Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Benjamin Betz

Patrice Lynn Miner

Stephan Hoefnagels

Rebecca J Deutsch

David George De Vorchik

Timothy P McKee

Chris J Guzak

Christopher J Guzak

Relja Ivanovic

Daniel Oliver

Lyon King-Fook Wong

Marina Dukhon

Brandon H Paddock

Varun Bahl

Jeffrey S Miller

Andrew Jennings

Ramaswamy Krishnan-Chittur

Paul Alexander Gusmorino, Iii

Robert J Jarrett

Chaitanya Dev Sareen

John Michael Sheehan

Michael Jay Gilmore

Bret P Anderson

Jason Fergus Moore

Colin Ray Anthony

Richard Malcolm Banks

Tyler Kien Beam

Rolf Arnold Ebeling

Giampiero M Sierra

Marieke Iwema Watson

Kenneth Martin Tubbs

Elliot H Omiya

Scott David Hoogerwerf

Christopher Scott Dickens

Paul Cutsinger

Scott E Dart

Ahsan Syed Kabir

Rodger William Benson

Jeffrey C Belt

Timothy R Sullivan

Sasanka Chalivendra

Arun Gurunathan

Donna B Andrews

Aidan N Low

Jason R Olson

Aryeh N Polsky

Brendan M Dohm

Matthew Merry

Gerald Paul Joyce

Alex D Wade

Ian H Kim

Lyon F K Wong

A computer application launcher can be displayed. In response to receiving a first user input associated with the launcher while a computer application indicated by the launcher is not running, a destination list can be displayed. The destination list can include one or more destinations indicating one or more items that can be performed by a computer application. In response to a second user input associated with the destination list and indicating selection of a destination on the destination list, the application can be launched and instructed to perform an item indicated by the selected destination.

Destination list associated with an application launcher

This document describes techniques and apparatuses enabling an application-launching interface for multiple modes. This interface enables a user to quickly and easily select to launch applications associated with different modes. A user may avoid wading through multiple interfaces, making multiple selections, and/or a cognitive load associated with deciding on a mode with which to interact.

Application-launching interface for multiple modes

Techniques for application activation are described herein. An operating system (OS) can be configured to incorporate various extension points that are serviceable through contracts defining individual invocations of extensible functionality. The extensible functionality is integrated as part of the OS and controlled by the OS in a centralized manner. However, the specific implementations of the extensible functionally are offloaded to applications using the contracts. For example, the OS can include or otherwise make use of a centralized application activation component that employs an object-oriented approach to invoke applications to perform particular contracts. The application activation component can pass information describing a particular contract to activate a designated application and enable the application to service the contract in the manner specified by the OS. In this way, the manner in which contracts are handled by application code can be managed and coordinated through a centralized application activation component.

Application activation framework

Techniques for modes for applications are described. In one or more implementations, multiple operational modes are provided for an application. The operational modes can be associated with different resource access permissions, trust statuses, graphical user interfaces, and so on. An application can be launched in a particular one of the operational modes based on a context in which a request to launch the application is received. In one or more implementations, correlations between launch request contexts for an application and operational modes can be configured to enable different launch requests to cause an application to launch into different operational modes.

Modes for applications

File management user interface techniques are described. In one or more implementations, properties of a file are displayed in a user interface by a computing device. In response to selection of a particular one of the properties in the user interface, one or more representations of one or more other files that include a corresponding value of the particular property are displayed, respectively, of the file.

File management user interface

Methods and systems providing a user interface control allowing a user to specify a scope of items on a computer system or network is disclosed. Certain aspects provide an input control through which a user can specify an explicit scope, or range, of items, while also identifying explicit exclusions from the specified scope, thereby reducing ambiguity regarding identification of items included and items excluded from the scope. When a user explicitly selects an item for inclusion in the scope, the explicitly selected item is added to the scope definition, and all descendants of the explicitly selected item are implicitly selected for inclusion. When a user explicitly selects an item for exclusion from the scope, the explicitly selected item is added to the scope definition as an exclusion from an explicitly included item, and all descendants of the explicitly selected item are implicitly selected for exclusion.

Computer input control for specifying scope with explicit exclusions

Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system, and media for intelligently presenting buttons that correspond to running windows as well as a set of application launchers that launch instances of software applications. One version of the method includes receiving an indication that an instance of a software application has been invoked by a launching mechanism, which leads to creating a windowed process in which to present the instance of the software application; determining that at least one of the application launchers was the launching mechanism; automatically removing the launcher(s) from view; and presenting a button that corresponds to the windowed process.

Unifying application launchers and switchers

The present invention provides a computer method and system for querying or searching for at least one data file corresponding to a query definition. A first query is received which may provide a query definition that may be used as a scope of search for a second query. Modifications of the scope of search based on modification of the first query may be automatically reflected in the scope of search for the second query. The scope of search for the second query may further be a combination of a plurality of scopes based on a plurality of user-defined queries.

Query composition incorporating by reference a query definition

A file system shell is provided. One aspect of the shell provides virtual folders which expose regular files and folders to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. Users are able to work with the virtual folders through direct manipulation (e.g., clicking and dragging, copying, pasting, etc.). Filters are provided for narrowing down sets of items. Quick links are provided which can be clicked on to generate useful views of the sets of items. Libraries are provided which consist of large groups of usable types of items that can be associated together, along with functions and tools related to the items. A virtual address bar is provided which comprises a plurality of segments, each segment corresponding to a filter for selecting content. A shell browser is provided with which users can readily identify an item based on the metadata associated with that item. An object previewer in a shell browser is provided which is configured to display a plurality of items representing multiple item types.

User interface for a file system shell

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Benjamin Betz