App Properties

The App Properties window can be displayed for an app by double clicking the app in the main window's app list or by using the App Properties button in the toolbar.

App Data Size

The App Properties window displays the approximate size of the data and program settings the app stores in the system registry and under the Windows user app data folders. It is often useful to know if an app stores very large amounts of data in the registry and app data folders. If such an app is selected in App Briefcase's app list it then App Briefcase can take longer to start up and to exit because of the large amount of data that has to be copied between the Windows drive and the USB drive. When you check an app in the app list App Briefcase will warn you if that app has a large amount of data. The data size threshold used to trigger the warning can be adjusted in the Options window.

Privileged Data

The App Properties window also displays whether any of the app's data is in a portion of the system registry that can only be modified when running from an account with admin privileges. This information is useful if you sometimes plug your USB drive into a computer that only provides a user account with limited privileges rather than admin privileges. App Briefcase will not be able to set up the portion of an app's data that resides in the restricted area of the registry if the user account has limited privileges. In that case, the affected app is more likely to experience problems if you attempt to run it. Some apps will not run properly in that situation, and others will run fine.

Additional Folder Paths

Some apps store data in areas other the system registry or under the Windows user app data folders. You can add those folders to App Briefcase in the App Properties window. Note that only certain standard Windows folders, and their subfolders, may be added.

Some apps create a subfolder under the Windows My Documents folder. App Briefcase can not automatically find app folders under My Documents, but they can added via the App Properties window to ensure App Briefcase manages them with the rest of an app's data.

The Common Files folder is another folder sometimes used by apps to store files they need. On Windows XP, for example, this folder is found at C:\Program Files\Common Files. An app that uses the Common Files folder will create a subfolder there. If you select an app that uses a subfolder under the Common Files folder then you may need to add that subfolder via the App Properties window. However, it should be noted that Windows Vista and above will not allow App Briefcase to update any files in the Common Files folder if the Windows UAC feature is enabled. In that case, the app in question probably not run correctly unless it has been installed on that computer.

Notes

You can add notes for a selected app in the App Properties window. Any notes you add are strictly for your own use, they are not used by App Briefcase. You might use this feature to note any special steps required to make an app run properly as a portable app. Or, you might note circumstances for which the app will not run properly.