Explobar: Fixing That Surprisingly Annoying Friction in Windows Explorer

Source: Dev.to

The Problem with Windows Explorer

If you do most of your work in a terminal, this may feel only mildly relevant.
But if your day often starts in Windows Explorer, the gap between browsing files and acting on them can be surprisingly clumsy.

You open a folder, inspect files, jump between project directories, right‑click things, copy paths, open terminals, launch editors, and repeat the same small rituals dozens of times a day. None of these steps is difficult on its own, but together they quietly drain momentum.

Explorer makes these actions possible, but not fluid. The typical workflow involves many repetitive steps:

• Open Terminal
• Copy path
• Paste path
• Launch an editor
• Run a helper script
• Open properties, etc.

Why Existing Extensions Fell Short

Tools like QTTabBar once made Explorer genuinely usable for power users and developers. They proved that Explorer could become far more productive with the right extensions.

However, Windows changed the Explorer hosting model (especially around Windows 11), breaking the assumptions those extensions depended on. What used to be a powerful extension point turned into a fragile maintenance problem. This isn’t a criticism of QTTabBar; it’s simply a recognition that the platform moved on.

If you already live in a terminal, the problem is almost irrelevant—shell users have fast navigation, aliases, scripts, history, fuzzy finders, editor integration, and automation built into their workflow. Explobar is not trying to replace that world.

Introducing Explobar

Explobar adds a keyboard‑driven toolbar to Windows Explorer. When triggered, a toolbar appears right where you are working, aware of the current folder and selected files. From there you can:

• Launch apps
• Run custom commands
• Open recent locations
• Trigger built‑in file actions
• Wire in your own automation

How It Differs from Traditional Shell Extensions

• Focused toolbar vs. overloaded context menus.
• User‑defined actions instead of competing with hundreds of third‑party entries.
• Standalone, zero‑dependency app running outside the Explorer process, making it resilient to internal Explorer changes.

How Explobar Works

The toolbar is defined by a declarative config file (YAML). A simple configuration can provide buttons for Terminal, Notepad, recent folders, or file actions, removing a lot of friction.

For more advanced scenarios—e.g., calculating hashes for selected files—you can attach custom logic via a small .NET assembly or even a single C# .cs file.

Key Benefits

• Easy to start – minimal setup.
• Fast to adapt – change actions by editing the config.
• Powerful if needed – extend with custom code.

Who Should Use Explobar

• Developers who work on Windows and still use Explorer as a normal starting point.
• Users who often launch tools from folders or file selections.
• Anyone who wants less context‑switching between browsing and doing.

If your workflow already begins and ends in PowerShell, Bash, or Windows Terminal, the benefit may be limited. But if you regularly start in Explorer, Explobar can significantly streamline your day.

Installation

The project is on GitHub:

Install on Windows via winget:

winget install explobar