Fences 4 - Target-based sorting rules not working as expected

I recently made the switch to Windows 11 (21H2, build 22000.527) and Fences 4 (4.0.0.3), but the sorting rules don't seem to be behaving the same as they did with Windows 10 and Fences 3.

I've always had a rule that moves Steam games into their own fence by setting up the following

The link's target starts with steam:// and The icon's type is lnk, url Screenshot of rule

However this rule now seems to capturing everything. If a I make a shortcut to a PDF for example, the rule catches it, despite it very clearly starting with C:\, not steam://.

Is this some sort of known issue? And is there any current fix for the behavior?

22,204 views 6 replies
Reply #1 Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having issues. Hello,

I have forward your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Thanks

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 Top

Try this....

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #3 Top

These settings still aren't working correctly for me.

After some additional testing here is what I can detail:

  • Target contains "rungameid"
    • Seems that no shortcuts, folders, or other items are captured by the rule, period. Completely non-functional
    • Creating steam shortcut fails to organize
    • Creating new folder named "rungameid" fails to organize
    • Creating a local file shortcut to "C:\rungameid" fails to organize
  • Target starts with "steam://"
    • Also seems to be completely non-functional
    • Creating steam shortcut fails to organize
    • Manually creating a shortcut including "steam://" fails to organize
    • Unable to test with folders/files since ":" and "/" are illegal characters for file names
  • Target contains "rungameid" AND The Icon's type is "url"
    • Organizes all URL links regardless of content
    • Steam shortcuts do organize
    • A shortcut to target "https://google.com" is also picked up by the rule
    • A shortcut to a local folder like "C:\rungameid" is not sorted, presumably because it is a .lnk
  • Target starts with "steam://" AND The Icon's type is "url"
    • Organizes all URL links regardless of content
    • Steam shortcuts do organize
    • A shortcut to target "https://google.com" is also picked up by the rule
  • Target contains "rungameid" AND The Icon's type is "url" AND Target contains "rungameid"
    • By duplicating the first rule into the 3rd rule, sorting now behaves as expected
    • Creating steam shortcut organizes
    • Creating shortcut to "https://google.com" does not organize
    • Creating local file shortcut to "C:\rungameid" does not organize
    • Creating new fold named "rungameid" does not organize
  • Target starts with "steam://" AND The Icon's type is "url" AND Target starts with "steam://"
    • Overall nearly identical results to the other 3 rule sort.

 

At least from my testing, it seems that no matter what I do, the first rule is always ignored, and to get proper sorting I have to duplicate the first rule.

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Reply #4 Top

Quoting emeraldflame, reply 3

At least from my testing, it seems that no matter what I do, the first rule is always ignored, and to get proper sorting I have to duplicate the first rule.
End of emeraldflame's quote

After some testing on my own yesterday, I seem to have come to that same conclusion.. That 1st rule is the only item that should be needed and its not working like it should.

I have placed an internal ticket to have this looked at.

Internal ref: FEN-89

Thank you very much for the report and effort, emeraldflame.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

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Reply #5 Top

Just wanted to see if there was any update on this issue? Thanks!

Reply #6 Top

Quoting wlubetkin, reply 5

Just wanted to see if there was any update on this issue? Thanks!
End of wlubetkin's quote

Please see:

https://forums.stardock.com/512519/fences-40511-beta-feedback-thead

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager