Fenceless

Fenceless is a Windows desktop organization tool for grouping files, folders, and live widgets into movable transparent containers called fences.

It is an improved fork of NoFences, renamed and expanded with a modern Settings window, widget fence types, global hotkeys, logging, backup support, and safer persistence.

Features

• Create movable desktop fences for files and folders
• Drag and drop items into organized groups
• Live Folder fences that mirror a real folder
• Running Tasks fences for active windows
• Clipboard History fences with optional image capture
• Transparency, auto-hide, shadow, border, color, icon size, and spacing controls
• Global keyboard shortcuts for common actions
• Search, sorting, context menus, and desktop-aware positioning
• Tray menu for adding fences, opening Settings, viewing logs, startup control, and exit
• Automatic saves, startup recovery backups, and JSON import/export
• In-app log viewer for debugging

What's New In v1.1.0.0

• Safer fence metadata saves with atomic writes and backup recovery
• Typed import validation and fence setting normalization
• Improved Settings window with a dense Fluent-style layout, Backup page, inline validation, and typed fence creation
• Hotkey conflict reporting for shortcuts already registered by Windows or another app
• Autosave now avoids overlapping saves and applies interval changes without restart
• Update checking now selects the highest parsed release version instead of trusting API ordering
• Expanded regression tests for parsing, layout, widget snapshots, import validation, and settings normalization

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• .NET 8 Desktop Runtime for portable builds

Download the runtime from Microsoft: .NET 8 Desktop Runtime

Installation

1. Download the latest portable release from Codeberg Releases.
2. Extract the archive to a folder you control, such as C:\Apps\Fenceless.
3. Run Fenceless.exe.
4. Use the tray icon to add fences, open Settings, view logs, or exit.

Fenceless stores user data under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Fenceless

Basic Usage

• Right-click the tray icon and choose Add Fence to create a new fence.
• Drag files or folders into a standard fence.
• Right-click a fence for fence-specific options.
• Open Settings from the tray icon to edit defaults, hotkeys, appearance, active fences, and backups.
• Use View Logs from the tray icon when diagnosing behavior.

Fence Types

Standard Fence : A manually managed group of files and folders.

Live Folder : Shows files and folders from a configured watch path. Supports recursion, filtering, and max item limits.

Running Tasks : Shows currently running windows/tasks with optional filtering and update interval controls.

Clipboard History : Shows recent clipboard entries and can capture images when enabled.

Default Hotkeys

Action	Shortcut
Toggle transparency	Ctrl+Alt+T
Toggle auto-hide	Ctrl+Alt+H
Show all fences	Ctrl+Alt+S
Create new fence	Ctrl+Alt+N
Open Settings	Ctrl+Alt+O
Toggle lock	Ctrl+Alt+L
Minimize all fences	Ctrl+Alt+M
Refresh fences	F5

Hotkeys can be changed or cleared in Settings. If Windows reports that a shortcut is already registered, Fenceless will keep running and show the conflict in Settings/logs.

Backups And Import/Export

Fenceless saves configuration in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Fenceless.

• App settings are saved to settings.json.
• Each fence has metadata under its own folder.
• Fence metadata writes are atomic and keep a recovery backup.
• On shutdown, Fenceless writes timestamped JSON backups under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Fenceless\backups

Use the Settings Backup page to export or import a portable JSON configuration.

Building From Source

Prerequisites:

• .NET 8 SDK
• Windows with Windows Forms support

Build:

dotnet build Fenceless.sln

Run tests:

dotnet run --project Fenceless.Tests\Fenceless.Tests.csproj

Release builds are self-contained according to the project configuration:

dotnet publish Fenceless\Fenceless.csproj -c Release

If Fenceless is already running from the debug output folder, close it before building in place. Windows will lock Fenceless.exe and Fenceless.dll while the app is running.

Troubleshooting

Hotkey already in use : Another app or Windows has registered the same shortcut. Change or clear the shortcut in Settings.

Build cannot copy Fenceless.exe or Fenceless.dll : Close the running Fenceless process, then build again.

Live Folder shows no items : Check that the watch path exists and that the file filter is not excluding everything.

Settings or fences do not persist : Open View Logs from the tray menu and check for file access errors under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Fenceless.

Project Structure

Fenceless/          Main WinForms application
Fenceless/Model/    Settings, fence models, providers, import/export
Fenceless/UI/       Settings window, themed controls, dialogs, widgets
Fenceless/Util/     Logging, autosave, hotkeys, startup, parsing, caching
Fenceless/Win32/    Windows integration helpers
Fenceless.Tests/    Lightweight console regression tests

Credits

• Original NoFences by Twometer
• Fenceless improvements by Damianttje / Wavestorm

License

See LICENSE.