all I have to do is click the 3dot menu and select 'Add to group all ungrouped 'dopus.exe' (or dopus.lister) windows' and it does it fine!!!!!   So if that code works..., why don't you use that code at bootup?  If there is a problem at boot, maybe delay it for a few seconds?  It's obvious that Groupy can group these windows, but it doesn't at boot up, or when a new dopus windows is opened.

 

This is not a isolated problem and not an issue with my specific pc.  It has been report since 3 Years ago!!

2019 - by enigmatic_user

I have most of the same issues as this user with DOpus.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 2

I noticed today that when I click on the 3 dot button and then click on 'Add to Group', the menu says 'All ungrouped windows of class 'dopus.lister'.".    Maybe that is why Groupy will not Automatically Group dopus.exe windows together??
End of Snacko's quote

If there is nothing differentiating the instances, Groupy would just not see them as unique - thus not auto group any number of them.

That said, I will look at it but cant make any promises...

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks sdRohan,

But why does the 'Add to Group' / 'All ungrouped windows from 'dopus.exe' work??  It groups them all fine??

Yes, please look at this.  I have all the same issues as in this post from 3 years ago.  If you could get it to automatically group, and also if possible, fix the small windows being grouped.  (see link above)  Copy/Move popups sometimes (not always) are added to the group too.  Making the DOpus windows all small.

Thanks again..

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 5

Has there been anyone even looking into this??  I bought Groupy mainly for grouping Directory Opus windows, but it won't Automatically do it!  Every time I boot up, my previous Directory Opus windows appear, but are not grouped.
End of Snacko's quote

I usually have several Directory Opus windows open when I shutdown, and when I boot up, only a few of them are grouped, and a few others are not. 
End of quote

I want to be clear on this, however. One reads that its never grouped on reboot, the other reads some are.  Which is true?

Second, forget 'on boot' for a moment.  During general use, when you have them set to auto group, do they - that it is just on boot you see the problem?

Lastly, have you used saved groups with any success with DO?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Yes, I see that might be confusing.  I'm trying to remember 8 weeks ago when I first posted that 'only a few of them are grouped'.  I do remember having 6-8 windows and only a few were grouped at that time.  But lately, the past several weeks I've only had about 4-5 DOpus windows open and they never group.  For a test, I'll open 10 windows and keep them open on reboot and see if a few do get grouped.  

2nd - I guess it's not just on boot.  I am used to having to manually group the 3-4 windows every time that I boot, but if I open a 'new' window they always are not grouped automatically.  So it's likely not a boot issue..  I just see that every time, so that was my thinking..  :blush:  

I don't use Saved groups.  But I just tested it, and it didn't work.  I closed all but 2 DOpus tabs and opened a Saved Group that had 10 windows.  It flashed but didn't add anymore windows.  I tried it a second time and it worked but did not group them.  But I don't use Saved groups because they just open a default windows like when I click New Window/Lister in DOpus.  

I think some quick vids would be helpful here:

 

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

It's something we have seen before (with chromium browsers), that if an instance of it is already running, it will not group from a save.  The way around that (for the browser case) is to make certain that no instance of the app is running then open from a save. Not ideal but again, if Groupy cant tell that they are unique, it wont do it.

Secondly, once you group two instance of DO together, you should have the option to open new instances from any already open Window.

The + there would allow you to open new instances of DO and have them group in the same Groupy window.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Well I don't think anyone would use the Saved Groups with DOpus because it doesn't save the path for each window.  It just opens a default window.  And that is of no real use.

I am confused..  You keep mentioning "Groupy cant tell that they are unique, it wont do it." 

But it DOES group them every time I select the Add to Group menu item and 'All ungrouped windows from 'dopus.exe'!??  What is the difference between the Automatic grouping and the Add to Group menu?  The Add to Group menu must see them all as unique, right?

How are you identifying them as unique?  Are you doing it the same in each place?  Using a common/shared function?

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 11

But it DOES group them every time I select the Add to Group menu item and 'All ungrouped windows from 'dopus.exe'!??  What is the difference between the Automatic grouping and the Add to Group menu?  The Add to Group menu must see them all as unique, right?
End of Snacko's quote

That is indeed good to know but what I want to get away from is the expectation that it should do it 'on boot' as we have no idea in what order Windows will spin services up when the Sign-in option to reopen apps (what you are no doubt using) is enabled.  I would be more concerned if what you just said did not work or that you could not group them at all.

If DO is run as a service, maybe a 'delayed start' would help - I don't know:

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/service-startup-automatic-vs-automatic-delayed-start/#:~:text=After%20all%20the%20automatic%20start%20services%20are%20loaded%2C,decimal%29%20in%20seconds%2C%20in%20the%20following%20registry%20key%3A

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

 

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

I agree about on boot.

But as you can see in the video, I shut down Dopus in the Systray while Windows was running.  And tested just starting Dopus (not from boot). And it still does not group them.  So, as you said before, let's forget the boot scenario. 

Groupy just won't group Dopus Automatically.  But it will group them if I use the Add to Group menu!  So, why?

BTW, thank you for going over this with me.  I'm a retired software engineer, and that this will group Dopus from the menu, but not automatically makes no sense to me.  It seem that the way they ID the windows must be different.. 

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 13

BTW, thank you for going over this with me.  I'm a retired software engineer
End of Snacko's quote

Not so 'retired' I suspect as you seem very sharp still 😉

Quoting Snacko, reply 13

that this will group Dopus from the menu, but not automatically makes no sense to me.  It seem that the way they ID the windows must be different.. 
End of Snacko's quote

Its a keen observation and the reason it has merit is (the result for one) but we had a similar issue with LibreOffice if memory serves.  Let me get with Neil and see what he says but do note that his team is fully focused on Start11 at the moment.

Internal ref: ODNT-3644

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks!  For testing you could use the Directory Opus 12 Free Trial.

And this is not a new issue.  There is a post (above) from 2019.  

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Snacko, reply 8

2nd - I guess it's not just on boot.  I am used to having to manually group the 3-4 windows every time that I boot, but if I open a 'new' window they always are not grouped automatically.  So it's likely not a boot issue..  I just see that every time, so that was my thinking..    
End of Snacko's quote

This is what I want to work on 1st.

With the Lite version installed, I can't reproduce what you are detailing with version 12 I installed today...  

Video:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2022-09-13_15-58-50sdrohan.mp4

One would not expect those DO windows to be open upon reboot (unless there is a setting to make that so) to be grouped on reboot if DO is opening prior to the Groupy service being enabled (usually services are 1st) but I'll test and report. 

Update:

Arguably the best feature included with updates for Windows was this one, to restart apps that were open when the reboot was called:

That said, 'restartable' is the keyword there and could be a reason why I did not see DO start at all post-reboot.  

Switching to the pro version, it seems there are options to open the last 'listers' you referred to:

I could manually group (as you noted) but not auto group when opening other DO instances.  It would follow that this issue would last past reboot.  What did work was grouping them automatically by the dopus.lister as you noted:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2022-09-13_16-38-59sdrohan.mp4

Oddly, switching back to the 'Lite' version has it failing to auto group under it as well now, odd...

While I will but it internally, it very well may be something the DO people need to contend with as we are able to group like 'classes' by just the main exe.  EventViewer would be an example. 

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2022-09-13_16-47-57sdrohan.mp4

In any event, I have logged it and will report when the devs have had the time to look it over.

Internal ref: ODNT-4432

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager