Bring Fences to Foreground

from Stardock Forums

Fences is an amazing product I've been using for years.  But how do I get my fences to appear in the foreground above all desktop windows at will?

I have my fences usually "rolled up" on the top edge of my desktop where I usually can see its title bar easily even in a crowded desktop.  If I click on the fence's rolled up title bar, the fence unrolls but is always behind my windows so I can't see my icons!  Now I have to press Win+Space with my left hand and have the mouse cursor on the fence's title bar.

Is there an option to have my fences:

  1. Come to foreground when I click the fence's title bar
  2. Have another hotkey combination that forces all fences to unroll and come to foreground
    1.  I wouldn't mind if the Win+Space hotkey did this by default

This would really improve useability for crowded desktops which become increasingly crowded over the years!

fences foreground hotkeys unroll fences
6,431 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Using Fences4 

Hold down the Cntr Key/Win Key / and Space bar at the same time .

 


AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Unfortunately that doesn't work when the fences are rolled up.  This must be a bug.  Can it be addressed in upcoming release?

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks!  The procedure was successful. :thumbsup:

It is odd that worked because I've never installed Fences on this particular Windows 11 laptop before so there were no old settings to remove.  Appears to be a bug in the Fence's installer program? 

Okay, so now when I press CTRL+WIN+SPACE (toggle) or WIN+SPACE (press & hold), rolled up fence headers pop to the foreground above all windows and I can mouseover them to unroll the fence and access the icons. 

It would be nice though if there was an additional option to force all the rolled up fences to unroll while holding down the hotkey.  Because the only reason I press use the hotkey is to see the icons -- so having to mouseover the fences individually, to me, is an unnecessary intermediate step.  None of my fences overlap and I don't do pages of fences or any fancy.  My fence groups are neatly arranged in non-overlapping "trays" across the top edge of my desktop.  I like them rolled up because I like the ultra clean look and I have great wallpapers. :grin:  

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting jamesau, reply 4

It would be nice though if there was an additional option to force all the rolled up fences to unroll while holding down the hotkey.  Because the only reason I press use the hotkey is to see the icons -- so having to mouseover the fences individually, to me, is an unnecessary intermediate step.  None of my fences overlap and I don't do pages of fences or any fancy.  My fence groups are neatly arranged in non-overlapping "trays" across the top edge of my desktop.  I like them rolled up because I like the ultra clean look and I have great wallpapers
End of jamesau's quote

Hello,

I have forwarded your report 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.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Thank you!  Glad you guys look at user input!

BTW, on the same subject, if I hover my mouse over a rolled up fence, the fence will unroll but the fence's contents are still behind and obscured by other windows.  The fence should automatically come to foreground in this case.  Even clicking on the fence's title bar or blank area fails to bring the fence to the foreground which goes against traditional Windows GUI paradigm.

Just right now I needed to access an icon in a rolled up fence.  The fence unrolled after I hovered my mouse cursor over it but the icon remained behind the windows.  I had to put down my beverage cup in my left hand just to hit the WIN+SPACE hot key to get to my icon.    This situation actually happens a lot because since I intentionally keep my fence title bars on the desktop's top edge, they are often visible or partially visible for clicking or hovering on without resorting to the WIN+SPACE hot keys.