Desktop Icon Backup Manager

A powerful Windows application to save and restore your desktop icon positions with advanced features like automatic backups, system tray integration, and adaptive scaling for multi-monitor setups.

🌟 Features

Core Functionality

• 💾 Quick Backup: Save your desktop icon layout with a single click
• ↺ Restore Options: Restore from the latest backup or choose from a list of saved configurations
• 🏷️ Custom Tags: Add descriptive tags to your backups for easy identification
• 📊 Resolution Tracking: Automatically records screen resolution with each backup

Advanced Features

• 🖼️ Visual Layout Preview: See a mini-map of your icon arrangement before restoring
• 🔄 Adaptive Scaling: Automatically adjusts icon positions when restoring to different screen resolutions
• 🖥️ Multi-Monitor Support: Detects and handles multiple monitor configurations
• 🗑️ Smart Cleanup: Automatic deletion of old backups (configurable limits: 5, 10, 25, 50, or unlimited)
• ⚡ System Tray Integration: Run minimized in the background with quick access to save/restore

Automation

• Auto-Save on Exit: Automatically backup your layout when closing the application
• Auto-Restore on Startup: Automatically restore your layout when the application starts
• Background Operations: Non-blocking operations with progress indicators

User Experience

• Dark Theme Support: Adapts to your Windows theme preferences
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Ctrl+S for quick save, Ctrl+Q to exit
• Detailed Activity Log: Track all operations with timestamped entries
• Confirmation Dialogs: Prevent accidental overwrites or deletions

📋 Requirements

• Windows 10 or later
• Python 3.8+ (for running from source)
• Desktop icons must be visible (not hidden)

🚀 Installation

Option 1: Download Pre-compiled Executable (Recommended)

1. Download the latest DesktopIconBackupManager.exe from the Releases page
2. Extract in a folder
3. Run the executable - no installation required!

Option 2: Run from Source

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/mapi68/DesktopIconBackupManager.git
   cd DesktopIconBackupManager

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Run the application:

   python DesktopIconBackupManager.py

Dependencies

PyQt6
pywin32

📖 Usage Guide

Basic Operations

Saving Your Layout

1. Click "💾 SAVE QUICK BACKUP" for an instant backup with timestamp

Restoring Your Layout

1. Click "↺ RESTORE LATEST" to restore from the most recent backup
2. Or click "↺ BACKUP MANAGER" to choose from all available backups

Advanced Features

System Tray Usage

• Minimize to Tray: Close the window (when "Minimize to Tray" is enabled in Settings)
• Quick Actions: Right-click the tray icon for quick save/restore options
• Double-Click: Restore the main window

Settings Menu

Auto-Save/Auto-Restore

• ✅ Auto-Save on Exit: Automatically creates a backup when closing the app
• ✅ Auto-Restore on Startup: Automatically restores the latest backup on launch

Adaptive Scaling

• ✅ Enable Adaptive Scaling on Restore: Automatically adjusts icon positions when restoring to a different screen resolution
  • Example: Backup saved at 1920x1080 → Restored at 2560x1440

Backup Management

• Automatic Cleanup Limit: Choose how many backups to keep (5, 10, 25, 50, or unlimited)
• Oldest backups are automatically deleted when the limit is reached

Startup Behavior

• ✅ Start Minimized to Tray: Launch the app in the system tray

Window Behavior

• ✅ Minimize to Tray on Close: Hide to tray instead of closing when clicking 'X'

Backup File Format

Backups are stored in the icon_backups folder as JSON files with the format:

[Resolution]_[Timestamp].json
Example: 1920x1080_20240315_143022.json

Each backup contains:

• Icon positions (name and coordinates)
• Display metadata (resolution, monitor count)
• Custom description/tag
• Timestamp

⚙️ Configuration

Settings are automatically saved to settings.ini in the application directory:

[General]
auto_save_on_exit=true
auto_restore_on_startup=false
adaptive_scaling_enabled=true
cleanup_limit=10
start_minimized=false
close_to_tray=true

🔧 Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+S	Quick Save
Ctrl+Q	Exit Application

🐛 Troubleshooting

Icons not restoring correctly?

• Ensure desktop icons are visible (not hidden)
• Check that the Activity Log for any error messages
• Try disabling "Auto-arrange icons" in Windows desktop settings

Application won't start?

• Make sure no other instance is running
• Check that you have the required permissions
• Verify that desktop icons are enabled in Windows

Multi-monitor issues?

• Enable "Adaptive Scaling" in Settings for automatic position adjustment
• Note: Backup saves the configuration from the time it was created
• Restoring with different monitor setup may require manual adjustments

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

👤 Author

mapi68

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built with PyQt6 for the modern GUI
• Uses Win32 API for desktop icon manipulation
• Inspired by the need to preserve desktop layouts across resolution changes

📸 Screenshots

Main interface showing the activity log and three main action buttons

Backup Manager window with list of saved backups and layout preview

Confirmation dialog before restoring a backup

Desktop Icon Backup Manager featuring dark mode and Italian support

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Note: This application directly interacts with Windows desktop icon positions. Always keep recent backups before making system changes.