■ Add custom colors for tagging files by registry editing

xplorer² has tons of options big and small; you can change most of them through program options and the Advanced settings editor (see Tools menu or File ribbon tab), but there are some that are deemed too advanced and are only available through the registry.

Version 3.5 brought color tagging, and you get three colors to play with. If you need more colors than that, you need to add them in the registry. The instruction file REGISTRY.TXT says that we need to add the new colors under this registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ZabaraKatranemia Plc\xplorer2_UC.global\Tag colors

WARNING: modifying the registry can make your windows unstable. However, if you just change values under xplorer² main settings key, the worst that you can do is hose xplorer². If you follow the instructions below carefully you should be ok. If in doubt — don't do it! Here is a REG file with 10 simple tag colors, click to download and double click on it while xplorer² is not running.

Here are detailed instructions to change the tag colors:

Fully quit xplorer² pressing <ALT+X> (File > Exit menu). Using the [X] close button on the titlebar may not quit xplorer² (if you use it in explorer replacement mode) and then your registry changes will be of no avail.
Start REGEDIT and locate the above "Tag colors" registry key. You will see the existing colors listed in the right hand side pane.
Right click on the right hand side pane and choose New > DWORD (32 bit) value from the menu.
Give your color a name
Double click on the newly added value to change its contents. The color value must be in hexadecimal format, with blue value first and red last: BBGGRR
If you need more custom colors, repeat from step 3.
Restart your xplorer² to see the added colors in the tags menu!

Step 5 is a bit confusing. Any color picker program reports the RGB values as RRGGBB but you must reverse the order and put the blue bits first and red last. So if you want the RGB color #67B224 you must set it as 24B267. If you get it wrong just repeat the process again. Here's the demo video:

xplorer² saves color tags when you fully quit the program with <Alt+X> keys (see File > Exit menu). If you leave xplorer² running while you shut down or reboot, and you happened to make color tag changes, these may not be remembered. Always exit xplorer² properly whenever you make changes to color tags.