Custom Desktop Folders

Choosing a folder when creating a desktop

The create dialog has a Folder location row. It reads Managed by WorkTop until you pick something else.

1. Open the Manager window, go to the Desktops page, and click Create Desktop.
2. In the Folder location row, click Browse and pick a folder.
3. Click Create.

Click Reset next to the row to go back to the default.

A desktop's folder is chosen at create time. Moving an existing desktop's folder is not supported.

Setting a default location for new desktops

To place every new desktop in a location of your choice without browsing each time, set Default desktop folder under Settings, General. New desktops created without a custom folder are placed there. For example, set it to D:\Desktops and every new desktop you create without browsing will have its files in a subfolder of that location.

Supported Locations

A desktop folder must be:

• On a local fixed or removable drive: an internal disk, a partition, or a USB drive. Network locations are not supported.
• Outside OneDrive and any other OneDrive-synced folder.
• A folder on the drive, not the drive root itself. D:\Desktops\Work works; D:\ does not.
• Separate from every other desktop's folder: not the same folder, not inside one, and not containing one.
• Outside WorkTop's data folder.

When the folder's drive is missing

A desktop whose folder is unavailable, for example on an unplugged USB drive, cannot be switched to. Reconnect the drive and switch again; the desktop and its files are unaffected.

If that desktop was active when WorkTop starts, WorkTop switches to the OS Desktop and shows a warning dialog.

Deleting a desktop with a custom folder

Deleting the desktop removes it from WorkTop but leaves the folder and every file in it on disk. Nothing is moved to the OS Desktop and nothing is deleted from the folder; WorkTop only removes its own record of the desktop.

Keeping a redirected Desktop folder

When the Windows Desktop folder points to a location WorkTop does not recognize, for example after you redirect it yourself through the folder's Properties, Location tab, WorkTop will disable switching as a safety measure and ask how you want to handle the unrecognized location.

• Keep This Location: adopts the current path as the OS Desktop's location.
• Reset to Default: points the Desktop folder back at the default Windows location.
• Dismiss: closes the dialog and leaves switching disabled.

When the unrecognized path is inside OneDrive, the dialog instead warns about OneDrive Desktop Backup. See OneDrive & Desktop Backup for how that case is handled.