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Quick Start Applications Folder

It may be convenient for the organization's users to have a few commonly-used applications pinned to the launcher's Home screen, especially if users must otherwise swipe through multiple pages of apps. The Quick Start Applications Folder is a feature available in BlueFletch Launcher v3.13.9 and above which provides this capability.

Like the Favorites application bar on a standard Android launcher, the Quick Start Folder is displayed at the bottom of the Home screen, and remains pinned while the user swipes horizontally across their list of applications. The number of applications stored in the Quick Start Folder is equal to the number of columns of apps per page plus one. So, on a device that defaults to 3 columns of apps per page, as pictured, there are a maximum of 4 apps visible in the Quick Start Folder.

The launcher configuration settings relevant to this feature are the boolean quickStartFolder in a folder object and the string quickStartIconSize in the layoutSettings obejct.

  • quickStartFolder, when set to true, identifies its folder as the Quick Start Applications Folder. The folder can hold applications, shortcuts, and other folders. The Quick Start Folder can within any layout group will apply to that group only (e.g. if inside an "Associates" group, will only apply to layouts that include "Associates"). Only one Quick Start Folder can be displayed on a Home screen, so if multiple folders in a group have this setting as true, the launcher will show the first one listed.

  • quickStartIconSize defines whether the Quick Start Folder's icons will be the same size as the rest of the icons or smaller. When undefined, this setting defaults to the standard icon size; if the value is set as "small", then the Quick Start Folder icons will be smaller than the rest.

The built-in Search bar (activateSearchBar in Settings object) is deprecated in Launcher v3.13.9, but it can be included as an application object in the Quick Start Folder. For example:

"AssociateApps": [

    ...

    {
        "label": "Quick Start Tools",
        "quickStartFolder": true,
        "contents": [

            ...

            {
                "package": "com.bluefletch.launcher",
                "activity": "com.bluefletch.baselauncher.search.SearchActivity",
                "label": "Search"
            }
        ]
    }
]

An administrator with permission to manage launcher configurations can define these settings on the Enterprise Launcher Configurations page in the BlueFletch Portal, or the change can be made directly to the launcher.json file in whatever editor the organization prefers and pushed to all relevant devices.