Free to start, on Windows, macOS and Linux. Pick a stream, pick your machine, and you are done in about a minute.
The buttons hand you the Stable stream — the one to pick if you are not sure. The three streams are explained below.
Other formats:
We are getting the first build ready. Join the Insiders list below and we will tell you the day it lands.
There is no Intel build yet. Apple silicon only, for now.
One build, published three times over. Same code, different amount of soak behind it.
the one you want
The build we are happy for anyone to install. It has been through the gate, then sat on the Insiders stream while real people used it for real work. If you are not sure which of these three to pick, this is the answer. It is also the default: the big button at the top of this page hands you Stable.
a week or so ahead
The same build, earlier. Insiders picks up a new version most days and gets it in front of people before it becomes Stable. Things mostly work. Occasionally one does not, and telling us is the point. You need to be signed in to receive Insiders updates.
every green merge
Every change that passes the build, the moment it passes. This is where we find out whether an idea survives contact with a real folder. Expect rough edges and expect them often. Dev builds are kept for two weeks and then removed, so treat a Dev install as something you replace rather than something you keep. Sign-in required.
Every feature in File Manager carries a readiness score, given by whoever built it. The stream you install decides how ready a feature has to be before it turns on. Stable shows you what its owner has marked ready. Insiders also shows you everything that is in testing — working, used daily, not finished being polished. Dev shows you the lot, including things that were started last week.
That is why a feature can appear on this site marked Insiders: it is real, it works, and it is not yet ready enough to be on for everyone.
On Stable and want more anyway? Settings › Features has a slider per add-on. Move it and you get the in-testing work without changing streams. Move it back whenever you like.
Installing with one line, without touching a browser dialog, is being built — together with the published checksum for the script itself, so you can read it before you run it. It is not on the downloads host yet, so there is no command printed here to copy: an install one-liner that 404s is worse than not offering one.
Every file we publish has its SHA-256 listed beside it, written by the same pipeline run that built the file. Compare the two and you know you got what we shipped and nothing else.
Get-FileHash .\FileManager-<version>-win-x64-Setup.exeshasum -a 256 FileManager-<version>-osx-arm64.pkgsha256sum file-manager_<version>_amd64.debThe expected values are published in the release manifest alongside the files. They appear here as soon as a build is published.
Our installers are not code-signed yet, on any of the three platforms. That is a gap on our side, not a problem with the file you downloaded — but your computer cannot tell the difference, so it will warn you, and it is right to.
We publish a SHA-256 for every file (above) so you can check the download yourself in the meantime. Signing is being worked on. When it lands, this section goes away and we will say so in the release notes.
Windows SmartScreen will say “Windows protected your PC” and offer only a Don’t run button. Click More info, then Run anyway.
File Manager installs for your user account only, so it never asks for an administrator password.
macOS will say the app “cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer”, or that it “cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software”. Two ways past it, both fine.
The click-only way. Find the downloaded file in Finder, right-click (or Control-click) it, choose Open, and confirm Open in the dialog that follows. Do this once and macOS remembers.
The Terminal way. Clear the quarantine flag macOS stamps on anything downloaded:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/FileManager-<version>-osx-arm64.pkg
If you already installed and the app itself is being blocked, the same command works on the installed app:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/File Manager.app"
The .deb — install it the usual
way:
sudo dpkg -i file-manager_<version>_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get -f install
The second line is only needed if dpkg reports a
missing dependency; it pulls them in and finishes the install.
The portable archive — extract it anywhere and run the launcher inside:
tar -xzf FileManager-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz
cd FileManager-<version>-linux-x64
./file-manager
The archive keeps the executable bit. If your unpacker dropped it,
chmod +x file-manager puts it back.
Today, updating means coming back here and downloading the new version over the old one. Your settings, themes and workspaces stay where they are.
Coming soon: the app checks its own stream and updates itself in the background, applying the new version the next time you restart. The plumbing is in the app already; it is switched off until it has been proven on a published stream.
Insiders gets each new version days before Stable does. Leave your email and we will tell you when there is something worth restarting for — and nothing else.
Email us to join — tell us which stream you want, Insiders or Dev.
We keep your address and the stream you picked, and use them to email you about that stream — nothing else. One email per release at most, unsubscribe from any of them. What we keep and how to leave.