Traytidy help

Getting started

The first time Traytidy starts, a short setup suggests keeping the icons on your taskbar today and moving the rest to the drawer. Nothing moves until you finish it.

• Left-click Traytidy's icon, or press Ctrl+Alt+T, to open the drawer.
• Right-click it for Open drawer, Clean mode, Settings, About / License and Quit.

Windows hides new tray icons under the ^ arrow, including Traytidy's own. Setup shows you how to keep it on the taskbar; the drawer hotkey works either way.

Using the drawer

The drawer lists your tucked-away icons with their pictures and names. Hover an item to see the app's own tooltip. Start typing to search.

• Click an icon to left-click it. Double-click to double-click it.
• Right-click the icon to right-click it and open the app's menu.
• Right-click the name for Always show, Hide and Settings.
• From the keyboard: Enter clicks, Ctrl+Enter double-clicks, Shift+F10 or the Menu key right-clicks, and Shift+Enter opens Traytidy's options for the item.

Because a hidden icon only exists in Windows' ^ menu, that menu opens for a moment when you click one. The app's own menu then opens next to the tray, where it normally would. Choose a list or a grid in Settings › General.

Sorting your icons

In Settings › Icons, pick a place for each icon:

• Always show keeps it next to the clock.
• Drawer tucks it under ^ and lists it in Traytidy's drawer.
• Hidden tucks it under ^ and leaves it out of the drawer.

Traytidy changes Windows' own setting for each icon, the one in Windows Settings › Personalization › Taskbar › Other system tray icons, then checks that Windows really moved it. Windows 11 doesn't always pick up a change made by another app until you sign in again. When that happens, Traytidy undoes its change and opens a short guide with the exact switch to flip, ticking it off when it sees the change.

Windows' own icons (network, volume, battery and the clock) show Managed by Windows and can't be moved by any app. Windows remembers only the first tooltip each icon showed, so Read current names opens the ^ menu for a moment to read the current ones.

Clean mode and attention

Clean mode hides every app icon on the taskbar except Traytidy's, for presenting or streaming. Turn it on from the tray menu, the drawer, or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T. Choices you make while it's on are saved and applied when it ends. Quitting Traytidy ends Clean mode first, and after a crash it is undone the next time Traytidy starts.

With Settings › Attention, a dot appears on Traytidy's icon when an icon in the drawer changes, and that icon is labelled Changed at the top of the drawer. You can also show a changed icon on the taskbar for a few minutes.

Windows only draws a hidden icon while the ^ menu is open, so Traytidy notices a change the next time that menu opens, whether you open it or Traytidy does when you click an icon in the drawer.

Things Windows decides

• Moving icons, Clean mode and showing a changed icon for a while rely on Windows applying the setting. When it doesn't, Traytidy says so and guides you, rather than leaving things half done.
• Windows' own icons and the clock always stay.
• Hidden can't remove an icon from Windows' ^ list; Windows always keeps one.
• An icon owned by a program running in another session may not be found.

Keyboard shortcuts

These work from anywhere in Windows while Traytidy is running.

Trial and license

Traytidy is free to try for 14 days, with everything turned on. After that: The drawer keeps showing 5 icons. Attention and Clean mode pause, and an active Clean mode can still be turned off. Your choices are kept.

Entering your license key

1. Buy a license. Your key appears on screen as soon as the payment goes through, and arrives by email.
2. In Traytidy, open the License page in Settings.
3. Paste the key and choose Activate. The PC needs to be online for this step.

Using it on more than one PC

One key works on up to 3 PCs. To move it to a new PC, deactivate it on the old one from the License page first. If the old PC is gone, free up its place at Manage devices, using the email address you bought with or the key itself.

Once activated, Traytidy works offline. When it's online it checks the license about once a week, so a refunded or revoked key stops working on its next check.

Bought Traytidy in the Microsoft Store? The Store edition is licensed through your Microsoft account instead, and doesn't use a key.

Updates

To get the latest version, choose Check for updates in Traytidy. It asks before installing anything.

Each update is checked against a fingerprint (SHA-256) before it runs, and installs over the current version without touching your data. Updates for the Microsoft Store edition come through the Store.

See what’s new in each version.

Your data and uninstalling

Traytidy keeps its settings and data on your PC, in this folder (paste it into File Explorer’s address bar to open it):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Hedgerow\Traytidy

To back it up, quit Traytidy and copy that folder.

To uninstall, open Windows Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Traytidy and choose Uninstall. The uninstaller asks whether to remove your data too.

Still stuck?

Email support@hedgerowapps.com and we’ll get back to you. Mention your Traytidy version (shown in Settings › About) and your Windows version. More answers are on the support page.