Position-ExplorerWindow

Opens, resizes, and arranges multiple Explorer windows at specified paths in a grid fashion to fit a screen, or multiple screens.

Install

Open powershell or pwsh and type:

Install-Module -Name Position-ExplorerWindow -Repository PSGallery -Scope CurrentUser -Verbose

If prompted to trust the repository, hit Y and enter.

Usage

Import-Module Position-ExplorerWindow

# Simply use -ModeEasy with a list of -Paths
Position-ExplorerWindow -ModeEasy -Paths 'C:/path/to/folder1', 'C:/path/to/folder2', 'C:/path/to/folder3', 'C:/path/to/folder4'

Usage (advanced)

Import-Module Position-ExplorerWindow

# Configure to your liking
$params = @{
    'Paths' = 'C:/path/to/folder1', 'C:/path/to/folder2', 'C:/path/to/folder3', 'C:/path/to/folder4', 'D:/path/to/folder1', 'D:/path/to/folder2', 'D:/path/to/folder3', 'D:/path/to/folder4'
    'DestinationScreenWidth' = 1920
    'DestinationScreenHeight' = 1080
    'DestinationMonitor' = 'M'
    'Rows' = 4
    'Cols' = 2
    'OffsetLeft' = 0
    'OffsetTop' = 0
    'Flow' = 'Y'
}
# Call with params splatting
Position-ExplorerWindow @params

Use Get-Help Position-ExplorerWindow -Detailed to see many good examples.

FAQ

Q: System requirements?

• Windows 7 and up
• Powershell v2

Q: I want to open multiple sets of windows quickly. How do I do that?

Simply make a copy of the usage script above for each set of Explorer windows you want to open. Configure each script with a set of Paths. Keep the scripts on your Desktop. You can now easily run those scripts, by right-clicking and selecting Run with Powershell.

Alternatively, as seen in this demo, you can pin Powershell onto your Taskbar, then pin your scripts by dragging and dropping over the Powershell on the Taskbar. Now you can easily run them by right-clicking on Powershell, and clicking the script.

Q: Help! the Taskbar is overlapping some of my Explorer windows!

You are probably an advanced user, and are not using -ModeEasy. A Taskbar with a single row of icons is often 40 pixels high (if at top or bottom) or 62 pixels wide (if at left or right). So:

• If your Taskbar is on the bottom, reduce the -DestinationScreenHeight by 40.
  
• If your Taskbar is on the top, reduce the -DestinationScreenHeight by 40, and increase -OffsetTop by 40.
  
• If your Taskbar is on the left, reduce the -DestinationScreenWidth by 62, and increase -OffsetLeft by 62.
  
• If your Taskbar is on the right, reduce the -DestinationScreenWidth by 62, and reduce -OffsetLeft by 62.

p.s. If your Taskbar is has two or more rows of icons, then change the above by multiples of 40 or 62.

Q: Why are there gaps between windows?

It's likely you have Windows Aero active, since it is turned on by default on Windows 7 and above. When Aero is active, a window's dimensions includes window borders and shadow effects. Aero theme makes shadow regions around a window transparent, hence creating "gaps".

Background

An Explorer window cannot be opened at a specified coordinate on the screen through its command line. Because the author could not find any working solution that could conveniently open multiple Explorer windows in specified folders arranged in a predictable and orderly fashion on the screen, there had to be a tool that could do this.