Taskbar Icon Intermittently Missing After Explorer Restart

[dhruv-sherathia]

Description

QuickLook runs normally in the background, but its system tray icon does not reliably reappear after Windows Explorer is restarted. The app continues functioning (spacebar previews still work), but the tray icon is missing from the taskbar overflow area.

This makes it difficult to access QuickLook’s settings or exit the application without manually terminating the process.

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Expected Behavior

The QuickLook tray icon should consistently re-register itself and remain visible in the taskbar overflow area, even after:

• Explorer.exe restarts
• Taskbar reloads
• System tray refreshes

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Actual Behavior

• QuickLook continues running in the background
• Spacebar preview still works
• Tray icon disappears from the system tray overflow
• Icon does not return until QuickLook.exe is manually restarted

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Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch QuickLook
2. Confirm the tray icon is visible
3. Restart Windows Explorer
   • Task Manager → Restart Explorer
   • or taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F then run explorer.exe
4. Observe that the QuickLook tray icon does not reappear
5. QuickLook must be manually restarted to restore the icon

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Technical Notes

This behavior suggests QuickLook may not be handling the TaskbarCreated broadcast message, which Windows sends after Explorer restarts. Apps that do not re-register their tray icons on this event will lose their presence in the system tray.

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Additional Context

This issue affects usability because the tray icon is the primary entry point for:

• Settings
• Plugin management
• Exiting the app
• Checking running status

A persistent tray icon is expected for background utilities like QuickLook.

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[emako]

This is a good issue that I'll fix in the upstream repo.

[dhruv-sherathia]

This is a good issue that I'll fix in the upstream repo.

Awesome, Thanks!