Description
Description of the new feature / enhancement
The "Program" plugin of PowerToys Run doesn't allow the user to configure the search paths and set ignore patterns. I request to add these configurations to fix usability problems of PowerToys Run (see the next paragraph). Here is the UI for these configurations in Wox:
Scenario when this would be used?
I recently switched from Wox to PowerToys Run, and found two usability problems in the "Program" plugin of PowerToys Run.
The first problem is that the plugin searches for programs in both Start Menu and Desktop recursively. Therefore, if the user stores a large amount of files (e.g., cloned a large dataset) on desktop, it will be scanned recursively, and all .exe and .lnk files will be indexed as programs. This causes performance problem and unwanted search results.
Demo:
The other problem is that the plugin will index unrelated shortcuts in Start Menu (e.g., the uninstaller) and sometimes place it before the real application. It is easy to accidentally launch the uninstaller.
Demo:
These two problems can be fixed by making the search paths and ignore patterns configurable, so that I can:
- Remove desktop from the search paths
- Ignore programs with name
*unins*,*help*, or*website*
Supporting information
Current search paths: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/src/modules/launcher/Plugins/Microsoft.Plugin.Program/Storage/Win32ProgramFileSystemWatchers.cs#L35
Activity