Files
Advanced Windows file manager offers tabbed browsing, dual-pane drag-and-drop, column navigation, built-in archive creation and extraction, file tagging, QuickLook previews, context menu integration, quick search, and customizable appearance for streamlined organization.
Features
Properties
- Privacy focused
- Customizable
- Support for Themes
- Lightweight
Features
- Dark Mode
- Column View
- Built-in themes
- Image Preview
- Ad-free
- Dual Pane Support
- File Archiving
- Cloud Sync
- File Search
Git integration- File Tagging
- Tabbed interface
- Multi Column View
- No registration required
Windows Explorer Extension- Works Offline
- No Tracking
- Miller columns
- Supports tar files
- Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Custom Backgrounds
- Live Preview
- Hierarchical Structure
- Built-in viewer
- Supports Zip files
- Full-Text Search
- Supports RAR files
- Third party integrations
- Key Mapping
- Command palette
Files News & Activities
Recent News
- POX published news article about Files
Files 4.0.28 adds improved context menus, Dropbox MS Store version support, and moreFiles 4.0.28 is available for Windows users, delivering a range of interface and usability improvem...
- Maoholguin published news article about Files
Files v4.0.24 adds PowerToys Peek support, tag search operators, and more UI tweaksFiles v4.0.24 has been released, adding support for PowerToys Peek, letting Windows users with Micr...
- Maoholguin published news article about Files
Files 4.0.20 adds archive extraction upgrades and improved operation feedbackThe free open-source Files app has launched version 4.0.20, introducing several improvements especi...
Recent activities
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What is Files?
Files is an open-source modern file manager for Windows, featuring tabs, columns, and dual-pane support for seamless multitasking. Effortlessly browse and extract multiple archive types right within the app. Boost your productivity with powerful tools like the Command Palette, file tagging, custom keyboard shortcuts, Git integration, hash comparison, and customizable backgrounds.
Whether you're a power user managing complex workflows or just looking for a more intuitive alternative to File Explorer, Files offers an unmatched experience.
Files Videos
Files information
Developed by
Files CommunityLicensing
Open Source (MIT) and Free product.Written in
Rating
Average rating of 3.6Alternatives
120 alternatives listedNews
14 news article related to FilesSupported Languages
- English
- Arabic
- Spanish
- Hebrew
- Chinese
- Japanese
- German
- Polish
- French
- Ukrainian
- Tamil
- Albanian
- Russian
- Hindi
- Italian
- Turkish
- Kurdish
- Khmer
- Lithuanian
AlternativeTo Categories
File Management, OS & Utilities, System & Hardware, Backup & Sync, DevelopmentGitHub repository
- 42,174 Stars
- 2,617 Forks
- 523 Open Issues
- Updated
Comments and Reviews
The program initially makes a really great visual impression. The UI looks clean and well thought out. In my experience, however, the user experience/UX is not yet really ready for use. Overall, “Files” reacts too slowly to work smoothly. You get the feeling that UX development is lagging far behind UI development. BUT: It is a very promising open source project and I see a lot of great potential here. I will definitely take another look in a few weeks to a few months! :)
The same framework that powers the UI (WinAppSdk) is unfortunately a key factor in current performance issues. We hope that future framework updates, along with ongoing optimizations on our end will help mitigate these challenges.
Full of visual bugs, right click panel is a pure chaotic. Theres a good concept somewehere behind the mess, but needs a few more years to develope.
Are you still seeing issues with the right click menu? We did a lot of work improving this feature.
I hate that it is a Microsoft Store exclusive and cannot be installed with a regular EXE or used as a portable. It also says on their download page that they would prefer it to be sold on the Windows Store. So please change the "free" tag to whatever is appropriate.
In their web, in Downloads, there is a text "Don't have access to the Microsoft Store? Try our classic installer." which links to a installer.
As someone else mentioned, they have an .exe version that can be easily downloaded from their website if you do not want to use the MS Store https://i.imgur.com/KLNx4Is.png
I tried that link, but it still downloads the app package installer instead of the proper .exe or .zip file. I cannot use it on my system.
While the source code is available, there are no binaries provided on GitHub. You must instead purchase it through the Microsoft store for $9.99.
You are free to compile the code yourself, but for the purposes of AlternativeTo, Files is not "free".
Free downloads are available on the website https://files.community/docs/getting-started/install.
Only available via Microsoft Store.
Its also available as a .exe if you want https://i.imgur.com/KLNx4Is.png
Thanks for pointing that out, Mauricio!
Everything is perfect, but on my computer it can lag slightly or even quite a bit when transferring documents/photos/etc. I realise that this is a common issue, but as I said, it's open source and very promising ^^
It's also a shame that it's not available on Linux, as I'm looking for a better interface than the one already available on Linux distributions (Linux Mint for me with Nemo) to install. Currently on Linux, I alternate between Nemo and Dolphin. One is lightweight and remembers the previous path, the other has a preview of possible files.
EDIT (Jan 23. 2025) : A big effort has been made to avoid crashes and bugs in the application. I can finally play or click on the videos without Files suddenly stopping.
I just need to be able to filter my searches according to a date or period and do a search in the child folders.
For the moment with Files when I do a search in a Folder A if there is a Folder B and C inside only the results present in folder A are displayed.
I really, really, REALLY want to love files, I redownload it every few months when the built in file explorer starts to drive me mad again... but unfortunately despite all the amazing power user features and beautiful interface, the performance issues cause it to be unusable by most of it's target userbase. It's probably fine if you rarely use the file explorer, or do basic one-off operations, but the delays, pop-ins, flickers, and loading times for things as simple as context menu actions mean Files is still more for show than productivity. Don't get me wrong, the ideas and features here are FANTASTIC, but for the most part most things will still be faster with explorer.exe and some context menu tweaks or shell extensions.