Zones

A zone is a shaded area on your desktop that holds icons.

Working with a zone

Drag the title bar to move a zone, or an edge to resize it.
Double-click the title bar, or click its arrow, to roll the zone up to just its title, or to open it again. Point at a rolled-up zone to peek inside.
Right-click the title bar for the zone's menu: Rename…, Sort, Edit rules…, Style…, Roll up, Delete zone… and more.
Right-click an icon for its usual Windows menu.

To line zones up or turn snapping off, see Arranging zones.

Placing icons by hand

Drag icons into a zone to keep them there. A pin shows on icons you placed by hand; click the pin to let rules sort that icon again. Dragging between Desktop zones never moves files. Dropping a file from anywhere else, such as File Explorer, moves the file to your desktop, or into the folder of a folder zone.

Desktop zones and folder zones

A Desktop zone shows icons from your desktop. A folder zone shows everything in one folder, such as Downloads, without moving the files. Make one with New folder zone… on the Zones page or in the tray menu. If the folder cannot be reached, for example on a drive that is not connected, the zone says so and tries again every 30 seconds. It offers Retry now and Change folder….

Deleting a Desktop zone sends its icons back to the Desktop zone. Deleting a folder zone leaves the folder and its files alone.

With the keyboard

Press Ctrl+Alt+Z (you can change it in Settings) to reach your zones, then use the arrow keys to move between icons. F2 renames the selected icon, Ctrl+arrow moves the zone and Alt+arrow resizes it. See Shortcuts.

How it looks

Change a zone's tint, opacity, icon size and labels with Style… or on the Appearance page.

Still stuck? Email support@cairnea.com. We reply within two days.