Files and Folders (FnF)

Become a master of file management

I have been building file managers for myself since 2016 – first one that ran in the browser, now a real desktop app. FnF puts two folders side by side, lets you do everything with the keyboard and runs the slow work in the background while you go on.

Marc Kronberg

Two panels, tabs everywhere

Source on the left, target on the right – the fastest way to move files around.

Each side has a clickable path, favourites and as many tabs as you like. Drag tabs to reorder them or onto the other side, swap the panels, or make the target show the same folder as the source. The folder menu brings drives with their free space, servers, favourites and recent folders together. Tabs, cursor, marks and sort order survive a restart – every tab even remembers its last 50 folders.

Windows, Linux: Tab Ctrl+T Ctrl+U Alt+F1
macOS: Tab ⌘⌥T ⌘U ⌥F1

Two panels with tabs; the folder menu of the right panel lists Home, three drives with free space, servers, favourites and recent folders

Keyboard first

Every function is an action with a name and a shortcut – type a few letters, press Enter.

The Command Palette finds any action and shows its key, so you learn the shortcuts on the way. The classic keys are where you expect them: F3 view, F5 copy, F6 move, F7 new folder, F8 delete.

Windows, Linux: Ctrl+Shift+P
macOS: ⌘⇧P

The Command Palette: typing co lists Copy, Connect to server, Colour schemes and more, each with its shortcut

Jobs in the background

Start a big copy and keep working – the window never freezes.

Copy, move, delete, pack and search run as jobs with progress, rate and remaining time. Pause, resume or cancel them; slow network drives and servers are handled the same way.

Windows, Linux: F5 F6 Ctrl+F11
macOS: F5 F6 ⌃K F6

The task list: a copy at 62 percent with rate and a pause button, a waiting move and a finished delete

Safe by default

Delete goes to the trash, nothing is overwritten without asking.

If a file already exists you see both versions with size and date and decide once – or for all further conflicts. Copies are written under a temporary name first, so there is never a half-written file under the real name.

Windows, Linux: F8 trash, Shift+F8 permanently
macOS: F8 trash, ⇧F8 permanently

The question when a file exists: new and existing photo with size and date, buttons Overwrite, Skip, Rename and Overwrite if newer

Multi rename with preview and undo

Rename hundreds of files in one go – and see every new name first.

Name, extension, counter and date macros, case rules, search and replace with regular expressions, presets. Problems show up in the preview, and a finished rename can be undone.

Windows, Linux: Ctrl+M
macOS: ⌘F6

Multi rename: the pattern Italy 2026 - [C].[E] turns four photos into Italy 2026 - 0001.jpg and so on

Search into a tab

Results land in a tab you work with like a folder.

Search by name, content, size, date and depth; hits stream in while the search runs. Copy, move, rename or view them right there, and keep favourite searches as templates.

Windows, Linux: Alt+F7
macOS: ⌥F7

A search for *.jpg: 22 hits in their own tab with a folder column

Flat view

Every file below a folder in one list.

All files of all subfolders in the same tab, with a Path column. Sort, mark, copy, delete or rename across all of them at once – the same key brings the normal view back.

Windows, Linux: Ctrl+B
macOS: ⌘B

Flat view of the photo folder: 36 entries from the folder and its subfolders Edited, Panorama and Videos

Duplicates and similar images

Free space without fear: rules decide which copy stays.

Find identical files, similar photos in another size or quality, or similar comics. Rules like “keep the oldest” or “keep the higher resolution” mark the rest; you check each group with thumbnails before anything goes to the trash.

Windows, Linux: Alt+Shift+F7
macOS: ⌥⇧F7

Similar images: an original photo and its edited copy as thumbnails side by side, the list marks the smaller copy for deletion

Disk usage

See at a glance what eats your disk.

Sizes with share bars next to rings or tiles, the largest files of a folder, and a basket that collects what can go – removed with F8.

Windows, Linux: Ctrl+Shift+D
macOS: ⌘⇧D

Disk usage of the home folder: list by size with share bars and a ring chart, two folders marked for removal

Archives as folders

Open ZIP, TAR, 7z and RAR like any other folder.

Browse, view and open files inside, pack and unpack, with passwords that are only kept in memory. Archives from elsewhere are treated as hostile – no zip-slip, no zip-bombs.

Windows, Linux: Enter Alt+F5 Alt+F9
macOS: Enter ⌥F5 ⌥F9

Inside the archive Italy 2026 best of.zip: folders and photos, the header says ZIP, read-only

FTP, FTPS and SFTP servers

Your web space as a folder in the panel.

Browse, copy in both directions, rename and delete like on your own disk. Passwords live only in your system keychain; host keys and certificates are checked, and plain FTP is marked as unencrypted.

Windows, Linux: Ctrl+K
macOS: ⌘K

The right panel shows the folder example.org on an SFTP server

Viewer and quick view

Look into files without opening another program.

Text with search, hex and images in the viewer; the quick view shows the file under the cursor in the other panel while you move through the list.

Windows, Linux: F3 Ctrl+Q
macOS: F3 ⌃Q

Quick view: the left panel shows the photo under the cursor of the right panel

Compare files

Two files side by side, the differences in colour.

Ignore white space or case, show the whole file or only the changes, jump from one difference to the next. Binary files are compared byte by byte.

Menu: File, Compare files…

Two configuration files compared side by side with three coloured differences

Group files and clean folders

Bring order into a messy folder in one step.

Move files into folders made from their names, remove empty folders and leftovers like .DS_Store or *.bak, create many folders from a template – each with a preview first.

Windows, Linux: Alt+G Ctrl+Alt+R
macOS: ⌥G ⌘⌥R

Group files: four photos go into the folder IMG, shown in a preview

Shell line

A command line below the panels, in the folder you are looking at.

Type a command, press Enter, read the output right there. Marked names go into the line with one key, quoted for your shell.

Windows, Linux: Shift+F11
macOS: ⇧F11

The shell line with the output of git status

Starter menu

Your own launcher for programs, scripts and folders.

Submenus, own shortcuts and Total Commander parameters such as %P%N for the file under the cursor. Programs start directly, never through a shell.

Windows, Linux: Alt+S
macOS: ⌥S

The starter menu with VS Code, GIMP, Terminal here, two folders and a submenu Scripts

And a lot of small things

The details you notice on the second day – and miss everywhere else.

Quick filter per tab: *.jpg -thumb shows only what matches; hidden files on and off with one key.
Folder sizes with Space on a folder – cancellable, links are not followed.
History per tab: back and forward with cursor and scroll position, also with the mouse buttons.
Mark by pattern with wildcards or regex and one-click presets for images, movies, documents …
Names and paths to the clipboard, also as JSON.
Drag & drop between the panels and from and to Finder, Explorer or your file manager – with a modifier as symbolic links.
Auto refresh: changes by other programs show up in under a second.
Properties with times, permissions and owner; change attributes – permissions, Windows attributes, macOS hidden, times – for many entries at once.
Checksums: create and verify SHA-256, SHA-512, SHA-1 and MD5 lists, compatible with sha256sum.
External tools, Open terminal here and Show in Finder/Explorer – started without a shell.
Your button bar: it changes with Shift, Alt and Ctrl, and you decide what is on it; file types with their own icons and colours.
Settings with a search field; export everything as one file and import it on the next computer.
Context menu that fits the selection, and a menu bar with every action – native on macOS.
New files and nested folders: F7 takes a/b/c, and after S01 and S02 it suggests S03.
Colour scheme follows the system: a light and a dark one of your choice, switched with the appearance of macOS, Windows or Linux.
Keyboard only: every dialog, menu and list works without a mouse. ARIA labels for screen readers are in place, but not yet tested with one.

Hands on the keyboard

Every action has a name and can have several shortcuts, per operating system. Change them in the app; the Actions menu shows all of them at once.

View: F3
Copy, move: F5 F6
New folder: F7
Delete to the trash: F8
Rename in the list: F2
Mark: Space
Other side: Tab
Swap the panels: Ctrl+U ⌘U
Go to a path: Ctrl+L ⌘L
Find folder: Alt+F10 ⌥F10
Pack, unpack: Alt+F5 Alt+F9
Command Palette: Ctrl+Shift+P ⌘⇧P

The Actions menu: every action grouped in four columns with its shortcut

Norton blue, paper white or your own

Eleven colour schemes come with the app: the eight classic designs of the earlier versions – Light, Paper, Bitbucket, Cypress, Blackboard, Coffee, Combat and Norton – plus modern light, dark and Crimson. The live editor checks every colour pair for WCAG contrast; schemes can be exported and shared.

The main window in all eleven colour schemes, as tiles

The colour scheme editor with the Norton scheme selected and the contrast check passed

macOS, Windows and Linux

One app, built with Tauri and Rust, with native menus on macOS and a keymap per system. The automated tests run on all three systems; a few platform details still need testing on real Macs and Windows PCs before the first release.

System	Needs	Package
macOS	12 Monterey or later, Apple Silicon and Intel	.dmg
Windows	10 or 11, x64	Installer without admin rights, or .msi
Linux	WebKitGTK 4.1 – Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 36 or later	.deb, .rpm, AppImage

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. Files and Folders is open source under the MIT license – use it at home and at work, read the code, change it.

Where can I download it?

The first public release is still being prepared. Until then you can build the app from source with Node.js, pnpm and Rust – the steps are in the README. Releases will appear on GitHub.

Are the packages signed?

Not yet. The first packages will be unsigned: on macOS open the app with right-click, Open; on Windows choose More info, Run anyway in SmartScreen.

What happens with my data?

It stays on your computer. The app has no account, no telemetry and does not phone home. Server passwords are kept in the keychain of your system, archive passwords only in memory.

I used the earlier browser versions. Can I keep my settings?

Yes. The app imports shortcuts, buttons, file types, search patterns, tools and colour schemes of files-and-folders-mr, shows a preview first and keeps a backup of every file it changes.

Which languages?

English and German, switchable while the app runs.