Fences 4.07.01 Beta Feedback Thead

Fences 4.07.01 Changelog

• Fixed Folder Portal crash when details-view is used alongside multiple levels of sorting.
• Fixed issue where double-clicking fence docked to the bottom of the screen would result in errant behavior.
• Fixed issue where View/Sort menu items in the new Windows 11 desktop menu would not show as properly checked/unchecked in certain circumstances / on recent builds of Windows.
• Fixed issue where multiple icons pasted to desktop at once could overlap one another.
• Added detection of low inter-icon spacing settings, to reduce text overlap within fences in these situations. (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics IconVerticalSpacing settings smaller than -1012 i.e. 135px, vs default of -1125 i.e. 150px)
• Fixed truncated "days left in your free trial" text with acrylic text drawing (Win11).
• Fixed folder icon centering with large fonts.
• Adjusted rename edit box text positioning.

• Updated rules so that link-target rules always apply first.
• Improved corner-rounding radius on hotkey "show fences" mode to better match desktop.

• Improved hotkey "show fences" performance and reliability.
• Improved reliability of Folder Portals to stay pinned to desktop i.e. to not appear over top of other apps.
• Removed option to keep fences on top "even after switching windows" during hotkey "show fences" usage, as featured caused compatibility issues with other programs.
• Resolved issue where "Lock Fences" menu item did not appear when fence titles were hidden.

Known issues

While we appreciate all feedback, please remember that we offer no official support for beta \ preview \ developer channel versions of Windows. If you report issues while in any of those early release channels, you should not expect them to be addressed unless it still exists in a retail version of Windows.

• Object Desktop Manager will read that there is an update after you have already done so when there is not.  It will be fixed in the coming days.
  Fixed

***Reserved***

thanks for looking into this issue, downloading the Beta now, really love this product 

Allow navigation is working for me.  Double click on a folder in a fence and instead of entering that folder fences opens that folder in file explorer. 

All other problem i faced in the past with first release seems to have been fixed in this beta which is very good news. 

Edit.  Fixed this problem by opening Folder Options>Advance settings and unselecting Launch Folder windows in a separate process.

Thanks for the feedback, ljferdinand.

I wonder if this is something we can account for via prompt post-install or show as an option to edit in the Fences UI... I will get with the Devs on it...

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Hi Sean,

TBH i had no idea how to fix this issue.  I always thought it was a problem with Fences until i searched the forum and came across a post which pointed me in the right direction.  So i have to agree with your suggestion to maybe have a "MUST DO" popup page when installing fences. This would have helped me solve this from the very first version of Fences 4..  

Everything is work for me now.    

I don't see the beta release on the My Account page, only the Fences 3 upgrade - what am I missing?

Hello,

Do you have Fences 4 license key?

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

I don't think so - this is the latest I see:

But, given that Fences 3 is broken by this issue, I'm not sure why I would need to pay for an upgrade to receive a fix...

What version of Windows you are running Fences 3 on? And For the Beta, you will need to have Fences 4 license for it.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

W10. 

Are you saying that you won't be issuing a fix for v3 users, if the beta proves successful? That strikes me as pretty poor practice. I haven't been able to use software that I have paid for, for 2 months odd - because it is broken. And you won't even allow me to trial a fix that might get me back up and running??

From what I understand, Fences 3 development has stop once Fences 4 released. By the way what version of Windows 10 you on?

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Releasing bug-fixes is not 'development'

WIndows version is 21H2

If the 'bugs' did not exist until Windows itself changed, it would indeed be 'development'.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

That rather depends on the nature of the bug - seen plenty of software that gets away with poor coding until underlying elements, including the OS, change in a way that should cause no issues....  Is version 3 officially out of support? If not, you should be addressing any fixes required to keep it running, regardless of whose 'fault' it is.

In the couple of months since I started reading this forum - because my paid-for software is broken - I've seen a lot of whataboutery regarding the underlying cause. It's unprofessional, unnecessary and of no interest to a typical user who just wants the software - which they paid for - to work. 

I personally don't know what's causing this but it was happening well into windows 10 and 11 so it's probably nothing to do with a windows update,I'm just over it like many things in life so I'm moving on but Its a great program just a very annoying bug and we must give the developer credit in the face of some of the comments which I can understand the frustration,he continues to push on and remains polite and professional, no question these type of issues can be a minefield for sure and a real pain for people who paid for a product and can't use it effectively, best of luck all 

Quoting ljferdinand, reply 7

Hi Sean,

TBH i had no idea how to fix this issue.  I always thought it was a problem with Fences until i searched the forum and came across a post which pointed me in the right direction.  So i have to agree with your suggestion to maybe have a "MUST DO" popup page when installing fences. This would have helped me solve this from the very first version of Fences 4..  
Everything is work for me now.    

Hello ljferdinand...

After speaking with the dev, it was something we can address.

Internal changelog:

05/24/2022

Thanks again for the feedback.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

All,

Beta has been updated to 4.0.5.11.  The app will not notify so you will have to grab the new installer.

On that note, I have included a link to the installer in the changelog for people to test it via the trial.

Again, thanks for the feedback and support.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

@sdRohan

Hi Sean ,  Great move.  Thank you for this. 

1 Suggestion.  Can you ask devs to  add the ability to use the mouse back button when navigating folder within fences.  This in my opinion this would help speed up productivity.  Currently when the user navigates a folder the user has to click on the arrow at the top of the fence to go back one step this can prove a little cumbersome when trying to browse folders.

Loving the direction Fences is now moving.     

It will make it to some version for certain, the mouse button option but I want to make you aware that this can be achieved with the keyboard, Alt-Arrow keys, like so:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2022-05-27_09-59-18.mp4

So are we 😁

Again, thanks for the feedback.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

@sdRohan Personally i find the alternative option to be slower than clicking on the arrow within fences to go back. Im a speed freak so to let go of the mouse to press the alt and arrows keys really does feel slow to me.

On another note. The double click to hide is clashing with "Directory opus" double click to show. is there a chance to work around this?

Also a bug i found, On the quick-hide page, Select the 3 Automatically options and then unselect the Enabled option then restart system, Fences does not show. i have to launch Fences config page and select Enabled in order to see my fences. Apart from the above everything else is working fine for me.

It used to be that whenever I created a folder portal for a certain folder Fences would run into the "Explorer has not terminated properly" bug. This bug is gone now with the beta version.

Thanks Stardock (though it took you quite some time)  

Do you ever just get a white screen when you click somewhere and explorer hangs for a bit them respects and fences plays up for a while is ok for a while then randomly happens again, I have never seen an error message just white screen

Hi Guys,

I just downloaded the Beta and Explorer crashed before the Fences Settings even appeared. Cycled "Fences detected that Explorer... etc" until I "End Task"ed the fences process and uninstalled the Beta.

Pity, I really enjoy this app and my clutter-free desktop.

Hope you can get it working again soon...

Cheers,

dueWest