Get comfortable with DeskRipple in a few minutes.

What is DeskRipple?

DeskRipple puts folder icons right on your desktop — behind your windows, like real desktop icons — and each one expands into a panel of shortcuts when you point at it or click it. It runs on Windows 10 and 11.

Think of each folder as a drawer that takes up a single icon until you reach for it, then fans open, then tucks away again. It's a way to clear desktop clutter without burying anything in a Start-menu folder.

First things to know

Three things clear up almost every "wait, what?" moment for a new user:

The tray right-click menu has Open Manager, Send feedback, your profiles and Manage profiles…, Open Shortcuts Folder, and Exit. And on first launch you'll accept the beta terms (I Agree) — anonymous diagnostics stay off unless you turn them on.

Quick start — your first minute

1. Find the Getting Started folder icon on your desktop (near the upper-left).
2. Point at it to open the panel. (New installs open on hover — you can switch to click in Settings.)
3. Click any shortcut inside to launch it.
4. Drag a shortcut from your desktop onto the folder to add it. Heads-up: this tidies it off your desktop — nothing is lost. Details →
5. Want more folders? Double-click the tray icon to open the Manager, then choose New folder.

That's the whole loop. The Getting Started folder is a completely normal folder — rename it, fill it, or delete it; it never comes back on its own. Right-click any folder for Edit folder, Rename..., Change icon..., and more.

Where did my desktop shortcut go?

The one behavior most worth understanding up front — and the good news is nothing is ever lost.

• Put it back: removing the shortcut from DeskRipple returns the original to your desktop.
• Keep it in the folder and on the desktop: right-click the shortcut → Restore original to desktop.
• Uninstalling restores everything to the desktop automatically.
• See the archive anytime: tray menu or Settings → Open Shortcuts Folder.

Prefer to keep originals in place? In Settings, set When I add a shortcut from my desktop to Copy it (keep the original on my desktop).

This only applies to drags from the desktop itself. Dragging from an Explorer window always leaves the source file exactly where it was.

Cheat sheet

The whole interaction model at a glance — the details are in the sections below.

Opening, launching, and closing folders

How a folder opens is set by Open folders with in Settings:

• Hover (the default) — point at the folder and the panel opens after the Delay before opening.
• Click — a single click toggles the panel open and closed.

Closing has one subtlety worth knowing, controlled by Close when the mouse leaves the panel (a Click-mode option):

• On — the panel closes shortly after the cursor leaves it (after the Delay before closing).
• Off — panels stay open and other windows can cover them. Click the panel to bring it back to the front, and click the folder icon again to close it.

Only one folder open at a time (on by default) makes opening one folder close any other.

To launch something, single-click its shortcut in the panel.

Add shortcuts to a folder

Drag something onto the closed folder icon, or into the open panel — the panel previews where the new item will land as you hover. (Remember: dragging off the desktop moves the original into safekeeping by default.)

What you can drag in: desktop shortcuts (.lnk), web links (.url), files and apps from the desktop or an Explorer window, and Microsoft Store apps.

Prefer not to drag? Open the Manager, pick the folder, and use Add shortcut to choose a file.

Organize shortcuts

• Reorder inside a folder: drag a shortcut to a new slot. A live preview shows the layout before you drop.
• Drag out onto the desktop: the shortcut leaves the folder and lands on the desktop. If it had an archived original, that original comes back (web links return as real .url files, not broken copies).
• Remove: right-click → Remove from folder, or the ✕ next to it in the Manager. Any archived original returns to your desktop.

The shortcut right-click menu: Open · Open file location · Restore original to desktop (only when there's an archived original) · Remove from folder · Properties.

Your folders on the desktop

• Move a folder: drag the icon (with the default Hold before dragging set to Instant, it drags right away; raise that setting if you'd rather hold briefly first). It snaps to the desktop icon grid and works across monitors.
• Move desktop icons out of the way: with this setting on (the default), dropping a DeskRipple folder on a spot that's already taken nudges the native desktop icon to the nearest free cell.
• Icon size is automatic. DeskRipple matches your desktop icon size — including live Ctrl+scroll resizes and display-scaling changes — so there's deliberately no size slider.

The folder right-click menu: Edit folder · Expand style · Rename... · Change icon... · Delete folder · DeskRipple settings.

Change icon... accepts .ico, .lnk, and .exe — point it at any app to borrow that app's icon. Deleting a folder returns any archived desktop originals to your desktop.

The Manager

The Manager is DeskRipple's control panel — the one window where you create folders, edit them, and change settings. Open it by double-clicking the tray icon, from the tray menu's Open Manager, by right-clicking a folder → DeskRipple settings or Edit folder, or just by launching DeskRipple again while it's already running.

Inside you'll find:

• New folder — creates a folder and drops it on a free desktop cell near the top-left.
• The folder editor — a folder's Name, icon, Expand style, Double-click action, and its Shortcuts list (add or ✕ to remove).
• Settings and Profiles pages (below).
• The footer shows the version and a Send feedback link.

Expand styles

Each folder opens in the style you choose for it — from the folder editor's dropdown, or by right-clicking the folder → Expand style:

• Grid — icons fly out into a tidy grid (the default).
• Fan — an arc around the folder.
• Column — a vertical strip that wraps into more columns.
• Row — a horizontal strip that wraps into more rows.
• Ring — a full circle around the folder.

Big folders scroll — see Max columns and Max rows in Settings.

Settings reference

Open Settings from the Manager (or right-click a folder → DeskRipple settings). Most settings belong to the current profile and switch with it; a couple apply to the whole install and are marked All profiles (that label only appears once you have more than one profile).

• Open folders with — Hover or Click. Hover reveals Delay before opening; Click reveals Close when the mouse leaves the panel and Only one folder open at a time.
• Panel background — slide from Clear (see-through) to Solid.
• When I add a shortcut from my desktop — Move or Copy, plus an Open Shortcuts Folder button. See Where did my desktop shortcut go?
• Start DeskRipple when you sign in to Windows All profiles — on by default.

Timing & animation

• Delay before closing — how long a panel waits after the cursor leaves before it closes.
• Hold before dragging — how long to hold the mouse button before a folder or shortcut starts to drag (default Instant). Clicks still work either way.
• Animation speed — how fast panels open and close.

Panel layout

• Max columns / Max rows — caps on the panel grid; the panel scrolls to show items beyond the limits.

Desktop behavior

• Highlight folder icons on hover — a subtle highlight behind a folder icon, like native desktop icons (on by default).
• Move desktop icons out of the way — native icons hop aside when a folder lands on their cell.
• Restore expanded folders after restart — folders that were open when DeskRipple closed re-open next start.

Privacy & diagnostics All profiles

• Send anonymous usage diagnostics — off by default. See Privacy & your data.

Profiles

A profile is a named desktop setup — say Work, Home, or Streaming. Exactly one is active at a time, and switching swaps every folder in place, instantly, with no restart.

• Manage them in the Manager → Profiles: create, clone, rename, and delete (up to 10). The active profile and the last remaining one can't be deleted.
• Switch quickly from the tray menu — your profiles are listed there, with a ✓ on the active one.
• Clone copies a profile's folders and settings, but not its archived desktop originals.
• Power users: launch DeskRipple with --profile <name> to switch from a desktop shortcut or script.

Privacy & your data

Everything stays on your machine. If you opt in (it's off by default), DeskRipple sends one anonymous daily summary — no names, files, or personal data, just aggregate counts. The full field list lives in the privacy policy.

• The app also checks for updates automatically (see Updates & versions). There are no accounts, no ads, and nothing is sold.
• Where your data lives: %APPDATA%\DeskRipple — including each profile's Desktop Shortcuts folder that holds your archived desktop originals.
• Moving to a new PC: install DeskRipple, then copy your %APPDATA%\DeskRipple folder over — it re-links your folders and settings on the next launch. During the beta, give your folders a quick check afterward.

Updates & versions

• Updates download in the background and install when the app is idle (nothing you're doing gets interrupted).
• Turn automatic updates off in the About dialog → Install updates automatically.
• Find your version in the Manager footer or the About dialog. After an update, a small tray balloon confirms the new version.

The beta

• DeskRipple is free during the beta. This build stops working after September 1, 2026 — the app will tell you and point you to the newer build. (With automatic updates on, you'll already be on the latest one.)
• When it leaves beta, DeskRipple becomes a one-time purchase — not a subscription — and beta testers get a founder discount.
• Feedback is the whole point of a beta. Every Send feedback button prefills your version, OS, and display scale, so a useful report takes zero effort.

Troubleshooting

My desktop shortcut disappeared after I dragged it in

That's the default Move behavior — the original is safe in the Desktop Shortcuts folder and comes right back when you remove the shortcut. Full details: Where did my desktop shortcut go?

A folder won't open when I point at it

Check Open folders with and the Delay before opening in Settings, try clicking it, or restart DeskRipple from the tray (right-click → Exit, then relaunch).

Panels or icons look wrong after changing display scale or desktop icon size

DeskRipple re-adjusts itself within a couple of seconds. If it sticks, restart the app.

The folder icons vanished

Usually an Explorer crash or restart — it recovers on its own. If not, tray → Exit and relaunch. If the tray icon is gone too, relaunch DeskRipple from the Start menu.

I can't find the tray icon

On Windows 11 it's likely in the ^ overflow near the clock — drag it onto the taskbar to keep it visible.

A shortcut has a blank or wrong icon

The icon comes from the target. If the target moved, remove and re-add the shortcut — or, for a folder's own icon, right-click the folder → Change icon...

It crashed, or I found a bug

Open the About dialog and use Open logs folder and Send last crash report, then Send feedback — the form prefills your version, OS, and display scale.

Still stuck? The feedback form is the best way to send a useful bug report. You can also email support@deskripple.com.

FAQ