A configurable path where Fences stores settings (currently in AppData), making it easier to backup in case of a system crash requiring a Windows re-installation.

Could you post links to the forum threads of such issues?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Someone at Stardock needs to put a list of what has or has not made the cut for v4 - if they're still taking suggestions/requests ~2 years after opening this thread, the likeliness of them releasing anything in the next few years I would put at virtually zero.  I would guess that many have just lost interest with such a massive delay.

I have not purchased fences for my new computer because I don't want to be stuck with a product with 14 pages of complaints about it (obv. many are redundant).   If they guarantee that a purchase of v3 now will get upgraded to v4 for free, I may consider suffering through a few of the issues, but I'm not going to purchase it in the current state if the issues raised here are not going to be fixed.

It would be better deleted than left open implying that they're still taking suggestions for a product that may or may not release in the next few years.

I appreciate your reading all of the posts, that's great, but is Stardock any closer to giving us a release date on v4 today than at the end of 2019?  

Honestly, the list of issues over the past 14 pages doesn't need to be summarized by me or anyone else - you all need to provide a release date and list of items that made the list - otherwise, it's a shopping list that will never get fulfilled in your paying customers eyes.  You can keep developing the best, most amazing, feature rich  software in the world, but if you never release it, nobody cares......

I am not asking for a summary of the feature requests \ issues, brettwut, however, if you are going to make this claim:

We want to know what your specific issues are - what Fences failures are preventing you from purchasing.  What is your top 3 if that helps - what top three product failures prevent you from purchasing Fences 3?

As always, your feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

This has probably been mentioned by others but literally the only thing I want changed is the ability to put a fence flush with the top of the screen and not have the stupid header flip to the bottom.  Either just get rid of that behaviour entirely (no clue why it does that, it isn't consistent with anything else in the application) or give me a toggle to prevent autoflip or to keep the header at the top/bottom on a global or per-fence basis.  I really don't care how it's implemented and I can't imagine it'd be particularly taxing from a programmer standpoint.

The official customer support response to keep the top fence a few pixels below the top of the screen to avoid this was fine as a workaround 3+ years ago but at this point it's getting silly that this still hasn't been addressed.

As a new Fences user, I would love to be able to:

1. Set a global default view preference for Folder Portals (or take the one already set in Windows Explorer).  For example, I should be able to have all Folder Portals use Details view, without setting it explicitly in every subfolder.

2. Select multiple fences and drag them together to move them around my desktop.

3. Turn off the behaviour where rolled-up fences unroll if you mouse over the title bar.  I want them to stay rolled-up unless I double click them!

4. Align more consistently to a grid when resizing.  You can set a fence to "even multiples of icons when resizing", which is useful, but doesn't work for Folder Portals that are set to a non-icon based view.

5. Allow fences to be "stacked".  For example, in this screenshot the ideal would be that if you unrolled the "Files & Documents" fence, the "Programs" fence would shift downwards, rather than being obscured by the unrolled "Files & Documents".

Decided to uninstall fences today.

It's by far one of the worse thing my PC has on it. Every time I'm using fences it feels like my pc has been smoking a pack of cigarette everyday. Depending on the pc, its a buggy mess and always has been. Every feature asked or so are never being taken into consideration. It slows down even the mightiest pc, I stopped recommending the software to people around me. I thought DDR4 would resolve or at least minimise the harshness it has on the system but no. 

I would greatly suggest people to keep a minimalistic desktop and in the worst case keep documents on the desktop (that act like those fences)

No, using fences is not faster, especially when you take into consideration that it slows everything else.

It felt nice at first, but it has come to a time that I have to accept the fact that this humble bundle find was in fact a desperate attempt to keep the software alive. 

Already thinking about fence 4 when Fence 3 is now being abandoned by more and more fans. 

You see people recommending that on tiktok or other platform, yet every single comment on those will be negative and won't recommend the  software.

Enough is enough lol.

Currently, in Fences 3, when I click on a folder portal to bring it to focus, and create a new folder using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + N, the folder is created on the desktop instead of in the portal. I have to manually move the newly created folder onto the portal which defeats the whole purpose. Can you change this in Fences 4 so that anything new created via keyboard shortcuts goes into the focused folder portal or fence. Thank you!

Thread became 2 years, still going strong.       I take bets that it will be going into it's fourth year with nothing happening.

Work on what will become Fences v4 is going.  It's slow going so we have no ETA on it.

Fundamentally, what we experience not just with Fences but across all our apps is a lack of available engineers who can do this sort of development.

Even Microsoft struggles to do OS level UX updates effectively.  Some of you may have heard of the Sets debacle.  It was Microsoft's equivalent to Groupy.   There just aren't that many developers these days who can do this kind of thing.  

"Back in the day"

This might be hard to believe but at one time, WindowBlinds, our most complex desktop enhancement didn't use have one competitor, it had TWO: eFX and Chroma.  Now, it literally has none.  Even Microsoft gave up on the uxtheme thing some years ago.  

Microsoft was able to steal some of our engineers.  The whole Windows compositor tech that allows for high DPI was led by a former Stardockian for instance.

So when you get into Fences, it's the same sort of thing.  Our lead on Fences has a lot on his plate and if we can just get more engineers, we could progress more quickly.

But in the meantime, we are paying attention to this thread and prioritizing what should go in.  

Cheers!