Fences History

October 2009

Stardock released the 1.0 version of the highly anticipated Fences for Windows PCs. The 1.0 version was free and offered users the ability to organize and customize the way their desktop icons and folders were displayed by allowing users to "draw" labeled shaded areas on the desktop, which become movable and resizable containers for any desktop icon.

December 2009

Stardock releases Fences Pro as a follow-up to the freeware version released a few months before. Fences Pro adds a number of compelling new features to give users more control over their desktop icons. These features include:

• Having a default fence automatically pick up new icons as they get added to your desktop
• Automatically organize icons by file type, name, size and more
• Have fences and their contents be semi-transparent until mouse-over.

October 2012

Fences 2.0 was made available after a beta period with Object Desktop members. Fences 2.0 was consolidated into one version and offered several new features including:

• Folder Portals: View and organize the contents of any folder as a fence on your desktop.
• Desktop Pages: Multiple pages of Fences accessed via mouse swipe.

April 2013

Fences 2.1 released with several new features including:

• Persistent fences (and their icons) across pages
• Network drive connection detection.
• Page indicator. Skinnable via editing graphics in Images folder.
• Added ability to reset appearance of All Fences

May 2016

Stardock releases Fences 3, the next major upate to its popular Fences application. Fences 3 keeps all of the features of its predecessor, but adds support for modern, high DPI monitors, more translucency behind fences by blurring the wallpaper behind them, full Windows 10 compatibility, and more. Users will also be able to condense their Fences into a "title bar" instead of hiding the fence completely, allowing for better organization and easy to find files.

September 2017

Fences is made available on the Steam platform for purchasing and download.

December 2021

Stardock releases Fences 4, an app that allows users to automatically organize shortcuts and icons on their PC desktops into custom-sized spaces called fences. Building upon previous versions of Fences that are used by millions of users of Microsoft Windows®, Fences 4 introduces new features that will streamline workflows while keeping desktops organized.

New in Fences 4 is Peek, a feature that lets users instantly view their fences by pressing Windows key + space, making accessing content significantly faster. For example, while working in a program like Adobe’s Premiere or Photoshop, users can bring a folder portal filled with their source footage and images to the surface of their desktop by pressing the configurable hotkey. This eliminates the need to minimize the application and go searching for the required asset in File Explorer.

Also new in Fences 4 is the Desktop Display feature. The Windows key + D hotkey can be configured to be either toggle or press-and-hold to streamline your workflow for accessing content on your desktop. Along with its new features, Fences 4 has been optimized so that it loads before the desktop when a PC is booted up, making it not only more functional, but also more performant.