Desktop Wrap


Desktop Icon Management for Tiger



Requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher


Important! Before you start manipulating your desktop icons with Desktop Wrap, you may want to save your current desktop icon positions.

If you are upgrading from a previous version and the new version crashes or does not perform as expected, try using the Delete Preferences application to remove the existing Desktop Wrap preferences file.

To do that after you've launched Desktop Wrap, just select "Individual Icon Positions" from the Login Item Options section in the lower right corner of Desktop Wrap's window, then click Save Desktop Icon Login Item or press command - s. An Applescript applet named DesktopWrapper for setting the current positions will be saved into the Scripts folder in your Home folder's Library folder. You should then move it to another location to prevent its being overwritten if you click that button again. You can remove the login item that was automatically created by clicking the Remove Login Item button.

The Remove Login Item button doesn't delete the Applescript applet file, it only removes it from the list of login items.

You can run this applet wherever it is located, but it is saved into the scripts folder to make it more easily available if you have installed the Applescript menu item (see the Applescript folder in the Applications folder for more information). If you need to save a unique desktop icon arrangement pattern, you can use this method to create it.



Version 1.5 includes these improvements.

1. Desktop Wrap has now been compiled as a universal binary to run natively on Intel Mac systems.



Version 1.4 includes these improvements.

1. Fixed a problem where an error message might be displayed on 10.4.3 systems.
2. More improvement for Add to Dock feature.
3. Added script application for removing old preference files.


Version 1.3 includes these improvements.

1. Checking for GUI scripting is implemented.
2. Add to Dock is more reliable.
3. Launching at login is more reliable.
4. Fixed a problem with an empty variable in the individual icon positionioning script that
    appeared if only one disk item existed on the desktop. This problem, which was fixed in
    version 1.1, had returned in version 1.2.

Version 1.2 includes several bug fixes.


Improvements in version 1.1

1. More of the calculations are made in the generated script (the script that is saved when you click "Save Desktop Icon Login Item") so that if you change displays or use it on another computer it will be more useful.

2. If two or more disks with identical names are mounted on the desktop, their icons are now more likely to be arranged correctly.

3. There is now an option for adding the Desktop Icon Login Item application to the dock when it is created.



Basic Use

Click the Save Icon Position Now button or press return to set your desktop icon arrangement to the current settings. Move the sliders and click the button again to determine your ideal icon settings. You can sort the arrangement of icons by using the controls available in the Sort Options area of Desktop Wrap's window.


Saving a Login Item

The Finder won't always allow your icon positions to be retained on startup, login, or anytime the Finder is relaunched. To overcome this limitation, Desktop Wrap can save an Applescript application (named "DesktopWrapper") and include it as a login item so that at login or startup time the icons can be returned to the positions assigned by you. The login item can be removed or deleted as explained above. Select Add to Dock to place the DesktopWrapper application in the Dock for easy access.

If you want to save the login item so that it arranges all of your desktop icons with the identical settings activated by the Save Icon Position Now button, select Icon Arrangement Settings from the pop-up menu in the Login Item Options area of Desktop Wrap's window (see screen shot above). If you need a specific arrangement of icons that can't be set with Desktop Wraps slider and sort options, simply place your icons manually on the desktop and select Individual Icon Positions from the pop-up as instructed above.

You can organize your desktop icons anytime either by opening Desktop Wrap and pressing return (if you prefer to organize using Desktop Wraps slider and sort settings) or by launching the DesktopWrapper applet created when you clicked the Save Desktop Icon Login Item button.

The Login Item Delay setting

If your login item quits before the desktop icon arrangement is completed at login or startup, you can increase the value for Login Item Delay to allow the action to successfully complete. Just increase the amount (displayed in seconds) and click the Save Login Item button again to replace the current DesktopWrapper login item applet with a newer version containing the new delay setting.





Desktop Wrap is freeware.

Enjoy!

Click here to download Desktop Wrap for OS X 10.4.

The Applescript page at the Mac Shack.


Updated 2/26/07
Laine Lee
E-Mail: llee@lonestar.utsa.edu