# Palisades User Guide Welcome to the **Palisades** User Guide! Palisades is a modern desktop organizer and productivity suite designed to keep your Windows desktop clutter-free, stylized, and functional. --- ## ๐Ÿš€ Key Features * **Desktop Containers**: Organize your shortcuts, files, and programs into elegant, transparent, glassmorphic boxes. * **Folder Portals**: Mirror real folders on your drive directly on the desktop with real-time file system synchronization. * **Desktop Widget/Gadget Suite**: Add utility widgets like Post-it notes, stylized clocks, and system monitors (CPU/RAM). * **Desktop Overlay**: View, select, group, and drag your actual desktop icons on a modern canvas with snapping, locking, and multi-monitor layout persistence. * **Multi-Language Support**: Switch dynamically between **English** and **Franรงais** from the Dashboard. --- ## ๐Ÿ“ 1. Desktop Containers Palisades allows you to keep shortcuts tidy using customizable grid panels. ### Creating a Container 1. Open the **Palisades Dashboard** (or right-click the Palisades system tray icon). 2. Click **New +** (or **Nouveau +** in French) on the top bar or sidebar. 3. Select **Standard Container**. A new container will be placed on your desktop. 4. Alternatively, you can double-click on any empty area of the desktop overlay and draw a rectangle (rubber-band drag-to-create) to spawn a container. ### Managing Shortcuts * **Drag-and-Drop**: Drag files, folders, or executables directly from Windows Explorer or the desktop overlay into any container. * **Reordering**: Drag items inside a container to rearrange them. * **Sorting**: Click the Hamburger menu `โ˜ฐ` on the container header and select **Sort all** to sort items alphabetically, or configure **Auto-Sort Categories** in the Dashboard to automatically pull matching file types from the desktop. ### Container Settings & Customization Right-click a container header and choose **Edit Properties** to open the properties panel in the Dashboard. From here you can customize: * **Visual Theme**: Presets like *Glass, Dark, Midnight, Amber, Frost, Forest, or Plum*. * **Custom Colors**: Manually set custom background, border, header background, and text colors. * **Opacity**: Adjust background transparency when inactive or hovered. * **Borders & Corner Radius**: Toggle sharp or rounded corners and show/hide borders. * **Auto-Hide**: Collapse the container into a thin title bar when your mouse leaves, expanding instantly when hovered. * **Lock Position**: Prevent accidental dragging or resizing. --- ## ๐Ÿ”„ 2. Folder Portals Folder Portals are dynamic windows that display the live contents of a directory on your hard drive. ### Creating a Folder Portal 1. Click **New +** on the Dashboard. 2. Select **Folder Portal**. 3. Choose the directory you want to mirror in the folder selector. 4. Any files added, renamed, or deleted in that folder will reflect instantly on your desktop using Palisades' built-in file watcher. ### Changing Folders If you want to mirror a different folder: 1. Open **Edit Properties** for the portal. 2. Under the **Folder Portal** tab, click **Change Folder**. 3. Select the new path. --- ## ๐Ÿ“ 3. Post-it Notes & Widgets Palisades supports customizable notes and dashboard widgets to keep notes and stats handy. ### Post-it Notes * **Adding a Note**: Click **New +** -> **Post-it Note**. * **Editing Content**: Click inside the note and start typing. Notes auto-save every 5 seconds. * **Customizing Color**: Click the Hamburger menu `โ˜ฐ` inside the note, select **Color**, and choose a style. * **Font Size**: Change text size (Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, MAX) from the note menu. * **Moving & Resizing**: Drag by the header to move, or drag the bottom-right corner to resize. ### Clock Gadget * Stylized overlay clock displaying time. * Supports switching between **24-hour format** and **showing seconds**. * Custom text color presets (Ice Blue, Matrix Green, Cyber Red, White, Amber Orange). ### System Monitor * Real-time tracker for **CPU** and **Memory (RAM)** usage. * Adjustable refresh rates (from 0.5s up to 5.0s). --- ## ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ 4. Desktop Overlay & Icon Management Palisades has a built-in Desktop Service that hides the default Windows desktop icons and renders them inside its own overlay canvas. ### Hiding / Showing Desktop Icons * In the **App Settings** or from the system tray menu, you can toggle **Show Desktop Icons** / **Hide Desktop Icons**. * When hidden, Palisades takes over and displays unassigned desktop shortcuts on its overlay. ### Overlay Canvas Controls * **Selecting Items**: Click and drag a selection rectangle (rubber-band) on the empty desktop wallpaper to select multiple items. * **Group Drag**: Drag any selected icon to move the entire group. * **Snapping**: Icons automatically align to a virtual layout grid to keep alignment neat. Hold **Shift** while dragging to bypass snapping. * **Return to Desktop**: Right-click an icon on the overlay and use the context menu. --- ## ๐Ÿ“ธ 5. Snapshots & Configuration Backups If you configure your desktop layout across multiple monitors, resolutions, or setups, you can save the layout as a snapshot. * **Capture Snapshot**: In the **Snapshots** tab in the Dashboard, click **+ Capture**. Type a name and save. * **Auto-Snapshots**: Palisades automatically captures a snapshot when resolution changes (e.g. plugging/unplugging monitors). * **Restore/Delete**: Select any snapshot in the list to restore your layout instantly, or delete old records. * **Configuration Backup**: Under **App Settings**, use **Export Config** to save your entire workspace layout and notes to a `.json` file. Use **Import Config** to restore it on a new PC.