My experience with Groupy 2

from Stardock Forums

I think that Groupy 2.0 is a great idea and I really want it to succeed.  But it has been very frustrating so far.  Sure, Groupy creates groups and these function as they should some of the time, but not all of the time.  For example, when one specifies that some application should automatically group all windows together, well, it does not happen all of the time.  Maybe it happens half of the time...I am not really sure.  MS Word, for example, should be able to include all windows within a group, but this is not happening most of the time.  I have the impression that some applications do not integrate well in the Groupy groups, causing others to malfunction and the group to disintegrate at some point.  I think that a number of Adobe apps (and especially Acrobat) fall in this group.  In addition, in some cases, accessing some parts of an application creates weird effects such as producing multiple windows and expanding the application to full screen.

In summary, a good idea but it needs much more work.  I think that Stardock has a winner here if it fixes its worst bugs.  I am willing to pay more for a well working Groupy, but the company must make it far more robust and error prone.

groupy
13,413 views 16 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need to know more on your system. Please review this guide and provide those information: https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1387954187/Contacting+Stardock+About+Groupy+Issues

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Well, my observations come from two systems

(a) Desktop - Win11 64 bit, CPU: i9 12th generation; GPU: RTX 2060 Super; Ram: 64 Gbl SSD: 2 TB Samsung 980 Pro - Main software: Microsoft 365 Business; Adobe Creative Suite

(b) Laptop (Lenovo X1 Extreme Gen5) - Win11 64bit; CPU: i7 12800H; GPU: RTX 3080; Ram 32 GB, SSD: 1Tb - Same Software as the Desktop

Both machines have the absolutely latest versions of Win11, Microsoft 365 Business, and Adobe Creative Suite. 

Both systems are protected by Norton 360 -  When I utilize a VPN, this is the latest version of NordVPN.  I usually do not do so when working from my home office

Let me know if you want additional details.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Windows full version number please.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Here it is (and it is the same in both systems)

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

When you said Word not automatically grouping upon open, do you have this option turn on for Winword.exe?

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

You have that turn on and yet Word not grouping upon open in the group? I can not reproduce this issue. Any specific way to reproduce the issue.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Well, I have an answer for you.  It does not work (and it ceases to work) when the File Explorer is called.  If you start the group from the "Saved Groups" folder, which requires you to run the File Explorer, then Groupy does not group new instances of the application in the same group.  I tried it twice and and the behavior is consistent, which indicates to me that it is a "good" bug that needs to be corrected.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Interesting, but, I can't reproduce your issue on my system. This are steps I take to try to reproduce your issue.

  1. Open 4 files of word document via Windows File explorer. They open one at a time and auto group itself as they should.
  2. Save that group into a new group.
  3. Navigate to "C:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Roaming\Groupy"
  4. Double click on that new saved ".groupy" file.
  5. Words open with all the file in a group as it setup to be.

If there is any step that is different than yours. Please let me know. If not maybe you will need to look into your system that might be blocking Groupy from doing its job. For example, if you have special Word extender app that installed which start itself up every time Word load etc.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

 

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

I followed your instructions but it did not make any difference.  If I use File Explorer to launch the saved groups, then they do not aggregate the new instances within the group.  This happens repeatedly and consistently in my system.  It is not just  Word, the same happens with Outlook and other programs that may create independent windows.  With Outlook, if I assemble the group manually, then the emails remain within the group; if not (when I used a saved group) then the emails open in individual windows outside the group.  This is absolutely consistent, so it much be a bug.

So, the problem is not just an add-on running within Word.  If that were the case, then Groupy would have failed to group items even when the groups were assembled manually.  But this is not the case.  When every group is assembled manually, everything works well.  So, something blocks specific elements of Groupy when one calls in "Saved Groups".   Obviously, the same can be said for all other utilities that run in my system.  They do not affect Groupy at all when the groups are manually assembled.

I am not sure what is different in your system.  My system is fully functional, all software is fully updated and everything is running fine (and speedily so).  Of course, I am sure that we do not have the same programs installed, so many subroutines would vary.  I suggest that you install Adobe's Creative Suite in your system, since it certainly introduces a number of running libraries that may affect the system.

In any case, this is a bug that you need to squash!!

 

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Yes, no doubt, we need to remedy the issue and try to find the root cause here. But, I am not sure if its from Groupy itself, since its not happening on my system and we don't see reports from others on this same issue. Surely there lots other Words user that also using Groupy out there.

Moving forward. First, please try purge and reinstall steps as mention here : [Link]. Just make sure to redownload the latest version from your account page. Reboot after the purge. Reinstall and reboot again after the installation. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting adretzios, reply 10

I followed your instructions but it did not make any difference.  If I use File Explorer to launch the saved groups, then they do not aggregate the new instances within the group.  This happens repeatedly and consistently in my system.  It is not just  Word, the same happens with Outlook and other programs that may create independent windows.  With Outlook, if I assemble the group manually, then the emails remain within the group; if not (when I used a saved group) then the emails open in individual windows outside the group.  This is absolutely consistent, so it much be a bug.

So, the problem is not just an add-on running within Word.  If that were the case, then Groupy would have failed to group items even when the groups were assembled manually.  But this is not the case.  When every group is assembled manually, everything works well.  So, something blocks specific elements of Groupy when one calls in "Saved Groups".   Obviously, the same can be said for all other utilities that run in my system.  They do not affect Groupy at all when the groups are manually assembled.

I am not sure what is different in your system.  My system is fully functional, all software is fully updated and everything is running fine (and speedily so).  Of course, I am sure that we do not have the same programs installed, so many subroutines would vary.  I suggest that you install Adobe's Creative Suite in your system, since it certainly introduces a number of running libraries that may affect the system.

In any case, this is a bug that you need to squash!!

 

I am a little unclear here.

Is the issue that the windows in the saved group are not grouping together OR is the problem that future Word windows are not also being grouped with those?

Note that saved groups require the app to tell Groupy how to reopen that window with that content in the future.  If it does not then Groupy can relaunch the app only without the content open in it.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

>But, I am not sure if its from Groupy itself, since its not happening on my system and we don't see reports from others on this same issue. Surely there lots other Words user that also using Groupy out there.

How many Word users open multiple windows?  I would say that only a small minority does.

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

>Is the issue that the windows in the saved group are not grouping together OR is the problem that future Word windows are not also being grouped with those?

It is that additional Word windows (and of other applications) are not being grouped together.  As I explained, everything works fine if I assemble the group manually, but not if I call it from the "Saved Groups"

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting adretzios, reply 14

>Is the issue that the windows in the saved group are not grouping together OR is the problem that future Word windows are not also being grouped with those?

It is that additional Word windows (and of other applications) are not being grouped together.  As I explained, everything works fine if I assemble the group manually, but not if I call it from the "Saved Groups"

It is normal for windows part of a saved group to not have other windows auto grouped with them.

A saved group will only contain those windows you saved in it.

Basically the highest priority rule is used to determine the group a window is put into.  A manual group has highest priority, then a saved group, then a custom rule or autogroup the same applications.

So further word windows opened would open in a new group together if you have it set to group all word windows together.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

>Basically the highest priority rule is used to determine the group a window is put into.  A manual group has highest priority, then a saved group, then a custom rule or autogroup the same applications.

Basically, what you are saying is that a recalled Saved Group would not incorporate new windows that its applications are generating.  Only a manual group would do so.  In both cases, the applications have been told to group all windows together into the same group.  So, if I interpret your post correctly, Groupy would disregard the "automatically group all X application windows together " option if the group has been recalled from "Saved Groups" .  Do I have this right?